Horse will not jump at competitions - Please help

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jillp

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I was wondering if anyone could help.

I own a section D that usually loves to jump. He will jump anything that is put in front of him at home, and also in the warm up, but when it comes to entering the ring he just stops at the first jump three times and gets eliminated.

Has the same thing happened to anyone else? If so what did you do to get over this?

Thanks
 
Lessons or clinics at the venue or arena hire.

Is he nappy or spooky? Have you tried doing a clear round to get him started? Is he young/green?
 
what age is he? how many shows has he been to?

i had one that was awful at shows so i started doing inhand stuff to get him used to the environment and then took him into the tiniest starter stakes classes i could find. I looked like a loon on a 16.2, but it meant i could get him over every jump, even in walk if i had to.
 
Take him somewhere with two arenas that have jumps set up. Practice warming up in one (including jumping), then got into the other arena and jump a course straight off. Does he do the same thing?
Some horses switch off after the warm up if they're not expecting another work session. If that's the case, practice is your solution.

If he doesn't do the stopping, consider if you're riding differently because of the competition factor. For example, are you riding him forward enough/get after him the same as you would at home or in the warm up?
 
Go somewhere and school him as if he's at home. Repeat with different places until he gets over it. Going by the breed I am assuming he is napping or spooking so you might need an instructor to help you too.

Also keep the jumps so low that you can walk over them if necessary. Insist he crosses them, doesn't matter what it looks like at this stage.
 
Get him scoped! mine was exactly the same, had 4months of ulcer treatment and went to her first show on saturday since Jan, and jumped 2 perfect rounds!!
 
Hope I'm not being rude but are you sure it's not you? My first horse was like this and it got into a vicious circle - I became nervous expecting her to refuse and then she became anxious because I was!
 
How about doing the clear round jumping when they are at teeny tiny height? You can then insist on walking over the fences (or even being led if necessary) and the horse gets used to the environment.
 
If you are absolutely sure it isn't you being worried then it sounds like he just needs exposure.

Echo what others have said - go to clinics, clear round jumping, hire different arenas etc. You could try a different jockey too.
 
Do a class/clear round small enough that he can step over them. Trot into them and do not let him spin out of it and keep at him until he jumps it. Sounds as though he knows 2 stops and he's out so its become a habit.
 
Sounds like he's learnt that all he has to do is stop and he gets to go out of the arena. I had a crafty horse that learnt that trick.

Worth bearing in mind though that it could be a medical issue as well
 
My horse did this at the first show jumping competition we went to. She refused every jump, but thankfully it was a small local club comp so they took the fences down to tiny cross-poles which she basically walked over.
Jumping at home is a very different environment to a competition. There are so many distractions. As others have said, hire an arena, get jump lessons away from home in an unfamiliar environment and when you enter competitions enter small classes and build from there. Make it as easy and enjoyable as possible and your horse will soon be enjoying jumping at competitions as much as at home.
 
What are your jumps like at home? Are they brightly coloured like they are in the ring? I had this problem with Pie back in the early days as the jumps we used in our lessons were all just rustic poles. When he saw coloured poles he was genuinely afraid of them.
I ended up organising a job lot of poles and painting them - along with making some fillers. Every lesson we made sure that there were some spooky fences (rugs draped over pole / old carpet underneath etc). That along with going out as much as we could - and doing clear round just with poles on the floor and building up to popping small fences has pretty much sorted him out - although I still have to be careful as the dirty stop is still in him!
Good luck and stick with it!!
 
You've had some really good replies.

It could be that he is green and being in the ring alone is daunting for him - so he stops. In which case lots of work to get him used to the environment, used to being alone in the ring etc. If you enter HC it takes the pressure off you and a lot of venues will give you a bit more time etc. (Plus it doesn't look like you are pot hunting is the class is full of little kids.)


Conversely it could be because he has been over jumped and has worked out that the way to get out of work is to stop at the first fence. After three stops - sometimes two depending on rules - he gets to go out. This one is really hard to break because at the heart of it he is right! If he loves to jump normally perhaps stop competing all together for a good long while and come back focused on XC / HT only so he regains his love of it?

It could be that when you get into the ring you tense up and he is sensitive enough that this upsets him? Lots of practice and experience helps. Perhaps also take your instructor with you so they can see what is happening?

As you have probably gathered by now this is more common that perhaps you thought. The trick is working out why. The only one which is really hard to resolve is where they have worked out that they get out of work this way. Everything else is fixable!
 
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