Horse naps and wont jump at competition!

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Chipster

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My horse jumps like a trooper at home, he is very keen.... I take him cross country schooling locally and to trial rides at the same place and he jumps everything up to 3 foot plus and he absolutely loves it...

I am wanting to event so am going to unaffiliated xc and sj competitions to give him experience.... He is just a nightmare! He is fab in the warm up arena, lovely and relaxed and jumps lovely!

As soon as we head for the arena or start line he freezes and starts to nap and was even rearing yesterday! I have asked to be lead in and he will go but under protest! It is like he is terrified!!

I find that i am being eliminated at the first jump, there is no negotiation at all, he just plants himself and will not move! The jumps are that small he could step over them, have tried trotting up to them with loads of encouragement with no joy!

He has done BSJA with his previous owner!

It has got to the stage now where i am condidering selling him, as it is is sooooo upsetting to keep going to competitions and coming away soooo embarrased every time!

Will i every get him over this problem or would he just be a lot happier at a home just hacking and doing dressage?
 
How often do you jump at home? I'd probably try not jumping him much if at all at home, so he's nice and fresh for competitions. I very rarely jump my horse at home, so he's never gone stale at competitions.
 
Is there a change in your riding, perhaps subconscious, that he is picking up on when you get into the ring? If he is jumping perfectly in the warm up then it's not the venue. Or is it that he's herdy towards the other horses?
Can you hire out the venue for course hire on days when there's not a show and have some lessons over the course with your own instructor? If you think he's being herdy take a companion and leave them at the gate, practise repeatedly riding away from them to ride the course.
What about going and doing some clear round jumping so that the pressure is really off you (no competition and the atmosphere is more like that of the warm up arena)?
Could your instructor take him to a competition and see if she encounters the same problems? It might help her to advise you better if she has ridden him in that situation herself, and it would be interesting to know how he responds to a different rider.
My other suggestion would be pairs XC, perhaps he would be more confident going around with a friend as he does when schooling.
Good luck!
 
I have purposely only been jumping him once a week, if we are a competition i havnt jumped him at home at all, hoping he would be a lot keener but it doesnt seem to be working!
 
You need to teach him to move off your leg, laterally as well as just forwards and back so that you can disengage his hind quarters easily whenever you need to and send him forwards. Do you ride in spurs? Carry a whip? My instructor calls it the 'smelly man on a train' technique. You dont want to be stood next to the smelly man (ie whip or spurs) so you will do everything you can to move away from it! Take him out SJ schooling or to group lessons/clinics so you can re-enact the situation with your added tension of having to compete as that might be effecting him too. Hope that makes sense
 
I had a pony like that she could pop courses at home of any height made it look easy and never stopped or ran out.
On show days it was another story I could not get her to jump at all.
My instructor felt it was my nerves once I entered the ring and after it happened more than once I was expecting hence getting more nervous and my riding changed as I was getting tense due to nerves :(
I think my instructor was right cause I entered the local sj on the yard I was livery on and had the attitude that what happens happens I've not travelled anywhere and lit put no effort into getting myself or pony ready
We came second in the novice class I was more relaxed.
Am not saying that's the problem with you and your horse but it's worth having a think do you tense up in the ring which in turn will effect your riding
 
amymay said:
Perhaps the reason he was sold originally was because he had gone sour????
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My thoughts too.

Or possibily as someone else has mentioned your riding changes when you get in the ring, so you get nervous and he gets nervous?
Do you have an instructor? Perhaps try getting them to take him around a small clear round and see how he behaves.
Also do you jump just single fences at home or actual courses?
 
You say you are jumping every week but in the same place so he is used to that. It might be worth just going to different venues randomly and just going into some early clear rounds - no pressure, its early with few people around and mix it up a bit. Do more than one clear round though (I had a problem when I started a previous ex racer like that - when it came to jumping he planted as he was used to turning up, jumping 1 clear round and going home!) I am not sure how your transport situation is but hope that my suggestion is practical. Another way to test if he is sour with his jumping could be to drag him to a local dressage and see how he reacts. I have had one who was ruined and never got him back - he would be fine at home but do everything in his power to ditch me in the ring. I took him to dressage and he was perfect (and he was vet checked etc).
 
Thank you for all your replies.... My instructor has concerns that he is quite lazy and is not keen to work!

We do go to different places most weekends.... It is just then we do go to the places that he is familiar, he is fine!

