Peanot
Well-Known Member
I had a few problems with my mare with stopping/running out and I lost my confidence in her, so to cut a long story short I bought another horse who has jumped BSJA but slightly higher than my mare and we have been coming on brilliant together. I had a back person out and teeth etc done when I first got her and I was told that the saddle that I had bought with her was too tight where the tree points lay. So I took her to a well known place and she was fitted with a saddle. This was about 5 months ago. Everything was going fine and we had found a good trainer who had taken us up to jumping a course of 1m10- 1m20 with ease. She has changed our way of going as when I first got her, my trainer told me that it was like riding a big HGV with no power steering as her shoulders were everywhere, and her left rein was awful, I`d couldn`t canter a 15m circle without it changing into a 30m oval. She is now going lovely on the flat and we have the `power steering` and we have it together before and after a fence as she used to take off into the jumps and again after the jump.
Well, I decided that I fancied a bit of xc, so I took her to our local xc to hire. She started off OK but then had a refusal. I know that many of you are now thinking, `yeah, so what?`
But this is where the problem stemmed, we think.
She was stopping and running out and we had about 12 at different fences. Only 1 at a fence before she jumped it. I will admit that we were jumping the intro fences and it was her first ever time!!!
I took her for a lesson after a few days and told my trainer what had happened, who is BE acc. and BD acc. We had a stop at the first fence,
and again after about another 6-7 jumps
.
Trainer said that it`d had a bit of an effect on her and we only stayed at the 1m height for that day.
The following week in our lesson, (I didn`t jump at home), we had about 4 stops/run outs but my mare felt different. When we jumped the 4 njs related distance, I felt that I had to push to get the distance, whereas the previous weeks I had to hold her, so she didnt bound on and land too deep to the last. It felt like I had to ride her into the fences, and that she had no energy and at the end she was sweating more than usual.
I was told to give her some electrolites, but on our return home, I noticed that she was squirting. (in season). So I put it down to her being in season. I did also give her electrolites.
After a few days I decided to hire out a venue with jumps and we jumped round with just 1 down, so feeling confident I took her to a show. In the BN, she stopped at the last fence before the JO
and so I decided to jump her in the Discovery. We had a stop at fence 1, and then a stop at fence 5, elimination.
So I decided that there must be something wrong and had back woman out, who says there was a lot going on around her withers and a bit on her back and through her pelvis.
When doing xc, we had 2 dodgy moments when she landed with her knees on a log and when she changed her mind at the last minute and had one leg straddled over the fence and one leg behind us! Perhaps this had caused something to hurt?
I saw my trainer today and showed her the video from show. She said that we were disunited into 1 jump and that horse was being spooky and wasnt concentrating. When I pointed out that no matter what the approach was like, she would jump it anyhow before, and wouldnt stop and that there were plenty of horses that didnt have a good approach but they werent stopping, I was told that she has learned to stop from the xc, and if she wasnt entirely comfortable, ie, on the correct lead, not disunited etc, she had now learned that she can avoid the jump altogether, and also it could be that
the saddle may be a tad uncomfortable for her too. I had a saddle fitter out to check it about a month ago and he said all was fine, but trainer told me today that these saddles are notorious for back problems, and that she loved riding in them but would never put one on one of her horses.
So thanks for reading if you`ve got this far, and firstly, have you had anything similar with horse stopping, was it saddle, or discomfort?
The thing is tho that when I took her for a saddle fit, this was the only saddle that fitted both of us comfortably.
I`m at a loss as to what to do. Should I have flatwork lessons, and not jump for a month, then jump low fences for a while? Back woman is coming out again in a week or so, should I change saddle again?
I have written all this out, and I suppose I am hoping that someone will say that their horse had a similar problem and the back person sorted it and they were OK again, but I am just worrying at the moment. I just need to know that I havent mucked it up.
Thanks for taking the time for reading this and I hope that someone can give me some advice.
Well, I decided that I fancied a bit of xc, so I took her to our local xc to hire. She started off OK but then had a refusal. I know that many of you are now thinking, `yeah, so what?`
But this is where the problem stemmed, we think.
She was stopping and running out and we had about 12 at different fences. Only 1 at a fence before she jumped it. I will admit that we were jumping the intro fences and it was her first ever time!!!
I took her for a lesson after a few days and told my trainer what had happened, who is BE acc. and BD acc. We had a stop at the first fence,
Trainer said that it`d had a bit of an effect on her and we only stayed at the 1m height for that day.
The following week in our lesson, (I didn`t jump at home), we had about 4 stops/run outs but my mare felt different. When we jumped the 4 njs related distance, I felt that I had to push to get the distance, whereas the previous weeks I had to hold her, so she didnt bound on and land too deep to the last. It felt like I had to ride her into the fences, and that she had no energy and at the end she was sweating more than usual.
I was told to give her some electrolites, but on our return home, I noticed that she was squirting. (in season). So I put it down to her being in season. I did also give her electrolites.
After a few days I decided to hire out a venue with jumps and we jumped round with just 1 down, so feeling confident I took her to a show. In the BN, she stopped at the last fence before the JO
So I decided that there must be something wrong and had back woman out, who says there was a lot going on around her withers and a bit on her back and through her pelvis.
When doing xc, we had 2 dodgy moments when she landed with her knees on a log and when she changed her mind at the last minute and had one leg straddled over the fence and one leg behind us! Perhaps this had caused something to hurt?
I saw my trainer today and showed her the video from show. She said that we were disunited into 1 jump and that horse was being spooky and wasnt concentrating. When I pointed out that no matter what the approach was like, she would jump it anyhow before, and wouldnt stop and that there were plenty of horses that didnt have a good approach but they werent stopping, I was told that she has learned to stop from the xc, and if she wasnt entirely comfortable, ie, on the correct lead, not disunited etc, she had now learned that she can avoid the jump altogether, and also it could be that
the saddle may be a tad uncomfortable for her too. I had a saddle fitter out to check it about a month ago and he said all was fine, but trainer told me today that these saddles are notorious for back problems, and that she loved riding in them but would never put one on one of her horses.
So thanks for reading if you`ve got this far, and firstly, have you had anything similar with horse stopping, was it saddle, or discomfort?
The thing is tho that when I took her for a saddle fit, this was the only saddle that fitted both of us comfortably.
I`m at a loss as to what to do. Should I have flatwork lessons, and not jump for a month, then jump low fences for a while? Back woman is coming out again in a week or so, should I change saddle again?
I have written all this out, and I suppose I am hoping that someone will say that their horse had a similar problem and the back person sorted it and they were OK again, but I am just worrying at the moment. I just need to know that I havent mucked it up.
Thanks for taking the time for reading this and I hope that someone can give me some advice.
