Massive dilema!! Please help

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Kelly1982

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Well the jumping sarga continues with my mare and i am serioulsy debating whether to sell her or not
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I absolutly adore her in every other way and it will break my heart to sell but i cant ever see this horse jumping a clear round BN let alone Fox!!!

We have got the new jumps now and last night i put a jump up about 2'9!! We were out there over an hour trying to clear it. Eventually we cleared it once both ways and i took her back up to the yard near to tears.

Her rythym (sp) was perfect and she was hitting the jumps right every single time she just wasn't clearing them!! My friend who is more experienced than me and competes at a high level was down there giving me tips and even she is completely stumped
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Senza just doesn't seem to respect show jumps AT ALL!!!!

I am fed up using the excuse that she is just a baby, yes she is but surely a 5yo should be clearing more jumps in an hours session than that!!! Its not like its a one off either, this happens EVERYTIME we jump and I actually dred jumping her now. I must of got off at least 20 times last night!!

We have a solid jump in the school (road blocks) which stands about 2'6 and she jumps that perfectly but when it comes to SJs she couldn't care less!!! She doesn't even feel like she is trying!!

I serioulsy think she will be better suited to dressage (which is what she was bred for anyway) as she is coming on leaps and bounds with her schooling and is even doing flying changes now.

My instructor also ditched us after eveyone else on the yard started going to her and i have found getting another instructor extremely difficult. Plus even with lessons i dont think i can afford the amount that we are gonna need as she is gonna need at least one a week to get anything half decent out of her. If she is going to compete jumping then i seriously think she is going to need a pro to get her there!! Was thinking of asking my friend to take her to my old instructor for an honest opinion and decide from there.

Bandit is also coming down on Sat to see if she can shed some light on things with a fresh pair of eyes and she is also going to video us so i will put the vid up on here so you lot can see what i mean and maybe give some advice or just tell me how cr*p i am!!

Sorry rather long and depressing post but i have been holding back the tears since last night and i need some advise
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Don't worry. My friends horse never jumped a clear at BN either but it is now one of the best Speed Horses around and won about £10K BSJA so there is hope.

Sounds like your instructor wasn't helping you much anyway so you are well rid off someone who is that shallow. maybe someone on the Forum can recommend a good instructor for you.

Maybe because you are worried now about her jumping it's affecting how you ride her and you just need to chill out a bit.

If you got lessons with the right person you will see an improvement pretty quickly, you just need the right help

Cheer up it's not as bad as you think.
 
Aww, sorry to hear this hun, can't offer you any advice but wanted to send sympathy. My late starter 6yo tends to be somewhat disrespectful of show jumps but not to the extent of yours - it does sound rather extreme to only get clear 2'9 twice in an hour. I take it you've had her back etc checked, although if she clears the fixed fence happily it does sound like carelessness. How long have you had her?
I'll be interested to read others replies in this, might help me with my careless mare too.

ETA Is she knocking them down the same way each time (ie rolling them behind etc)? And what is she like loose jumping?
 
Poor you - it sounds like you have tried all the right schooling methods but perhaps its worth hanging in there until you can find another instructor?

In the long run I am a beliver in the "if the horse that you have cannot do what you want, sell it (to a suitable home) and get something that can" but you really have to be sure that the horse cannot do what you want....not just isn't doing it at the moment.

Hope you feel better.
 
Bandit keeps telling me that Tamarilo was worse than Senza and wouldn't even jump a cross pole and look at him now but i still cant see any light at the end of the tunnel.

It took me months to find my instructor (someone on here recommended her eventually) as there are no decent instructors in my area that are willing to travel. I was really happy with my instructor too as i saw massive improvements in our flat work even after one lesson!! She was a completely different horse come the next lesson so i am gutted she has stopped coming out to me.

I see what your saying about being worried affecting my riding but i actually thought i was riding her loads better last night as her rythym was perfect whereas in the past she has rushed.

Bandit is going to ride her for me on Saturday though and i will get my friend to have a go too and see what happens
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Prob not what you want to hear. But have you tried just giving her time off?? Leave it cos your both obviously stressing over the jumping, Have fun go hacking, maybe a bit of XC to get her jumping solid fences.Or even go to a little ony club show and pop round a little clear round class. All cinfidence building stuff

Honestly dont stress! My mare is a complete nightmare at home, bolts into fences and tapps them, Soon as you get to a show she's fine!

Have faith!
 
Hi Kelly....

