hmmm....

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Fattie_Hattie

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My little mare has a real good jump on her and everyone has been telling me to BSJA her. But she is only 4 and is petrified of fillers. But in the future i hope to do some sort eventing and BSJA her anyway. But i don't want to push her! Should i wait till she is a bit more grown up? Should i just do it and hope she'll get used to them? what would you do??
 
I don't ever jump any of my horses until their (actual) 5th birthday....however plenty of people do.
 
What's the great rush?

I would wait and let her get her confidence first so that she has good experiences of jumping to stand her in good stead for the future.
 
if she's petrified of fillers then doesn't sound like she'd get round a BSJA course, and that would be a bit pants for the poor lass.
 
definitely wait. do lots of clear round/minimus, have a day at home where you use every single rug you can find, one after the other, as a filler (draped over a pole) - very cheap way of showing them loads of new colours! sort out her filler problem (she's a baby, for heaven's sake, at 4!) completely, before you have the pressure (and expense) of bsja. she's bright... that's why she's a bit wary of fillers. keep the fences small so that she can cat-jump them if she finally plucks up the courage, without hurting herself and sending you into orbit/making you jab her in the mouth etc.
at 4, she really should just be having fun and learning about life, not doing serious competitions, imho.
 
QR -

Put her out in an arena loose with loads of jumps and fillers. Place tarps over the jumps etc.....she'll soon get used to them and will no longer be afraid.
 
kerilli- I agree with you totally i really dont want to push her. I have regular lessons at my instructors yard and he has LOADS of really scary fillers so we are working in them at the mo. But i feel really under pressure as a few people are telling me that i should just do it! I know she is a baby and i have the rest of her life to do everything i want to do with her.
 
Tia- Would love to do that but the fence in our school is only 3.3ft and i am sure she would jump out!!! but she might be too scared ill have a try! thanks for the suggestion
smile.gif
 
Ahh no that wouldn't be safe then. Perhaps you could spend time in there with her on a lead line then?
 
My young horse has jumped out of menages' twice (breaking the fence) but only because he was really stressed both times (new yard, new friends on other side of fence). I can however loose jump him now even to a height higher than the menage fence. He loves it and prances about showing off before jumping. I find that I have to make sure that he's in a good relaxed mood before we even go in the menage. Lunge him to warm up and if he shows any signs of stress abandon the idea of loose jumping. If however he is responsive, relaxed and listening to me then I will try the loose jumping. If he shows any signs of stress (looking for his mates) I abandon it and put him back on the lunge. It was a really scary step the first time but it may be wise to have someone on hand to stand at the place where he's liable to jump out. Don't have too many though as this may also stress him. And don't have your helper preform a massive sneeze whilst your lunging like my boyfriend did. Poor horse jumped out of his skin!!
 
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