jumping / refusal help !

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Ilovemythoroughbred

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hi everyone

please if you could try and read to the end it would help me soo much :))
I need some ideas/ help here is the situation:

I have had my 16hh ish for about 7yrs now and she is 9 - she has done many unaffiliated events , pony club , sj the lot
she is a real cracker and such a super star she is always bold and strong and I can count on one hand the amount of times she has ever refused with me .

however I am not sure what has happened and I am really worried I know this girly like the back of my hand and I don't know what has happened - back , saddle has all been checked and she is fine in that department and she isn't sensitive anyway nor has even been.

I took her to an unaffiliated event end of September which she aced ( we came 1st!! I am still over the moon ) since then she has been in normal work however I haven't done tons of jumping with her since ( although I don't do too much anyway ) so 2 weeks ago one evening after work I took her into the school floodlights were on and we just did some pole work and schooling she was a bit spooky but I personally put it down to shadows of light and it was quite a yucky night. so then I had my lesson last week and we weren't jumping too big about 90cm ( this wasn't my first time jumping since September she had previously been fine ) she jumped the spread once perfectly bold we then came round to it again nothing had changed and she still went to it bold and then all of a sudden she did an extremely dirty stop ( I cant even tell you how unlike her it is ) so as you do we took her round to it again and she refused again however it didn't seem like the sort when they are like I can get away with this she was committing and left me at the last hurdle! we took the back bar away and then she went over it however really cat leaped it and landed on all 4 feet ! I then on Sunday just took her over some poles and x's and she was quite all over the place ( very unlike her ) she is normally a really smart , committed and careful jumper .any ideas or help accepted I just don't know what has happened or if I have done something although I haven't changed my way of riding etc - I must say also a few people have said it seems like she is testing me although if I'm quite honest I don't think this is the case.

I love her to bits and I really could do with some help and opinions from other people !
thanks ( well done for reading it all by the way )
 
The fact that you have had so long and this is completely out of character I would personally get a full work up with the Vet. What did your instructor think? Even established horses can loose their confidence pretty quickly, you obviously have a lovely partnership with her so follow your gut feeling.
 
thank you - this was what I was thinking to be honest . My instructor seemed as if he was dodging the question to be honest and gave me 101 answers and said maybe we have to go back to basics but personally if needs be its what I would do but seems quite a change from where she is now to go back to pole work although I agree with you on the confidence as I feel she is loosing it and then it will end up going to basics.
thank you :)
 
I agree re vet work up. You know her and they don't suddenly change behaviour without reacting to *something* it's just a matter of what it is. Could be pain, could be splash ulcers, could be something else altogether but trust your gut instinct!
 
philamena said:
I agree re vet work up. You know her and they don't suddenly change behaviour without reacting to *something* it's just a matter of what it is. Could be pain, could be splash ulcers, could be something else altogether but trust your gut instinct!
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I agree, horses don't suddenly decide to test the rider, certainly not one you have had all her ridden life and know so well, there will be a reason it may be hard to find but there will be something amiss.
 
Get her fully checked up and then go right back to basics and get her going confidently again...sometimes things we don't even realise have happened can scare them
 
Lucky horse to have an owner that listens & hears! Fingers crossed for the vet, she may have tweaked something & that is making her worry. I agree with all the other posters, she sounds a very genuine horse, something has changed, I hope you find out quickly what it is, sometimes a really minor change can have a big impact. Let us know how you get on.
 
be positive said:
I agree, horses don't suddenly decide to test the rider, certainly not one you have had all her ridden life and know so well, there will be a reason it may be hard to find but there will be something amiss.
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Completely agree with this. Your girl is trying to tell you she's not happy about something and lucky for her she has a very considerate owner who will no doubt do everything possible to get to the bottom of it. Good luck!
 
If I were faced with your situation, I would have the vet out asap as well. Its not worth delaying it either, when you could possibly have a diagnosis and a solution.

Also mention to your instructor that you would value a bit more candidness, rather than the 101 responses that he gave - that's not what we pay them for, although I can understand that he possibly did not want to be one to deliver a bad message.
 
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