Has anyone had a really, really spooky XC horse...

[Gingey]

...which they've managed to turn into a truly confident, bold one?

As in, if for whatever reason (horse being young/green/, naturally spooky, or having had bad experiences or accidents XC), horse started out being very spooky and nervous going cross country- but was taught/progressed into being a really dependable and capable XCer?
I guess what I'm trying to get at is: is it possible to totally change a horse's original attitude to it, or will they always be inherently nervous about it?

I have an ex racer who definitely has the scope and athleticism, but has always been very spooky cross country. He's a lot better now than he has been, but I read on here about people's horses cruising round the XC, making it seem straightforward, reports about people's horses sorting themselves out at fences riders were a bit worried about- and I can't see my horse ever doing that! Of course I know it's not plain sailing for anyone at all, and everyone puts in a HUGE amount of work schooling and training in order to 'make' these great XC horses- and I hope it doesn't seem like I'm trying to undermine those who have horses like this or make out that they're anything less than really skilled partnerships.

When it goes *right* with my TB it's fab, we have had a few occasions (eg the last time we went schooling) where he's really got into it, got his confidence up and made it all feel easy, and happily jumped some pretty impressive fences that I wouldn't have dreamed of us jumping this time last year. So I know he definitely can- this is not bitterness on my part, I love my silly animal and wouldn't swap him But his default position is spookiness, nervousness and suspicion, and I do wonder if I'll ever be able to 'override' this instinct so that we can both enjoy it as the default instead.

I'm happy to keep going, buliding his confidence, as like I say we are definitely progressing (slowly but surely ), and of course I am not saying that a bold, brave, straightforward XC horse is the only one worth having...I'll be happy with one who is fairly confident, and is willing to trust me to get him round, without worrying that every jump will eat him. I'm definitely not a top class rider, so it's pretty unlikely we will ever be a world beating pair and I'm pretty sure I'm not experienced enough to really transform him. But would be interested to hear from anyone who has managed to produce a good, reliable XC horse despite starting with one which didn't seem ideal for the job.

Sorry for this v rambly post, more my musings than anything. Apologies if it makes no sense. I will understand if i get no replies! Funsize orange Kitkats and Nescafe on offer for anyone that even makes it through this post.

 

[kerilli]

yes, i did. i had a naturally VERY wussy little homebred. First event she ever did, PN, she stopped dead at the little downhill slope in the woods (not even a fence there!) and just boggled, lots of pony club kicking requd to get going. First time she saw a fence at a comp with a big surrounding structure (although she'd schooled through 1 with a lid on fine) she boggled at it from 20 yards out and we got a stop, argh! She was wussy at PN, took quite a long time to get brave at N, and then by the time she got to Int (I think it took 2 full seasons of N) she was as brave as anything and never had a stop or run-out at that level (except on her final run, fence judges gave me 20 for taking an alternative, i appealed it later but BE wouldn't change it on results even though they agreed that the vid showed i never even tried to present).
she jumped a few very decent Adv fences on the Weston Park CCI track (big trakhener, ditch and brush, etc) and never even looked at them. if she'd been tougher and scopier she'd have gone further, there was no lack of bravery.
so, she proved to me that you can teach a horse to be brave... it just takes time and persistence.
hope that helps. good luck with your lad.

 

[Princess Jess]

I agree with that Kerilli said...I think it is possible to teach a horse to be braver, I think the main thing with jumping is confidence for both you and your horse. I'm sure with time and patience you'll build up that bond with your horse, the best thing to do is just keep practising and building up the partnership

 

[Gingey]

Thanks for the reply kerilli, really interesting to read. Think it shows the difference in our capabilities though, as I can't really imagine being able to get mine round a competitive PN/N sized track, let alone treat it as an educational experience with the eventual aim of moving up to Intermediate! Fancy taking mine on for me..??

Yep, can totally relate to the spooking at variations in terrain..and the '20 yard boggling', mine specialises in that too
He's only jumping 80-90cm XC, generally, but during 'flashes of brilliance' has flown some fairly meaty fences, eg the hedge at LD which I think is generally in the N, and also some of the more technical PN skinnies (just to prove he's not just conned into jumping things like the hedge just because they make him feel he's out hunting )- so he is obviously more than capable, because not only does he make it feel easy when he's jumping like that, but he's obviously enjoying himself too! Frustrating really.

