Horse will not jump.

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littlen

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Hi,

I have recently had some problems with my horse, but since the last post he has really come on leaps and bounds (its only been about a week since I brought him back into work) and in this time I have started to ride him and he has really settled. Initially it was hard but every time he comes in he gets better. Im starting to see my lovely boy back instead of the nightmare of a horse I had when he was out of work.

Now I have started hacking him out at least once a day, and have come up against another problem... he will not jump or step over any type of log. Now I myself am not a big fan of jumping, however our hacking is covered in those things designed to stop motorbikes which he must either jump or step over, but he will not. It took me about 20mins to get him over one yesterday. He just plants and will not even step over it.
Any ideas how to teach him to step over or jump over these things?
Is it possible to teach a 10 year old horse of who has never jumped to jump or am i asking too much, and how would I go about it?
crazy.gif

Otherwise we cant get very far
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If its only a week since you brought him into work leave him a bit longer as his muscles will be weak and he may find it hard to jump
 
It is possible to teach an older horse new tricks. My mare is 13 and has one eye. She only jumped for the first time a year ago and is now happily jumping up to 3ft.

It is probably just a case of too much too soon. How long has he been out of work? If it was a substantial length of time he is probably just overfaced since he has only just been brought back into work.
 
I have a jumping pony (left on my sig) who is currently doing 1.05's senior bsja and i've jumped him 1.30m at home but he will not go over those things. i don't know what it is about them but mine absolutely hated them, the only way i got him over was to resort to pony club kicking and breaking a stick out of the tree
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. Is there anyone you can ride with to give your horse a lead?
 
I'd bribe a friend to go with you and let his/her ned take the lead and walk quietly over a log. Your lad should follow over if you keep him close behind. And if that doesn't work, bribe TWO friends and have 1 in front, t'other behind so you have a sort of your-ned sandwich. Most neds will want to do what the others are doing and wouldn't want to get left behind. Then build on small successes. Good luck.
 
(Will probably get told off for this...)

I was given a horse to ride who sounds very sim ilar to yours. She had some kind of issue about her legs (came from the gypsies so we think she was hit round the legs maybe) and she was/is very nervous about poles etc near them.

After a couple of months, I had her jumping SJ courses, though she remained very nervous.

Basically, what I did was stand her in the school (ridden) and get someone to make a square of poles around her, so she *had* to step over one to leave the box. I continued with this, and then started leaving two poles at right angles on the long side of the school. Like this:
n61205122_38361812_4634.jpg


Then it was just about building up confidencce, good strong firm riding and NEVER punishing. Her problem was fear, so I had to be really confident, and know when to give a tap with the whip, and lots of praise at the end of a session. I also had a helper stood on the other side of the poles who would give her a polo after she had gone over.

With poles and teeny jumps, never turn or circle away, horses have long legs, they can step over them.

After a bit, she would jump the top of the blocks. She was 9, and had never allowed anyone to jump her. You just have to have the right mentality - people had either been to negative (shouting hitting etc) and too soft (turning away every time she stopped, patting her to 'soothe' when she had refused etc).


Hope that helps.
 
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If its only a week since you brought him into work leave him a bit longer as his muscles will be weak and he may find it hard to jump

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto, a week is not long enough for the muscle to build up
 
He was out of work about 2 months, but was still hacked on the odd occasion in this time.
Im not asking him to jump a course just to step over a log so I can get onto the bridlepath lol.

He just will not go over them, those things to stop motorbikes I mean which limits us hacking wise.
He has never been taught to jump, hence why I think training him to jump would do him good. Im not going to start jumping him now as he has just come back into work, but i was looking for ideas to help get him over these pole things.

The only way i can get him over these things is to get off and lead, but Its not ideal since theres noone else to give me a leg up once im off. It usually takes afew attempts even when leading.

Oh and we were with a friend when hacking and he still didnt follow the other horse. He is not bothered about being left alone lol.
 
no reason why you can't start some pole work - this is the basis of jumping anyway! lay out some poles randomly and get him used to walking and trotting over them.
what problems does he have?? is he thinking jumping is going to hurt him at all??
 
I will start pole work, the only problem is the arena at my yard is a nightmare to book and you have to pay extra, hence why most of my schooling is done on hacks.

I dont know what the problem is to be honest!
He has never learnt to jump and has never jumped with previous owner (or hacked or schooled or been stabled but those problems are slowly being resolved!)

When he comes up to a log, or step over thing he just plants himself and will not move. If i try to trot him up to it he will trot up to it at the last second and stop dead. He will walk right up to it and almost be brushing up against it but will not lift his legs to get over it. When after 20mins of arguing he decides to step over it he tends to scrape his legs as he goes over it (he wears brushing boots so dosent hurt)

I have tried forcing him, and letting him go up to it and have a look first but neither do much good. I have also tried using a friends horse as a lead which also didnt work./
 
Sorrybut i have no real advice other than to be patient but all I can say is I have a 23yo pony (had for 15 years) and he will NOT step over these things - there are actually now some bridleways I cannot take him on as they have put in theses stupid bits of wood about a foot or so apart to stop bikes etc.

There is no way in hell I'd get him over them plus the 'gateway' is quite narrow. I mean, one piece of wood maybe but two - no way. He would either try launch the two and kneecap me in the process no doubt or he'd plant himself and get into a real tizz.

This too was a previous BSJA pony - we tried for years to get him to walk over trotting poles (single one on the ground) and even if you succeeded one time, the next time you tried you'd have to start from scratch again! I hope yours is maybe just a bit confused about what he has to do. Try some pole exercises at home - the poles in a square (as mentioned) is supposed to be v effective, we were advised to feed the horse within the square so he'd have to step over the poles to get in and again to get out.
 
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