Horse with no heart to compete?

Weezy

Weezy

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Has anyone known one? My horse is awesome at home, I cannot fault her one bit. But when we go out, even though she is calm, collected, and outwardly not bothered by anything, as soon as we go into the ring, if there is anything like banners or signs, etc, she will nap for England. Today I took her to the local RC get together and took her into the 2ft3 because they had the fillers (ALL of which she has jumped numerous times at home, no probs before) below each wing, so it was something new to look at. We had 2 nappy stops at different fences because of these fillers. On re-presentation she jumped them. After a rest we went back in and she flew round, even though her face was, by all accounts, tense and not wanting to do it, and I had to really chivvy her along. She has never stopped or napped at home, but at comps it is like she throws the towel in and has no heart to perform.

Obviously I am trying to take her out and about as much as possible to see different things, but the lessons she learns appear to only work for that one day, and we are back to square one the next time we are out.

So, has anyone come up against this problem? Did you solve it?
 
Weezy Hi

Have seen a few like this who seem to get stage fright at shows, I know you say she is calm but maybe try a calmer? If she jumps well at home its worth a try?
Clare
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Yes, we had this with one of my old ponies. He could jump for England at home but if you took him to a show he wouldnt even go in the ring, when eventually we managed to get him in we would just get eliminated at the first jump. But when we sold him he was flying everything and winning! It was just a case of taking him to everything and a serious amount of strong riding!
 
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Weezy Hi

Have seen a few like this who seem to get stage fright at shows, I know you say she is calm but maybe try a calmer? If she jumps well at home its worth a try?
Clare
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Interesting idea
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She is on Top Spec Turbom she is that laid back, and even that does not do anything hehe! Yeah, I will try some SoKalm paste next time and see if we get a different attitude
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My old pony used to do this, he jumps almost anything at home but as soon as he got out he became a stubborn old dobbin! wouldn't budge, took us quite a while to get him jumping well- just perservered really. We never much got the hang of cross country though!!
 
She flies XC no probs, its the coloured poles we have a prob with
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the_watcher (I think it was her - apologies if not) said today that maybe she just has an arena phobia
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She deffo prefers to be led, rather than doing leading, so am thinking non-lead TCing over the winter
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Yes I have had one, tried for 3 years with it and ended up selling it cheap as a hack.
Interesting to note the connection with who you bought yours through.
 
I won't be giving her 3 years
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Luckily she has so many other redeeming features and is outstanding to hunt that if I do sell her on I don't think I will ever take a loss as she is so genuine - she would also dressage no probs, she doesn't appear to have the stage fright with the white boards (from what I have experienced so far anyway!) I have all of her history and the woman that owned her before only hacked her, and the woman she bought her off was the person who imported her and just did the schooling and didn't compete. Connection noted
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In all honesty I just think she needs competition experience.
Shes been for so long as a hack and hunting horse, this sjing melarky is all a bit new.
She may jump poles and fillers at home, but atmosphere is very different at shows.
You remember that horse Del i rode last year? he had terrible stage fright!

From just taking him out reguarly he is now jumping DC and been place ever time out round Novice eventing tracks. He was also 7 and had jumped in France before he came over here.
He just freaked out.

Time will tell, mares are difficult..... remember mine!
 
My pony was similar in that he'd xc beatifully but not show-jump; I bridged the gap by doing workers, it meant he got the arena experience, without coloured fences, as his confidence grew WH, his SJ got better & better. Whilst I could never show jump him indoors, he eventually got really handy show jumping outdoors.
 
Yeah, she deffo needs mileage, but I just have this nagging feeling (as does my instructor, YM and the team manager) that maybe I am fighting a losing battle. I am going to do my damndest to prove us all wrong
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Sometimes with the laid back ones its really easy to forget how green they are. I struggled all last year with stupid behaviour and spooking and finally just by jumping, jumping and more jumping it has been solved. Have lessons in different places, change the fence every time she has jumped it and give her a reminder to stay focussed. It has finally clicked for mine but its also easier for him as his flatwork is so much better.
 