Out of interest, as your mare's experience increased, did you find that she changed temperamentally- as in, did you still have to 'hold her hand' and treat her like a spooky horse every step of the way, and was she still naturally nervous, or did she become a more confident, forwards horse generally? - Ie did she develop mentally, or did her comfort zone just increase significantly? I think I probably know the answer to that, as although I've got no experience at that level at all, I can imagine you wouldn't want to come cantering down to a CCI fence on an out-and-out spooker!
Because when mine's got his 'brave pants' on, he genuinely feels like a different horse (well, more like a much, much better version of himself)- seriously like the nicest XC horse I've ridden! And it is as if he changes (however briefly) temperamentally, and becomes so much more focused and calm, as opposed to stressy and nervous.

Thanks again. Definitely nice to hear a success story.

 

[Gingey]

I agree with that Kerilli said...I think it is possible to teach a horse to be braver, I think the main thing with jumping is confidence for both you and your horse. I'm sure with time and patience you'll build up that bond with your horse, the best thing to do is just keep practising and building up the partnership

Thanks for this. I freely admit I'm not a very good XC rider, I think the best thing for us to do is get as much instruction as possible so I can keep improving and he can take his confidence from me. Think this summer I'll also focus on really ironing out the basics out schooling so that when we're competing he won't be feeling overfaced by basic questions (ie ditches, steps etc) in addition to being worried by new fences/courses. thanks

 

[ecrozier]

My Arab used to stop at everything. Literally everything. And now he's awesome up to about 85cm, has done 90s but they are a bit big (he's only 14.2 and not scopey).
Took a lot of practice, and we 'showjumped' round XC for a year or so so that he could look at everything, but he's great now

 

[LaurenB]

Im currently in your position, not just xc but sh and wh as well! He has the most amazing jump and I just wish I could get his confidence up! So will be reading this thread with much interest.

 

[Gingey]

My Arab used to stop at everything. Literally everything. And now he's awesome up to about 85cm, has done 90s but they are a bit big (he's only 14.2 and not scopey).
Took a lot of practice, and we 'showjumped' round XC for a year or so so that he could look at everything, but he's great now

Great to hear another success story!

 

[Gingey]

Im currently in your position, not just xc but sh and wh as well! He has the most amazing jump and I just wish I could get his confidence up! So will be reading this thread with much interest.

Ahh, well mine is better to SJ (he has generally always been stronger at this than XC), qualified for Trailblazers last year and was really good the last time I took him out to SJ a course away from home (which I think was in Jan/Feb? as we've been focusing on XC since then!) so *touch wood* that continues! I have a great instructor who gave me loads of great exercises in the early days when I was having problems, she helped me introduce him to gridwork and a load of polework exercises which really helped get him more accustomed to working around/over poles which I think was half the problem- silly animal literally scared of the poles themselves
Good luck with yours!

 

[kerilli]

she got much more confident generally, definitely. i encouraged her to think for herself too - she was always super-obedient, would jump anything from anywhere if i said so (i could do almost impossible angles etc on her, there was a fiendish direct route on Henbury Intermediate which only 2 pros and I did all day!) - but i wanted her to be a bit more independent once she got the idea. she needed to be looking at the fences and thinking, not waiting for me to help her... which i had to when she was wussy, obv, because if i left it to her she'd have just boggled to a halt!
what i found VERY helpful was that i had a little xc schooling place near me in Staffs that i'd helped design the fences for, and there was a run of about 5 really nice jump-both-ways fences, with a couple of soft turns in the run but no real need to steady up (but not all in a straight line so it felt like a racetrack!) nothing huge (one was barrels on their sides anchored down and covered, 1 was a decent log at about 3'3", there was a solid log pile at about 3', etc etc... easy to jump, with about 30-40 canter/gallop strides between the fences iirc) and i'd just cruise up and down there on her quite a few times, reasonably often, just getting a good forward rhythm and then letting her get to the fences and totally sort herself out while i did the 'sit in behind while she makes up her mind' thing... she'd never really grab the bit and go for it but she got the idea of cruising on and thinking for herself. that was real fun for both of us, i felt her grow in confidence every time we did it. simple exercise but easy to set up somewhere.
the only time she EVER did grab the bit and go for it was after the steeplechase phase at Weston 1 star (old long format type), she loved the 'chase and for the first and only time in her life came out of the start box like a lioness and took the first 3 on like a lunatic, i had to have a bit of a word on the way to the next one! so if there's anywhere that you can go and have a breeze up some small 'chase fences i would HUGELY recommend it. some xc schooling courses have them, Rushton always had 3 decent 'chase fences in a row, for example. because they're easy to jump (see my training course above too of course) the horse gets more and more confident. obv you wouldn't do that with an over-brave loony, but with a wussy one it's a good fun experience.
if you want to check her/my results, they're here: http://www.britisheventing.com/asp-net/Events/Results.aspx?HorseId=39637
all her results aren't there for some reason, they're all missing from '99 (incl the boggle-stop one at N!) apart from her PN win first time out, for some reason, but you can see from the time pens that I had to hold her hand rather a lot... (only posted that as it's got back to me that someone's been questioning my previous comp history. nice. it's all there in black and white for anyone to see!)
hope that helps anyway. i do think YOU have to be brave to ride this sort, never have a doubt. you have to make sure you always have that '2/3 of horse in front of you' feeling as you come to a fence, you have to make sure they are TOTALLY in front of the leg, be strict about that so they can't just dribble up to a fence if they're suspicious. i don't mind if they drop back to a trot to begin with, but they have to keep going forward in trot and jump it from that then! at home, jumping from walk and trot is great, really shows them that they can use their body if necessary to get over whatever they're tackling.
sorry that's turned into a bit of an essay! good luck with your lad... lots of exercises on confidence should really help.