He is quite a nervy horse and has a tendency to nap when hacking, especially when i bought him at first, he was terrible but I put it down to him being unsettled, but I persevere and he moves on eventually!!
 
what happens when you school? Do you go to a fence away from other horses? Is he just napping to the other horses?
If so you may just need a lesson with a good instructor to cure his nappiness. FWIW I had the same problem with Pidge a couple of years ago and we even got eliminated before fence 2 as he refused to go away from the warm up ring and the other horses :mad: Had 2 lessons with my accredited BE trainer who confirmed having watched him he was napping to the other horses. Introduced him to the joys of Mr Whippy ;) on his bum every time he backed off to the other horses, probably no more than 5 times in total, and hey presto he realised that napping to the other horses was not really an option and touch wood we've had no problems since then. BTW the stick I use has a wide flap on it so makes more of a noise than anything else before I get shot down in flames for hitting my horse :p
 
Assume that theres nothing physically bothering him or the hard ground?- if not then i'd work on the flat work and work on getting a response i.e leg means go forwards- pressure and release. and then when he does go forwards, reward.

When he is more confident i'd keep the fences in the ring really quite small so that he hasn't got too much pressure on him!- you will get there though, i had a (very nappy) mare once who had been allowed to get away with things with her previous owners and they couldn't manage her (they also had her in a saddle that didn't fit), and she used to rear, buck and nap and wouldn't go round a 2ft3 course and with time and schooling we got her out doing foxhunters- the napping near enough stopped!-i did have to ride very positively and strongly though!- i do think you can't completely cure a horse from napping as there will always be situations that will bring it to the surface, but it can get easier and quicker to manage, also sometimes it's the more talented ones that will nap or be a bit tricky/quirky as they need theior brains to be occupied!

P.s also another thing i've tried on a nappy horse is to use reverse psychology and ask them to back up a few steps- they usually then want to go forwards! may be worth a try!
Good luck though, hope you can get it sorted.
 
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Yes, the arena is away from other horses, and he will hack out alone.

He is fine with his back, saddle & teeth....
 
Chipster said:
Thank you for all your replies.... My instructor has concerns that he is quite lazy and is not keen to work!

We do go to different places most weekends.... It is just then we do go to the places that he is familiar, he is fine!

He is quite a nervy horse and has a tendency to nap when hacking, especially when i bought him at first, he was terrible but I put it down to him being unsettled, but I persevere and he moves on eventually!!
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So it sounds like a real lack of confidence then if when you change the venue he naps... have you tried things like rescue remedies to calm him down? and do you hack on your own? so he has to rely more on you for his lead?
 
He may then need to come more off your leg then. Before he starts his bad behaviour at a comp does he kind of put the brakes on, ie start to wind down and slow down? This is the time to either put your leg on, tap him with a stick, grrr at him to get him going forwards. Is there anyway your instructor can go to a comp to see what he does so she can suggest ways to cure this?
 
I think he is just the most stubborn horse ever!!

I can feel him tense up as soon as we walk out of the warm up to the arena or start line, ! I use my seat and leg to move him on, my voice & crop behind the leg but it is like he goes completely numb! I have tried spurs for encouragement but still to no avail!
 
hmmm he does sound rather stubborn! Daft question but do you tense when you come out the warm up?
 
Chipster said:
I think he is just the most stubborn horse ever!!

I can feel him tense up as soon as we walk out of the warm up to the arena or start line, ! I use my seat and leg to move him on, my voice & crop behind the leg but it is like he goes completely numb! I have tried spurs for encouragement but still to no avail!
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He's either nervy or stubborn - probably not both.....

Either way, none of the above are going to help you.

Get a change of rider on him. Someone who's sensitive to his feelings, and has no nerves themselves - then you can get a better assessment of what's going on.
 
keep trying. I had this problem with mine - he would refused to go near a fence and rear when I pushed him. eventually we got further and further round the course and the other week we made it all the way round without any refusals. its taken us a year but it was so worth it
 
I smiled when I read your post (sorry!) as I had been going through the same thing! If I was lucky enough to make it over the 1st jump, that would be the it and I would leave the arena bowing my head in total shame, saying 'he is brilliant at home - promise!'

I have been trying lots of independent learning - hacks alone, lessons without other horses around, etc which helped a little but I would still battle once in the jumping arena with a horse napping towards the gate at every opportunity!

My saving grace has been spurs! I always tried to stay clear of using them so I bought the ones with the plastic roller balls which worked a TREAT! I save them for competitions and expensive lessons only so he reacts every time and responds to my subtle reminders!

Good luck, I hope you find a way to sort this little issue out!
 
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