hospitalised by daft animal who forgot to put his feet down! Twice!

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gadeke

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Ok well I was doing some jumping about 6 months ago on my ned and nothing big or scary I may add. Only about 3ft max with insignificant fillers . He is a spooky fool tho. I was jumping an upright which I had already jumped in one direction and he took off fine then just didn't put his front legs down and just nose dived and i hit the deck face first. I have it on video and have re ran it a million times and just do not know what happened. He took off fine cleared the fence and literally landed on his chin. Anyhow I wrote it off as a stupid mistake either he wasn't concentrating or something caught his eye or I don't know what.... Anyhow I'm back riding again after a few months off with ligament damage and he's done it again! His back teeth and everything has been checked He does have a slight cataract in his right eye but he's always had it and its never affected him! The vet said its insignifiant and not worth worrying about. (He's 8 by the way) Anyway I've totally lost my confidence and I'm scared of jumping him as te last 2 times it has ended so badly. Even tho I did get back on and jump another fence before being carted off to hospital both times which I'm quite proud of even witha mouth full of sand! ha! Anyway I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on where to go now! He has competed succesfully at intro and had just started PN when this started. He is really talented I just wish I could stop him 1) being so spooky that he has a panic attack from just a cross pole and 2) throwing himself on the floor. Any advice greatly appreciated.
 
I agree there is obviously a problem here. I wouldn't jump him for his sake if not your own one of you could be sereously hurt.
 
Has the eye been checked recently? Maybe the cataract has got worse?

IMO it is not worth jumping him. As talented as you think he is it is not normal for a horse not to get his landing gear out on a flat surface. Not worth the risk of injury to you or him
 
Think you need to stop jumping for a bit until this is solved. Has he had a neuralogical check? Any spinal/ brain problems could cause this. Have seen this once at tweseldown when a horse forgot to put its legs out jumping into the water but it didn't do it again. Just be careful with yourself.
 
Glad you escaped without serious injury. Gridwork and front placing poles can make a horse more careful but some horses are natually clumsy and spooky and I'd be a bit worried he hasn't learned from his mistake. I had a mare who was lovely and bold but clumsy who fell with 3 times over a jump and once on the flat, twice rotational falls. The one on the flat she galloped headlong into a patch of deep mud, ignoring my attempts to balance her, I knew she was going to at least stumble, but due to her head being in the air and her speed, she actually turned a somersault. Fortunately we were going so fast and it was so soft and muddy I was thrown well clear and we were both unharmed. But she fell 3 times when hitting relatively easy jumps with her front feet, she just wouldn't learn from her mistakes. I sold her to a girl who only wanted to jump up to 2 feet 9 which she was safe up to as I didn't fancy my chances next time she fell. She used to clear up at local unaffiliated level too.
 
I have had a TB mare that came out of racing that did this, would pick up wonderfully for the jump, but had no instinct to put her front legs back on the ground.

What worked with her, was loads of loads of loose jumping with grids and then with a rider on with raised trotting poles and slowly built her up. She was a big lanky mare and didnt have any concept of how her body worked or indeed where it was half the time.

With regards to the spooking, I always tend to ignore it, the more of a deal you make, the more reason the horse has to think it is scary, my homebred, spooks at everything, people laugh at him as he will not trot past a jump in the ring, however point him at it to jump it and he never ever stops, it is just him being a prat and making sure his rider is awake.

Best of luck and keep things low and safe.

She did come good and has gone on to event.
 
There are lots of people who want to ride but not jump. If you want to jump I think it would be wise to find another horse and sell this one to a non jumping home.

I have heard of this before, a couple of horses. One person just made the decision never to try to jump it again (luckily it was very good at dressage).

Is it really worth the risk?
 
Hm. I'd try free-jumping, too. If he does it then may be worth checking for wobblers ... Especially if he is big warmblood type?
 
Hmm, once could have just been a moment of stupidity, but twice, No. I wouldn't do any more jumping. No point in risking yourself. Could the horse do another job?
 
He's ID X TB lovely type excellent at XC never spooky there just Showjumps. He's been round the farm ride at somerford since and was fine. He does a nice dressage test too just still very spooky doesn't like flowers around the arena or judges that sit outside the car. Just annoyed cos he has so much talent but I really can't trust him.
 
We had a cob once that just couldn't get his head round ditches - he wasn't particularly spooky, but when he wasn't running out he couldn't decide where to put his feet and fell in them.
He actually fell on top of his 60 year-old owner on his first morning's hunting! I worked on lots of little ditches wherever possible and he could just about cope with a solid sided 'coffin' ditch on an XC course. But out hunting I tried to avoid them where possible - one time when I jumped a rail only to find a ditch three strides away he spreadeagled like a cartoon horse - I could see his overreach boots out in front of his nose!
Trotting poles and gymnastic jumping might help and also jumping lots of different fences on fun ride type events. But I would keep an eye on that cataract too if he doesn't improve.
I've known a couple of horses with them and it definitely made their jumping more erratic.
 
Had an eventer that took off and didn't put his landing gear down, literally just landed as if he was still in full flight. Turned out to be a heart problem, which didn't cope with the extra fitness required for Intermediate. Might be worth the vet having a listen.
 
Sounds extremely scary, I'd have him checked for narcolepsy, I had a friend with a big cob x shire who used to drop to his knees with no warning whatsoever. Vet checked him over and said he had narcolepsy which can happen with no warning at all, he was put on meds and cross fingers it hasn't happened since and he's now off the meds.
 
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