 

[TarrSteps]

I'd say it depends a bit on how and why the horse is "spooky". One that looks for monsters can just be young mentally or not feeling so confident and will settle as time goes on. A horse that's "allergic to wood" and is constantly looking down at its fences can be a harder call as it's usually innate in the horse's make up, although a horse like this might learn to be okay when it's operating well within its scope.

A horse that stops to have a look but isn't panicked about it can usually be improved, although it takes time and patience. One that gets truly scared and stops thinking/tries to turn and run/gets so focused on the fence it doesn't know what else its doing is probably not such a good prospect - I think I'd always worry it would revert under pressure!

How is he hacking? Does he "think with his feet" and go boldly into unfamiliar territory? What happens when you push him, not necessarily by smacking him (that CAN give a wavering horse confidence but another might take it as a sign there really is something to worry about!), but by getting him in front of the leg and making sure he stays there, regardless of how fast he's travelling. (Horses can gallop behind the leg or be barely moving but still in front of it.)

Is he a "slow thinker"? As I said to kerilli recently, "You can only ride as fast as the horse can think." Rushing a horse that naturally thinks slowly usually only undermines its confidence more, just like if someone rushes you, you either flap or grow roots depending on your temperament. (I'm the latter. ) The only solid way to build reliable skills is to get them right then add speed. For some horses that think fast naturally, this is easily done and almost seemless. For a horse that naturally thinks slowly or lacks confidence, adding speed (even if it seems to be the horse's choice) too early often leads to a glossing over of holes which come back to bite you later.

Is he better with another horse? With repetition? How is he over coloured poles? What about fillers, tarps etc?

 

[Gingey]

she got much more confident generally, definitely. i encouraged her to think for herself too - she was always super-obedient, would jump anything from anywhere if i said so (i could do almost impossible angles etc on her, there was a fiendish direct route on Henbury Intermediate which only 2 pros and I did all day!) - but i wanted her to be a bit more independent once she got the idea. she needed to be looking at the fences and thinking, not waiting for me to help her... which i had to when she was wussy, obv, because if i left it to her she'd have just boggled to a halt!

Ahh that's nice to hear. Wow, I can only dream... I think at this stage it's important for me to be 'there' all the time, but at the same time if I overcomplicate things by doing too much I don't think that helps! I KNOW all I need to do is sit back, leg on, keep a contact, encourage with voice- see that makes it sound easy

what i found VERY helpful was that i had a little xc schooling place near me in Staffs that i'd helped design the fences for, and there was a run of about 5 really nice jump-both-ways fences, with a couple of soft turns in the run but no real need to steady up (but not all in a straight line so it felt like a racetrack!) nothing huge (one was barrels on their sides anchored down and covered, 1 was a decent log at about 3'3", there was a solid log pile at about 3', etc etc... easy to jump, with about 30-40 canter/gallop strides between the fences iirc) and i'd just cruise up and down there on her quite a few times, reasonably often, just getting a good forward rhythm and then letting her get to the fences and totally sort herself out while i did the 'sit in behind while she makes up her mind' thing... she'd never really grab the bit and go for it but she got the idea of cruising on and thinking for herself. that was real fun for both of us, i felt her grow in confidence every time we did it. simple exercise but easy to set up somewhere.
the only time she EVER did grab the bit and go for it was after the steeplechase phase at Weston 1 star (old long format type), she loved the 'chase and for the first and only time in her life came out of the start box like a lioness and took the first 3 on like a lunatic, i had to have a bit of a word on the way to the next one! so if there's anywhere that you can go and have a breeze up some small 'chase fences i would HUGELY recommend it. some xc schooling courses have them, Rushton always had 3 decent 'chase fences in a row, for example. because they're easy to jump (see my training course above too of course) the horse gets more and more confident. obv you wouldn't do that with an over-brave loony, but with a wussy one it's a good fun experience.

