Has anyone ever had a very slow horse that lit up when jumping?

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santander

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I'm perplexed. Our 5 year old is sooooooo slow it's painful whilst out hacking. He is 'lazy' and not forward thinking at all. However when we got him he would nap to the point of taking root on the road. This has pretty much disappeared now, but he still doesn't go forward at all willingly.

Now, I would just assume that he is lazy/unmotivated/whatever you want to call it. but....

He lights up when jumping! goes in to canter fine (it's a struggle to even get him into trot when out hacking) and jumps energetically and enthusiastically. so he CANT be lazy, can he? Because it takes more effort to jump than hack.

So, before i sell him (because it's driving me insane) I'm looking for a glimmer of hope... Has anyone had anything similar and did the horse become more forward thinking in time? I think it may just be a security issue :(
 
Be careful what you wish for :) My quiet three year old, lazy four year old and unenthusiastic five year old who knocked every cross country fence because he wasn't bothered to get his *rse off the floor eventually had to be restrained from bolting around cross country courses with a pelham and was the fastest non-TB I've ever sat on. His record is Quick Brew on BE - check out how few time faults he ever got at novice once he was six!
 
Santander I think you may have my horse. He's 7 and home bred but very backward due to viral problems and unforseseen accidents that just stopped his schooling programme.
He is just coming back after a 6 month lay off. Getting him up into the woods is like a nightmare, however the other evening we went up by the old xc jumps and boy did he wake up, so we had a bash round then meandered home as if nothing had happened.
He too was insecure and nappy due a the broken training programme.
In the school last night he suddenly twigged and was beautiful, leg into hand, really soft and forward.
Keep going he will cotton on eventually.
 
We have one like that at work, he's incredibly well behaved, we use him to lead hacks. He's brilliant for novice hacks or when leading ponies with kids aboard but take him on an experienced hack and it's almost painful! Will do about 3 strides of trot before you need to nag away at him to keep going, if you manage to get him cantering, your so busy being shocked you don't realise he's given up!!

However, put him in a school or a field with the slightest hint of possibility of jumping and he flies around, everything you ask he will do with the smallest of squeezes!

He's 16 now, but sound as a pound, we've come to the conclusion he's just bored!

Do you hack a lot more than schooling/jumping etc?
Does he always do the same route/similar routes?

Most of our horses have come to the conclusion that they are riding school horses and are happy to plod round doing what's asked, sounds terrible I know! But a few of them get very bored so we try to shake their work up a bit doing various things!
 
Ha ha! You just described my pony!!!
How long have you had him? We have had ours since August. This pony practically crawled up the road hacking when he came, yet bucked me off after galloping to a small jump in pure excitment!!! In the last month he has really improved, now that he trusts me he is much more willing, though we still have the odd nap when hacking alone. I have really persevered with the napping and slowness, but in a patient way rather than getting cross (whip, leg, etc nothing works!) He is getting SO much better going off the leg, I have not schooled him in the field at all, (which he hates!) but am getting him going when hacking by using reverse psychology as such, when he goes forward from my leg and I get a few forward trot strides I let him walk, as a reward. He is getting the hang of it really quickly and Im increasing the distance in 'forward' trot now with great success. He is also now going into canter on a hack straight away, today he just seemed to be having fun, which was just fabby!
Is yours bored? Do you vary his work/routes at all? My boy will still drag his feet for the first 10 - 20 mins going away from the yard, but will pick up on the way home. They are so smart, lol. I think the feet dragging is a form of napping in our case.
There is a glimmer of hope I think, but if you are really unhappy Im sure there are loads of people out there who really WANT a steady hacking neddy! I love mine!!!
 
I have one too!!

The only activity that floats his boat is hunting - he is a complete rocket on the hunting field and adores it, but the rest of the year he just can't be bothered!

After 3 yrs of 'unenthusiasm for normal life', I have finally decided to keep him just to hunt, and am planning to turn him away once hunting is finished to bring back into work late summer for the following season.

I am lucky as I have bought another horse who I am hoping will be more than happy to compete etc over the summer months, so I can still get my fix!
 
I wouldn't say mine "lights up" about jumping but it's what he puts most effort into :rolleyes:. He can't see the point of schooling, though hacking is good if I vary the rides enough. He's never going to be a speed demon but there's something about jumping where he has to think and listen to me and everything's always different that he likes. He's really good at sorting out his own strides and does a lovely bascule even though if you saw him you'd never think he would. We only do 2 ft-2ft 3 with the occasional 2'6 fence but he's really helped my confidence as if I can hold my nerve he's happy to go for it. He's a cob cross.
 
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