Horse only stops at spreads! Confidence or something else??

[Guinefort]

16 year old horse, has a super jump very careful and clever with his feet. I get the feeling he HATES to touch a pole. He had approx 3.5 years out of any sort of arena work after rehabbing a front suspensory injury (trip accident) and was just hacking really until I bought him a year ago. He has never been a point and go type but pre-injury had been clearing 100s with old owner. We do not have any such aspirations but would be lovely to get round a 70!
When we first got him he seemed lacking confidence and wary of all coloured poles so we went back to basics and he is now pretty good with most things, fillers etc but he still really doesn’t like spreads!!! He will stop. Often he will jump on second attempt but sometimes refuses completely until the back rail is removed. He will jump solid jumps (arena XC style) that are just as wide as a small spread but just not spreads themselves. And we are talking very small spreads here.

I’m now trying to figure out if it could be pain related or if it is a confidence issue or perhaps a rider issue. Interestingly, instructor suggested riding in light seat today and he was massively more flowing and forward and springy into the jumps (just normal ones not spreads!). Im more than a little concerned about attempting to ride into a spread in light seat as he is inclined to slam on the brakes which might not end well!!!

I’m going round in circles trying to figure it out. Sore back? Pinchy saddle? Hocks? Or just lack of confidence after years out of the jumping game? I have saddle fitter booked to come out (again!) and a highly recommended back person next week but just really interested in people’s thoughts on this in the meantime…

 

[Red-1]

I have known a few who won't do spreads and prefer a short stride to a flyer, who then got diagnosed with navicular. I guess they were concerned about the landing. So yes, pain could be the cause.

I think it also can be a rider thing.

Also, with a square oxer, if the stride is wrong the horse can land on the back rail/scissor. There is simply less room for a bad stride. Some horses need you to be more accurate at an oxer as they are less forgiving.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Hmm, a 16 year old horse who has had a suspensory injury and after a lengthy break from being asked to jump is stopping at spreads?

It could be rustiness/remembered pain, but it is very likely to indicate discomfort. Did you get him vetted when you bought him? A loss of performance work up might tell you more. Plus all the usual teeth/saddle/physio checks.

You could get badly injured if he stops and you fall, tbh I'd be minded to forget the jumping in a 16yo horse. He's telling you something, even if it's just that he's no longer wishes to jump.

 

[Squeak]

Is it possible to speak to the previous owner and find out if this is a new thing or not? Or is it possible to look at some of his previous competition records etc? If he was competing at 100's happily in the past, rather than just an odd 100 fence here and there, I'd be concerned that he's now wary of a 70cm spread, especially as he is getting slightly older and has had an injury.

On the other hand it does sound like there could potentially be something else going on if he was worried about poles. I'd be inclined to get saddle and back checked and then a vet workup just to check there's nothing going on. At least if he gets the all clear, you know you're dealing with a fear/ training issue and not pain.

 

[Guinefort]

He has always been a more quirky type I believe, the previous owner was pretty open about him and said he would never be a push button for jumping, even at low heights.

Getting the vet out will be my next step and have not ruled out the old front suspensory as a potential issue (although I believe it was a fairly minor injury in the scheme of suspensory injuries and was very carefully rehabbed and given all clear to resume full work at the time). He has nice movement and given no other cause for concern other than this stopping at oxers.

I suppose what’s making me question things more is the fact that he will jump solid jumps of a similar width to a small oxer absolutely fine. Is there a difference, biomechanics-wise in the movement over these different types of jump that would cause him worry/pain in one but not the other? He is generally much happier with rustic style jumps. He will spook at coloured poles even when they are laid flat on the ground, so in a warm up we will generally lay the warm up jump flat and get him to walk over them both ways, then he will jump them no problem once they are put up to a cross pole or whatever! For example in lesson yesterday he jumped small cross pole perfectly when it was white poles but spooked and tried to stop when the exact same jump was changed to coloured stripe poles!

 

[Goldenstar]

This is usually pain related behaviour

 

[Bonnie Allie]

It could be vision. We had an amazing jumper that used to overjump spread fences. By chance our vet saw him jump over a shadow on the ground and suggested he had trouble seeing depth in objects. Sure enough he had a vision problem.

We never jumped him again and were very careful about where we hacked him out - only every on sunny days, and even flat ground. He had a great life - only passing at 28yrs

 

[irishdraft]

A friends horse started doing this show jumping, after a work up which cost £2000 it was discovered he had a problem in his neck. He was a hunter and had no problem with hedges etc it was just showjumping.

 

[Rowreach]

It could be vision. We had an amazing jumper that used to overjump spread fences. By chance our vet saw him jump over a shadow on the ground and suggested he had trouble seeing depth in objects. Sure enough he had a vision problem.

We never jumped him again and were very careful about where we hacked him out - only every on sunny days, and even flat ground. He had a great life - only passing at 28yrs

I was going to ask if his eyes had been checked.

 

[MereChristmas]

This is usually pain related behaviour

This is an experience to add to the possible remedies.

I had a warmblood mare who loved to showjump. I never jumped much over 80cm. I bought her from her breeder at 10 years of age so I knew her history. She hadn’t had any injuries.
After a little while she began stopping at spreads. We couldn’t see a particular reason for this.
I had been waiting on my saddler because the saddle the mare came with was far too big for me.

The saddler said the old saddle was too long and the points of the tree dug into her big shoulders.
A saddle with shorter seat and a tree suitable for her shoulders was fitted.
She never stopped again.

 

[Guinefort]

Thank you. Eyesight is definitely something else to consider…

@Meredith very interesting regarding saddle fit. I’m not convinced his current saddle (that I had fitted by a saddle fitter after she condemned the one he came with) is actually right for him at all. It’s a 17.5” and although he is big and appears to have a long back, he has a high wither and shark fin and massive shoulders that really reduce (to my very untrained eye!) the actual area available for a saddle to sit comfortably. His saddle naturally sits quite far back on him and between the shark fin and the giant shoulder it’s not physically possible to position the saddle any further forward.
Taking this into account I wonder if 17.5 is actually too long for him and is either bridging or putting the rider weight in the wrong place for balance. I have booked a different saddle fitter to come and have a look next week so it will be interesting to see what they have to say.

 

[MereChristmas]

Thank you. Eyesight is definitely something else to consider…

@Meredith very interesting regarding saddle fit. I’m not convinced his current saddle (that I had fitted by a saddle fitter after she condemned the one he came with) is actually right for him at all. It’s a 17.5” and although he is big and appears to have a long back, he has a high wither and shark fin and massive shoulders that really reduce (to my very untrained eye!) the actual area available for a saddle to sit comfortably. His saddle naturally sits quite far back on him and between the shark fin and the giant shoulder it’s not physically possible to position the saddle any further forward.
Taking this into account I wonder if 17.5 is actually too long for him and is either bridging or putting the rider weight in the wrong place for balance. I have booked a different saddle fitter to come and have a look next week so it will be interesting to see what they have to say.

I hope you can find a solution whether it is veterinary or tack