I love the idea of this. Rushton's quite a trek but Waresely is not too far from me and I know they have some little brush fences (have looked at them longingly as I canter past on the gallops!) and I really like the idea of increasing his confidence, encouraging him to get into the habit of 'cruising' as you say. And as I keep saying, he CAN do it, because he's done it with me- we did a few HTs at Easter, and on the last one in particular, he set off feeling like he knew what was going on, actually LOOKING for the fences, jumping really eagerly, which was great- until he had a funny jump halfway, knocked his confidence and started stopping from then onwards
I guess that's similar to how I used gridwork to get his SJing confidence up, encouraging him to get into a rhythm, take on each jump and not have the time/long run up to overthink things. Which definitely worked for SJing, to the point that now I have to really work on preventing him from getting too onward bound through the grids as he's so keen now
Did a pairs HT at Easter too, which he jumped round clear bar a dither at a step down, and having a reliable horse to jump round with really gave him a boost (and for me, having a lovely amiable pairs partner who was willing to let us take the lead when my boy was up for it meant that I was able to really maximise his confidence).

i do think YOU have to be brave to ride this sort, never have a doubt. you have to make sure you always have that '2/3 of horse in front of you' feeling as you come to a fence, you have to make sure they are TOTALLY in front of the leg, be strict about that so they can't just dribble up to a fence if they're suspicious. i don't mind if they drop back to a trot to begin with, but they have to keep going forward in trot and jump it from that then! at home, jumping from walk and trot is great, really shows them that they can use their body if necessary to get over whatever they're tackling.
sorry that's turned into a bit of an essay! good luck with your lad... lots of exercises on confidence should really help.

You are definitely right there, I do need to work on always being 100% positive and not just bimbling around as he backs off. I've got largely the hang of it for SJ now, again it's just the XC that needs to improve! The '2/3 in front' mantra is one that my instructor likes to repeat, as well as 'hips before shoulders' to help me sit up and stop me throwing the contact away In a previous post on a similar XC topic you gave me your mantra 'I-can hold-her with-my shoul-ders' motto which I think does help me!
And yes, at home basically all of our makeshift XCs are small enough for him to clamber/leap over if necessary- not pretty but definitely effective, particularly as he used to be prone to spinning and rushing away after a stop..

Thanks SO much for this kerilli Cannot wait for my exams to be over (20 days and counting..) so we can get out and about again and put some of the theory into practice..

 

[dafthoss]

Good luck with the exams

Mines not really a xc machine but I'm hoping he is on the way there. First time he went out he stopped at the fence judge before realising there was a fence I was asking him to jump and happily jumping it (thankfully at pc camp so not in a real competition). We still trot to ditches, drops and water as he still needs that bit more time but other than that and occasionally a goggle at the first few he is great. He some times just needs a few fences to get his mind on the job and really with me, first time it was about 5 fences, then 2 and last time just a look at a jump that wasnt his before the first.

 

[Gingey]

I'd say it depends a bit on how and why the horse is "spooky". One that looks for monsters can just be young mentally or not feeling so confident and will settle as time goes on. A horse that's "allergic to wood" and is constantly looking down at its fences can be a harder call as it's usually innate in the horse's make up, although a horse like this might learn to be okay when it's operating well within its scope.

I'd say he's the first one- he definitely does not look down at his fences constantly, in fact one of his frequent problems is not focusing enough on the fence (too busy looking at everything else!) until he's too close to set up for it, prepare and have a proper look.

A horse that stops to have a look but isn't panicked about it can usually be improved, although it takes time and patience. One that gets truly scared and stops thinking/tries to turn and run/gets so focused on the fence it doesn't know what else its doing is probably not such a good prospect - I think I'd always worry it would revert under pressure!