I had a lovely horse a few years ago.... worked at Medium level at home, did everything asked.... but when you took it to a competition I had the same experience! I tried and tried but it seemed that outside in the real world he had the attention span of a gnat! In the end after three years of really bad scores, I gave up and sold him as an escort horse as he was excellent in traffic..... So sorry no wonderful advice!
 
I hear you lec, and jump, jump and jump some more I shall be doing. Told the team manager today that I am going to go on EVERY training day, regardless of the height of the class and instructor and I are going to hire a local indoor with spooky poly jumps to have a sesh in, and I am going to go over to CotswoldSJs to jump her jumps too - we shall see what we end up with!

Ovidius that sounds rather identical
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She is the best hacking horse in the world and is never scared by anything!
 
I do seriously think it just comes down to her history and the fact that she hasn't really had to do anything challenging by herself and the plan to take her everywhere and expose her to new things might work, or at least desensitise her a bit.

Interesting view about the calmer, I nearly suggested it today, seems bizarre I know as she is sooo laid back, but it might help with her to focus a little better. I would have thought something daily might be more positive than a dose before competition though.
 
I think I would be inclined to take her out as much as possible over the winter, at least weekly, and see if it makes a difference - if it doesn't then it is a better time to sell and she has all that hunt history from the winter, if it does, then yay! I think it is really easy to forget how green they can be when they are so talented.
 
Owen was just like that for ages when I first got him, He froze and would not go out of walk- it wasnt just the fillers but the whole atmosphere but the more rounds he did the better he got, but always very very tense and worried about the atmo and the fillers but the last event I did with him in '05 he was finally just right.

Then when he came back into work again this year ( after his two year lay off) it was like he was back to square one again and again he needed outing after outing to get him to relax

At one point I took him to three different shows on three consecutive days and that worked beautifully but he still is not relaxed enough -( Ive not got off my butt to take him to more places!) but I do think he'll be ok in another few outings.

The best thing might be for a horse like this would be to do a 3 day BSJA show like they do at dorset county showground. As LEC says lots of jumping and more jumping and more shows like 2 a weekend if you can every weekend. Rather tedious!
 
Thanks guys, it is really interesting to hear other points of view. I am going to work hard on getting lots of submission in her flat work too, and crack her canter, cannot but help!
 
I agree that for many horses experience sorts out the problems in the end.

However with one of mine who hated jumping at shows ( he would do it but it was always a battle) I eventually turned to dressage. He loved it and did really well and if id been more experienced in dressage I think he would have gone a long way.

So my advice is keep giving her experience but also work on the dressage experience. At least that way if you decide she's not a SJ then you will be able to sell her with some dressage form. And know when to say enough is enough.
 
Ha!

I will give you a list of dates and you can come with me to everything !!!

Plus I think going somewhere like Cooksons will be really good as you can jump like a comp with no one looking!!

I am taking Paladin back to basics this season, currently having huuuugge fights about jumping over his 'own' ditches (lots of would like to rear bunny hops, but then mum gets angry!).

I think P has missed out all that baby training of being taken out loads, so it is harder when she is older, but the more outings you do the better. Plus we need to make sure you always do the clear round first to get her going, its cheaper than being eliminated!!
 
Yes, with Teazle. She would fly XC with my sister but as soon as she went SJ it was a different story. She would stop at every single filler pretending she'd never seen one before even though we mades loads at home. So my sister took her to absolutely LOADS of clear rounds. She did a sj and xc hunter trial in the autumn. When we got there they had to make the SJ course extra long (20 fences) and the XC shorter because of the ground. Well we thought she wouldn't even get past the first fence as they had incredibly scary fillers under most of the fences. I couldn't believe it when she went clear!

So with Teazle lots and lots of practice worked, oh and hunting also really helped.
 
I don't think that P doesn't have the heart to compete, I don't think it has actually clicked yet what she is supposed to be doing. When I jumped her at your place she felt very sweet going into a fence.