Firstly, don't give up on her ! You know she can do it because she's already got a DC at Disco hasn't she !?

You definitely need the help of someone on the ground. You just can't tell what's going on underneath you in the same way as someone standing there watching you can
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We have a horse on our yard who is similar. He just isn't careful, but if you can find the way they tick, you can get them there.

I would suggest that 2'9" is probably not enough to make her respect the fences too. Bo never really starts jumping until around 1.10m. In fact my instructor has advised me to stop jumping 1m classes with him as they serve no purpose.

There are ways and means (and i'm not talking about rapping or any other dodgey methods !) of getting horses 'off the ground' as she puts it. Grids, a-frames, poles laid across an oxer....

As i say, get a good instructor helping you, and i'm sure it will all come right soon enough
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I'd offer mine, but i know she won't travel that far...
 
I have had her since the end of July so about 8 months and it has been like this the whole time i have had her so you can understand my frustration, especially when she is doing so well in everything else.

I haven't had her back checked but like you say she is clearing the solid fences perfectly even off of one stride so i cant see it being that!!

I have lunged her over jumps (dont have the facilities to free school) but she just runs out and broke her bridle the other week through doing that.

She also mainly knocks behind but she does have a fair few down in front too.

I have tried pacing poles, grids, canter poles etc you name it i have done it and nothing seems to be working.
 
Mate

As I said last night, stop panicking for the time being....

I'm going to be with you tomorrow, and not htat I can solve it, I will see what I think.

I know for a fact, that without an instructor I would in NO way know the buttons to push with Bonnie and get the work out of her I do. Her jumping isn't foot perfect, nor her flat work as she is still v weak behind and novicy, but I seriously think a good instructor is what is needed.

Try and find that one I told you about, even if you have one lesson a fortnight then it will help.

Also - as you say you dread jumping her now - that will be picked up by her. I dreaded getting back on Bonnie after she put me in hospital and my instructor made me, she didn't care what we did, but I had to get back on her.

See what others say here for advice, but as they can't see the situation it is tricky.

Also - you are doing a HT soon, so you'll soon have her picking her feet up to clear those fences LOL!!!

chin up.

Bx
 
A local producer of top SJ 's use very heavy hexagonal poles and very deep cups. That when when they hit them they learn it hurts and get some respect for a SJ fence.

Have you tries taking as much of the horses boots off as you dare so he can really feel where his legs are?
 
No she has no doubles clears!!! She doesn't even have a clear under her belt yet, if we come out of the ring with 2 down then that is a good result!!

I have tried putting the jump up to 1.10 (as that all the old road work jumps would do) and she is exactly the same so its not the height its just that she doesn't give a monkeys about what she is doing!!

I know it sounds selfish but i dont want to work a whole nother year with a problem horse that has no gaurentee by the end of it, i want to be out there having fun and at the moment i am not!!

I really thought she would be 'the one' but i am seriously starting to doubt that.

If anyone does know any decent instructors though that will travel in the Kent area then i am more than happy to try them.

Funny enough she does jump better at shows but still not to the standard of most horses.
 
Personally I would forget the SJ for a while, it sounds as though it is worrying both you and her.
Go away and have some fun, HT, sponsored rides etc.
Have her back, saddle and teeth checked.
Then in 2/3 months time come back to it, take her back to basics and get the help of a good SJ instructor.
It may also be that 2'9" is just too small for her to be bothered with.
 
Yep taken her boots of too and we have square poles in the hope they will hurt but she still knocks them flying. Unfortunatly they are not as heavy as we had hoped either so next month we're gonna go out looking for some more.
 
she does the same with bigger jumps if not worse!! She is just knocking 2'9 but she crashes through anything bigger and poles and jumps wings go flying!!

I gave her 2 months break from jumping over Christmas and started off small again and we came back exactly the same if not worse as she was crashing through 2'3!!

Even with a good instructor i really dont think she will make fox eventually, not with me anyway
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Right, first of all she is young, therefore she will still find the work hard, whether she feels like it is or not! That coupled with by the sounds of things her learning that poles come down and dont hurt I think is where your problem lies. I would go right back to basics, go down a level and work loads on little grids, concentrating on tevchnique rather than height. Bounces with A frames etc to get her thinking and picking up quickly, raised trotting poles to get her thinking about where her legs are. Young horses are a pain in the bottom, and they will try us at every stage, so go back to basics, and add some variety and Xc to her routine too, that way if you do sell her least you have an allrounder!! From what I have seen she is a lovly lovely mare, and will go far, but may have just got a bit backward with her SJ, so make is very very easy for her, and keep her thinking. I have every faith you will get there...
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Ooh idea, can you not fill some bags with sand or somthing heavy and lay them over the pole? will help weight them down a bit...:) Also cheaper then buying a load of new ones...
 
