How to fix refusing from spooking?

Hoof_Prints

Hoof_Prints

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I am in the frustrating situation where I have a pony who is an absolutely brilliant jumper- will jump from any stride and leave the poles up in super fast times as she can turn on a sixpence and shift her bum very fast :p
BUT
she will only jump fences she has seen before, she will jump fantastic at home and the local venue that she has been many times and recognises the fences. As soon as I take her out somewhere new, she just will not jump ! She will jump them after a few attempts but clearly that only results in elimination :rolleyes: .

Has anyone had a horse like this? and if so was it fixable or just an inbuilt personality factor that can't be trained out. I've had her 5 years and she has always been like it. She is the type of pony who likes to 'look' at things. She will not run away but rather just stop dead and refuse to go near it in the first place. Recently she has took to refusing at the last minute and spinning to the side (I hit the deck a couple of times last month). She has had all the usual checks done- and I know she can jump because when she knows the fences she will jump brilliant ! just hates new ones.
 
Think the answer would probably be just to get her out and about and seeing as many different places and varieties of fences that you can.

Maybe hire a different arena and their SJs (every week or more if you can) rather than competitions, so you've got plenty of time to play around and rectify any issues. Spend plenty of time warming her up, wiggling in and around fences and basically giving her plenty of time to look at everything before you're asking her to jump.

Going out to some clear round jumping would be good too, cheap and you can usually stay in there until you've gotten round - and it starts tiny and you can build up over a couple of rounds.

Basically lots of repetition, always use the same routine wherever you are (this will settle her), don't get stressed out yourself - one of my favourite phrases is ...ride as though you have 20 minutes and it'll take all day, ride as though you have all day, it'll take 20 minutes.

Also keep fences pretty small and do your utmost not let her run out! Keep it slow (if you start with fences really tiny you could just walk) so she has loads of time to have a look, then if she's gawking and stops in front the fence you can still make her go, need to instill that turning away is not an option - she'll learn that you aren't gonna ask her to jump anything that's gonna bite her - but she must go forwards.

That's how I'd approach it anyway...hope it helps a bit. Good luck.
 
If it only happens out I would also look at how you’re riding her.

My bold as brass jump anything got spooky and needed a look at fillers, it got to the point that if I changed the jump slightly he would stop again. It was normally a slow down, look and then either not go or jump from a stand still. I couldn’t understand why he was doing it until I had a good look at how I was riding him. I had allowed him to look and created a bit of a habit as I thought I was being nice letting him have a look when we first started going out. Not only that but I was looking and as a spooky horse he was going 'eek what’s that?! Must be scary if the pilot is looking. Ok I’ll have a look to see if I need to save us both by running away' :rolleyes: :D
It got to the point that even a cross pole was treated like he had never seen a fence before. After a very good look at how I was riding I changed the way I came to a fence.
So i now have to make sure that I absolutely do not under any circumstances look at the fence. I can look up and over and past it but not at it. I keep my leg on and him moving forwards but being quiet with it and my contact steady so I don’t drop him before the fence, look always where I want to go and once on the way to the fence look past it.
I now know I was also tipping forwards as I looked and was making everything difficult and a big deal for him. I didn’t realise at the time how much I was doing to put him off as at the time it didn’t feel like it but the more he looked, the more I expected it and the more I created it by dropping him, taking my leg off etc.

I would also point out that mine had a physical problem, was still jumping fab but was very looky. It got to the point that he just said no which was not like him at all, like yours he would always jump after a look so knew something was very wrong. Now there is no stopping him, the more I rode him this way the bolder he has got. Now on the odd occasion I slip up and look (coming into a particularly big oxer with fillers and a water tray, I did sneak a peek, went green and took my leg off. He carried on anyway even thou he had a little look) he carries on as he now doesn’t think we need saving from every monster under a filler :o. Dont get me wrong he can be a bit sticky sometimes the first time round but never to the point were I think he is going to stop.
I'm not saying this is the problem but it is one area that might be worth looking at.

Lots of riding over small course to build up her confidence, keep her forwards but not fast, give her time to process and quitely support her. Oh and if your instructor can come and help you at a clear round or if you hire a course then that will help massively. Its good to have eyes on the ground to see what if different when jumping away from home.

Good luck, I know how frustrating it can be :)
 
I also agree with VAM - I inadvertently created a problem myself by allowing my horse to look at spooky fences and treating him as a green baby when at new places, when in fact all I was doing was creating doubt and confusion. I'm not sure I've 100% stopped myself from doing it, but certainly since I started working hard on it, problems have reduced/eliminated. Different horses obviously will think differently and it could be completely different to your situation, but just something to bear in mind as a possibility.
 
Agree with VAM also. I had a mare exactly the same. Very careful and liked a look. Thing that solved our problems was going out to loads of stuff and also making sure I wasnt riding with handbrake on! In fact at comps a slightly forward pace that gave her confidence and a very soft contact so she had no feeling of the brakes being applied and was being told firmly to go! I had a tendency to hold on to try and stop her refusing/run out and infant more leg and soft forward contact was key. I also used to tip on last stride. So now on way into fences I think sit up let go relax and kick! As I was also getting nervous of refusal and sitting tight holding my breath and not using my legs too. Easily done when horse seems to lock on and speed up only to stop at last minute.

Good luck. With hard work its totally fixable. My mare was super xc and trained over novice height fences. Show jumping she was always a bit more nervous as she actually hated hitting poles and sending them flying - plus those jumps were brighter and show jumping canter is that bit slower. The pace xc seemed to help her and it wasnt a flat out gallop just a nice forward canter but tbh I'm a lot more confident xc - years riding bareback jumping logs - so probably I helped that way too. We did manage to get her over all her fears though so it can be done x
 
Thanks Vam, some brilliant advice - I have been having the same issues with mine and it is nice to know that there can be light at the end of the tunnel :)
 
I don't usually open my mouth when I don't know what I am talking about but I used to spend my summers with an Irish show jumping family who sold horses for mega bucks.

I noticed they only put their horses over piddling little jumps and I could not understand it. But I was told it was all about confidence and by doing that, every day, the horses got so confident they didn't even think about it... "Then, when we take them off to The Dublin Horse Show, they fly the fences as they are not aware they can't do it".

I don't know how much sense there is in that but as well as thinking in straight lines, it seems to me horses have a problem estimating scale so it sort of makes sense!

OK, now you can tell me I am talking complete nonsense -- but it is something I have always wondered about. Not to mention my yearling who banged his shins on a rail six inches from the ground and took some convincing that he really could step over it! (He jumps fine now:D).

So maybe lots of jumping small fences in different places as has already been said?
 
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