To be fair to P how many shows have you actually been to since you bought her? And how many of those were less than a month apart? Breaking your bum/flooded house/your poor mum and going on holiday
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has not done either of you any favours. Do some proper concentrated jumping and see how you get on.
 
i'd echo all the other advice... loads and loads of jumping. i'd take her to every minimus i could find and make her learn that if she stops or spooks, she gets to jump it/clamber over it from a standstill... if she wants to make it harder that's just fine, but there isn't an alternative to jumping!
i'd have a day at home of hanging rugs, sheets, anything else you can find over a pole, making it look weird and different every time she comes to it. basically try to make something very frightening at home, black plastic under a pole, whatever, and again showing her that there isn't an alternative!
good luck!
 
We have done that at home kerilli, she doesn't look at anything at all
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DD yes, she is very sweet going into a fence at home, doesn't bother her at all. It is just when we go out that she becomes a very nappy little monster. I will take her out as much as poss, but we are not exactly awash with stuff around here, and, if I am honest, it pees me off travelling an hour only to be eliminated
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But if I want her to jump then I suppose I need to put the hours and the money in, its just I bought an older horse so we could just get on, at this rate I may have well bought myself a 4 year old - I think that is what is getting me cross more than anything else!

CSJ, yes, send me an itinery please, you know how crap I am at finding stuff
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Claire - thank you. The plan was to hunt as much as poss over the winter, lets just hope F&M doesn't hold us up for too long
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Dozzie, yes, I have a dressage instructor who I will go back to weekly during the autumn/winter and will make sure we explore that route too!

Cheers everyone!
 
I had a problem with one of my past horses. I did have to reschool him when I got him and took him to lots of training and competitions etc. He had masses of scope - would jump anything in a SJ / XC lesson but put him in a competition and his entire attitude changed. In show jumping, he would nap like hell. Some days he'd be brilliant and win BSJA but more often than not half way round he would just give up. I had someone else ride him at a show once and he did the same with her so I assume it wasn't me and any nerves I had and as I said some days he would go brilliantly! With XC, he would nap for a good 5 minutes at the start box. Then suddenly a switch would go in his head and he'd get going and fly round (usually clear but of course, by then Id been eliminated due to not getting to fence 1 for 5 mins!!). I tried everything for 3 years. Somebody happened to recognise him one day at a show. They said they remember watching him in a BSJA competition, basically getting thrashed as a youngster. I think that's what gave him his attitude which is understandable. Once I heard that, after 6 months I decided it wasn't fair to keep asking him to do something he clearly hated. I sold him to a lovely home where he just hacks out and does the odd dressage competition. Hopefully he is far happier now.

I think you need to give the horse you're best shot. But you'll soon realise if it is something your horse really doesn't want to do. In which case, it is kinder for the horse to go to a home where he can enjoy life (ie. maybe that's hacking etc.?). I definately think some horses prefer the quiet life!
 
I have a similar problem with my 6 year old. He is fantastic at home, but when i get to a show he spooks at everything and will stop over 2'6" whilst at home he is jumping 3'9" easily and will jump allsorts of fillers etc. I have worked it out that he jumps better in bad weather, or small shows. I think its the noise so I tried putting cotton walls in his ears and a hat on. He jumped clear for the first time in ages, so I am going to keep doing this and hope it solves the problem.
 
The napping is insecurity about what is going on. As you know, had same sort of probs with G, he would just completely switch off and wasnt even saying "no", just wasnt on the same planet!!! But putting him on Anxi Calm as advised by BB's and just taking him as many different places as possible has done him wanders, we have gone from getting E to last week getting around a BE course with 1 fence down with others getting E and faults all over the place, and getting doubles clears TB SJing. Its just exposure and eliminating the anxiety which causes the napping.
 
Could she be picking up changes in you? You will be different at a competition - more excited, maybe more tense, you will have more adrenaline - and maybe she is noticing these subtle changes. Some horses seem to be sensitive. Sometimes, using Rescue Remedy (on you, not her!) can mask the differences. It might be worth a go...
 
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