Yes, that makes sense. He does panic sometimes (a LOT less now than he did, it used to almost be automatic when put under any pressure to jump something he didn't want to), I try and avoid getting worked up myself as I know from bitter experience that getting frustrated/flapping etc just reinforces his view that there's something to worry about. I know he needs me there as calm, positive and insistent.
I would be inclined to agree about the reverting, and you could well be right, but I think that a) the fact that (in particular) his SJing has improved so much in terms of confidence and security and b) the fact that it's more of a general worriedness/anxiety rather than a blind fear mean that hopefully his confidence can just be solidly built up without much oppurtunity for reverting. I appreciate he probably always will be a bit nervous sometimes.

How is he hacking? Does he "think with his feet" and go boldly into unfamiliar territory? What happens when you push him, not necessarily by smacking him (that CAN give a wavering horse confidence but another might take it as a sign there really is something to worry about!), but by getting him in front of the leg and making sure he stays there, regardless of how fast he's travelling. (Horses can gallop behind the leg or be barely moving but still in front of it.)

He is great to hack- fantastic with traffic, v forwards (especially on grass..). I wouldn't say he is always 100% bold, BUT 99.9% of the time he will go where I ask without question and take confidence from me. IE if we're approaching something 'scary'/unfamiliar, i just need to put my leg on, tell him it's ok, and he'll take my word for it. Which should bode well for the XC, but doesn't always! I think the trust just isn't there yet.

Is he a "slow thinker"? As I said to kerilli recently, "You can only ride as fast as the horse can think." Rushing a horse that naturally thinks slowly usually only undermines its confidence more, just like if someone rushes you, you either flap or grow roots depending on your temperament. (I'm the latter. ) The only solid way to build reliable skills is to get them right then add speed. For some horses that think fast naturally, this is easily done and almost seemless. For a horse that naturally thinks slowly or lacks confidence, adding speed (even if it seems to be the horse's choice) too early often leads to a glossing over of holes which come back to bite you later.

Hmmm, that's a tricky one...I would say he does need time to think things over (wouldn't say he's slow) but if given too much time, will overthink and get in a flap. So generally I try to ride positively and with determination, and more just try and communicate the fact that he can have a look, but that he is expected to jump it whether or not he likes the look of it! (in a sympathetic way of course). Again, so easy in theory

Is he better with another horse? With repetition? How is he over coloured poles? What about fillers, tarps etc?

Ermm, well in some cases (ie pairs XC) it's really helpful, but sometimes he just locks onto the other horse and follows blindly, which isn't great as he's not actually taking in what he's jumping as he's too busy racing after the lead horse- so this can result in either massive leaps without looking, or suddenly noticing jump at last min and either jamming on brakes then cat leaping or skipping out the side! So I try not to get leads too often, I want him focusing on me really.
With repetition, he generally gets more confident each time, yes. Think that's why I reckon Kerilli's exercise might work as he can just focus on enjoying the cruising and familiarising himself with jumping like a normal horse!
Coloured poles, generally confident, but much like the hacking he quite often relies on me to give him the necessary 'go-ahead'. It's funny though, because often in an SJ round he will just 'switch on' in the ring and pop everything sweetly regardless of fillers.. I'd say he's actually more confident competing over fillers than he is schooling over fillers, which I think comes down to the overthinking/having too much time thing. And probably me riding more effectively too.


Thanks so much TarrSteps, really useful in making me think through both of our styles.

 

[TarrSteps]

That all sounds pretty positive, then! He does just seem to be a bit unfocused and lacking confidence, so calm repetition and helping him 'get into the flow' like kerilli suggested should get him there. You'll likely find he just 'gets it' one day and then he'll know what he's supposed to be doing.

 

[TarrSteps]

Just to clarify, the 'slow thinker' comment isn't about intelligence, nor does it necessarily mean a horse needs to stop and think about things - that can actually cause more problems sometimes! It's literally about not moving faster than the horse can think, slowing everything down so the horse can work through the problem, but still with only that front door open.

 

[Alfami]

As always, both K & TS are full of useful advice.

I just wanted to add that I too had an incredibly spooky, flat-bred ex-racehorse who thought the world was going to eat him. I got him straight from his last point-to-point (he was useless at that too - always gave the fences at least a foot more than necessary). He was the sort of horse who wouldn't walk over a drainage grate out hacking and if there was a plastic bag in the hedge he'd remove himself in the other direction at full pelt.

