HELP!!! Advice needed

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nat_cal

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I am having a bit of a nightmare at the moment with my horse!!

I have had my horse Callie for 7 years, she is 18 (19 this year) and has showjumped for most of her life (only at low level BS up to newcomers).

When I first got her, I admittedly overjumped her and she became fed up and started stopping. Cue 18 months of hard work, having to go right back to basics and even taking up xc for a couple of years to give her a break!

I then re registered her BS and had a couple of years jumping BN/Disc and the odd 1.05. She was never very consistent at shows and the stopping started again :( so I decided to knock the BS on the head for a while and just have some fun with her. We then had a couple of health issues (having a tooth removed etc), and I was given the ride on another mare, meaning she had about a year off competing. For a while I competed both until the other mare got put in foal and I concentrated on competing callie again.

Last year, we had a great year, I did a couple of unaff ODE with her, went xc schooling, did a bit of showing as well as unaff SJ. She was fantastic and the jumping really started to come together again. We finished the year coming 5th in an unaff 3'0 class and qualifying for the winter series championships.

I decided that if she kept jumping well I would re register her BS at the end of March (when the 6 month membership offer finishes). Unfortunately since January things have started going backwards again. I have been out competing about 6times and half of these have been a complete disaster with us being eliminated :(

I am beginning to wonder whether she is fed up of jumping and if I should retire her from SJ altogether. We went to a combined training comp yesterday she scored 64% in the dressage Novice 28 (much to my amazement as it felt awful!!!!) but we got eliminated in the SJ! It was only 3'0 and wasnt a technical course at all, but she was tense warming up and just didnt want to jump.

I ride her 6 days a week, mainly hacking with the odd schooling session and occasional jump at home. I am careful not to over jump her hence why I dont do too much at home, we occasionally go and have lessons at other venues and go to clear round.

Am I riding her too much? I am conscious of her age and the importance of keeping her going so she doesnt seize up but am I over doing it??
She loves going to shows, her face lights up when she sees the lorry and I only compete her twice a month a perhaps have a lesson (if money allows).

She is regularly checked my the physio (is due a check within the next month) and her saddle has been checked and teeth up to date.

Any suggestions gratefully appreciated!!! I want to do the right thing by her and although the thought of giving up jumping fills me with dread, she is such a sweet mare and is a joy to own and I dont want to keep jumping her if she's had enough!!

Sorry for the long rant!!
 
I'd get a full veterinary MOT done given her age. sometimes they have niggly aches and pains that just need a bit of management to get them happy again!
 
I would suggest that you keep up with the health checks (physio, teeth, saddle etc), but above all get hold of a good instructor.

It doesn't have to be a big competition rider, in fact somebody who isn't just interested in having you go out and get results would probably be better. If health issues are ruled out then a large part is likely to be mental and a good instructor will be able to show you just what is going on inside the horse's head. Once you have a good understanding of what makes the horse tick, then 'inexplicable' behaviour becomes 'explicable' and you will be on the way to working out a strategy to either carry on jumping or change direction altogether.

I have many people tell me how much their horse loves jumping because "he just sees the jump and can't get at it fast enough!". Obvious lack of understanding of the horse's behaviour there. Perhaps your horse's behaviour at the sight of the lorry isn't telling you "whopee, show", could it be "Oh no, show, I can't face it".

If you are into 'alternative' then a Reiki person may be able to throw light on the problem if there is really one. I'm not into it and don't have the money to pay for treatments anyway. However, a friend is a Reiki Master and she offered to have a chat with my boys for free. Much as I hate to admit it, I was rather impressed at what she came up with. Obviously, some practitioners are better than others as with any professional but you may like to consider something similar.

Good luck.
 
I have to say i have had pretty much the same issues with my horse - he is 20 this year (have had him since a 4 yo). We haven't really jumped well BS for a fair few years now - getting refusals/getting eliminated and my confidence in him and him in me has just dropped a heck of a lot. Strangely enough though we have been doing a fair bit more ODE wise (did a couple of intros and some decent unaff) and we don't have an issue SJing then. Nor do we seem to suffer at RC ODE (was at the RC champs horse trials teams event 2 years ago). It's just BS I seem to suffer with.

It started with him stopping (for the first time EVER) when he was maybe 7 or 8? He would not even start the course. Turned out he had a sore back. We sorted it but it waslike then the seed had been planted - I knew he could stop. I have been stuck in a vicious circle since really. I used to jump him and Newcomers when he was 5/6 yo, he was in the PC Sjing teams several years on the trot, he's done a fair bit and never ever once stopped. he has though alwasy been spooky at fillers so I did have to ride him and be confident to get him over some of the 'scary' fences. It always worked though but I lost that confidence in him and he must have felt that.

A few years ago we had a nasty accident too where he got oevr eager and misjudged a double, couldn't make the stride and nearly came down. I flew off and looked up to see blood gushing from his mouth (he'd bitten his tongue). it was horrid and added another confidence blow. I have since decided to just do fun jumping with him - for some reason BS i get stressed. ODE SJing, i am more stressed about the dressage and the SJing bit is fun , plus we've never had issues xc. My BS membership expires this Apr and that is definitely it then (I wanted to quit last year but my mum paid for another year - a waste really).

If I was you i would try just sticking to fun stuff too - that's assuming there is nothing physically wrong. i know with mine there's nothing wrong with him jumping wise - I can jump anything at home and he gets v giddy and excited about it, it's just proper comps I struggle with!
 
Thanks guys, I've decided to give her this week off altogether and will get her checked by the physio and then see how she is.

I think there is an element of me putting pressure on myself because of her age, wanting to do as much as possible and have a last 6 months BS whilst she is still fit and healthy.

I also wonder whether she is a bit stale from just doing pure SJ all the time as she was fab last year when we did a bit of everything. She loves XC but it does make her a bit wahooo SJ but I guess I'll just have to deal with it!!!

Can anyone recommend any schooling excercises to make things a bit more interesting for her? I tend to do the same whenever I work her in the school, walk to canter transistions, circles, lengthening and collecting the canter and some trot work and I know she finds it all rather boring!!!!
 
Do you need to do any schooling? Have you tried things like pirourettes, flying changes, even attempting half passes etc? I am not a real fan of schooling (unless I am preparing for an ODE and then I think my horse must know what's going on! Lol). However, I do find it dull but I find trying some fun things help and make him use his brain and me think about what I am doing a bit more.

I do find though that going XC can help with their confidence jumping and also gives you confidence. I bet though the stopping issue is maybe more to do with her picking up on stress from you than a physical problem. Does she jump well at home? Have you tried maybe 'playing' jumping wise then - ie doing some grids or practising turns etc, just to make it more interesting?

With mine as long as he's still eager at home then I will take that as him feeling fine and well in himself (I doubted at one point and maybe thought it as his age) but I find when i am confident about a course then miraculously we jump it fine but if I have any wobbles about one then it all goes wrong! I def put some blame on myself but also with my horse being older he is less willing maybe and less able to help me out
 
Your'e right I dont really need to 'school' her anymore, her flatwork is pretty good and at her age I doubt whether I can really change/improve anything massively!! Her flying changes are fab, but great idea to incorporate a bit of dressage in to our schooling, I may look at a few tests and see what I can add in!

I definately think that I need to make it a bit more fun, will take her XC again and try some different jumping excercises, though interestingly she usually jumps better at shows than she does at home!!

Have got the physio coming on friday to check her so will go from there. Thanks so much for the advice, it's nice to know that others have been through similar and hopefully I'll have another couple of years of jumping with her :)
 
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