When I started XC schooling him he wouldn't walk off the teeniest, tiniest step ever (even with a lead) and anything out-of-the-ordinary he had to stop and look at to check it out. I was lucky with ditches though - he'd hunted in ditch country, so they weren't a problem! He actually PN'd within 3 months. I too had to resort to a spin up some chase fences to get him thinking very forward on occasion, but he got better and better every time. Unfortunately the poor wee man broke his leg just before his scheduled Novice debut.

Enough ramblings (I really need to learn to be shorter and sharper!). I just wanted to say persevere - it is possible and quite often they make the best XC horses because they think about it properly!

 

[Gingey]

That all sounds pretty positive, then! He does just seem to be a bit unfocused and lacking confidence, so calm repetition and helping him 'get into the flow' like kerilli suggested should get him there. You'll likely find he just 'gets it' one day and then he'll know what he's supposed to be doing.

Thanks. Yep, that is without doubt the case, it's nice to hear from someone else that he's not a total lost cause Will probably post about how he's getting on once I've finished exams and actually managed to get him out XC again.

Just to clarify, the 'slow thinker' comment isn't about intelligence, nor does it necessarily mean a horse needs to stop and think about things - that can actually cause more problems sometimes! It's literally about not moving faster than the horse can think, slowing everything down so the horse can work through the problem, but still with only that front door open.

No I totally understand what you mean. And I like the 'front door open' analogy as that's what I've been trying to do, give him time to read the question but still letting him know that really the only/easiest option is to go over what's in front of him!
Thanks again

 

[Gingey]

As always, both K & TS are full of useful advice.

I just wanted to add that I too had an incredibly spooky, flat-bred ex-racehorse who thought the world was going to eat him. I got him straight from his last point-to-point (he was useless at that too - always gave the fences at least a foot more than necessary). He was the sort of horse who wouldn't walk over a drainage grate out hacking and if there was a plastic bag in the hedge he'd remove himself in the other direction at full pelt.

When I started XC schooling him he wouldn't walk off the teeniest, tiniest step ever (even with a lead) and anything out-of-the-ordinary he had to stop and look at to check it out. I was lucky with ditches though - he'd hunted in ditch country, so they weren't a problem! He actually PN'd within 3 months. I too had to resort to a spin up some chase fences to get him thinking very forward on occasion, but he got better and better every time. Unfortunately the poor wee man broke his leg just before his scheduled Novice debut.

Enough ramblings (I really need to learn to be shorter and sharper!). I just wanted to say persevere - it is possible and quite often they make the best XC horses because they think about it properly!

Ah, see mine's not really the 'everything will eat me' type exactly...he can be spooky and quite sharp, and of course plastic bags can be a little terrifying but in general he's great to hack and do most things with. Easily distracted, yes, but not actually hugely spooky in general! It's just the XC jumping which really seems to bring out his inner nervy wimp Basically the same with mine and the anything out of the ordinary (though he is generally lots better now), and exactly then same with mine and steps down!! Glad to say we've basically cracked steps now, but steps into water are still a work in progress...he likes to know exactly where he's putting his feet.
But wow, given what you started off with, what a great acheivement for both of you! So sorry to hear about his accident, what a shame.
Nice to hear another person advocating the chase fences too.
Did you ever get him to follow other horses whilst he was learning/building his confidence (generally, not just in the step instance) and did you find it helped, or just made him stick to the other horse?
Thanks for the reply

 

[Alfami]

Sorry - busy weekend and only just looked at the forum again.

I did try following another horse (and had several come past me repeatedly down that bl0ody step!) but I don't think it helped that particualr horse. He either ignored them, or ran in a blind 'following the herd' way, which left me feeling rather too much like a passenger. It also didn't stop him reverting to type when he was on his own again.

I found repetition was what cracked it in the end. We went schooling sooooooo many times (I was very lucky I had a course within hacking distance) and just kept going. His first two PN runs weren't over pretty, but by the third he'd got it sorted.

Best of luck with yours, I hope it goes well.

 

[Cop-Pop]

I don't do XC so can only speak having watched a friend turn her wussy TB into a braver soul. She put loads of work into him and there was definite progress but he was still spooky. She had a lesson or clinic with Lucinda Green who picked up straight away that she was expecting him to spook so even tho she was riding him strongly and forwards a part of her was waiting for the spook/stop. Once she got past that he was loads better - he still has silly moments but she sent me a video of them at a comp last week and he powered round