Sorry, i was sure the original advert for her had said she had jumped DC at Disco
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Must have imagined that lol!

If the heights aren't making any difference, then it is most likely down to technique.

She's a very onward bound mare at the best of times from what i've seen, so you probably need to work on getting her jumping off a shorter, bouncier stride. Completely the opposite to what you needed to do with Trike
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Bring her back to trot and do loads of work jumping from that pace. The idea being to get her back end underneath her so that she jumps 'up' rather than 'forward'.

I certainly wouldn't be going down the route of heavier poles and encouraging her to hit them in that way. All you will end up doing is desensitizing her to it even more
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It's a shame we're not going to the same shows anytime soon, as i would like to see her from the ground myself. You don't fancy a diversion to Crockstead on sunday instead of Duckhurst i guess
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Don't lose faith Kelly, you know she has a massive jump and you can work on technique to an extent.

She's a big rangy horse and it takes a lot of time for them to grow into their frame and realise where their legs are basically! She's only 5 this time isn't she? I would at least give her another 6 months. Personally I would forget about height if you say it doesn't make any difference to her style and instead use things like large cross poles, A frames etc to teach her to be sharper with her legs.

Work on accuracy instead of height.

You have one major advantage that she is very bold and we've all seen what a huge jump she has. Seems doom and gloom now but you'll come through the other side with some encouragement & a good instructor.

Also because of your transport issues she hasn't really had enough time to perform at shows, when I take my youngster out this year I'm going to write off the first 5-6 shows as experience no matter what happens.

Make plans, make REALISTIC goals and get someone on the ground to reiterate your progress. You have come on so much, lets not forget that!
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Kelly

here is a link to dressage trainers - i know you are on about jumping, but as you know my trainer does dressage but is training me to event, so don't dismiss it straight off..

http://www.britishdressage.co.uk/findtrainer.cfm?id=4&name=&location=kent

Agree, that you need to break from jumping perhaps as she is obviously taking the piss, and you need to make riding enjoyable again!

Directions pls...

Bx
 
Her striding has improved loads and and we are jumping off of shorter strides now (before we was rushing)!! Coming into the jumps last night she felt fantastic and was listening to everything i asked, she even felt like she was making a much better shape over the jumps than she has been but she was still crashing through them.

The only way i managed to get her over them in the end was take her in at a longer stride and even then she only skimmed them.

I took her back to basics at the end of Jan too and we were jumping 2'3 small grids, trotting poles etc and she was fine, even her first bounce she did perfectly, put it above 2'6 and it goes to pot!!!

I have pulled out of Duckhurst now coz i dont want to waste my money!! Plus i dont think Vicky will want to divert coz she doesn't want to go too far her first time out in the lorry.

Looks like the hunt for an instructor is back on and in the mean time i think i will give up on jumping
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Well, it sounds like you've already worked out part of a solution
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You say she jumped better off a longer stride ! So, perhaps the rhythm is better in the longer stride, whereas the shorter stride is in fact more of a slow canter
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Do you know what i mean when i say the canter can be strong, but the stride can be short ? It all comes down to jumping 'upwards' rather than 'forwards'. She has a huge amount of scope, and athleticism, so once you can unlock that potential you will have a cracking horse
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I think you should go to Duckhurst with her though...don't think of it as a waste of money, more an investment in her education. How's she ever gonna learn if she doesn't go out and see things
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Can I offer a word of wisdom here please???

Well 2 actually:
1. Does she actually enjoy jumping? Are you sure? If so, persevere.
2. If she is not respecting the jumps, try (THIS IS NOT RAPPING) getting someone to stand by the jump with a long whip/driving whip that makes a nice cracking sound an when she has take off, crack the whip behind her and she will pick her feet up behind. It sounds like she is just getting lazy or a bit fed up. I used this and it honestly worked with a pony that was ultra economical with his jumping.

But don't give up on her!!!
 
Thee are at shows and she actually jumps better at shows than at home:

Also she is not using her back very well in these ones but i was having some control issues. Now we have sorted that out she is starting to stretch more again so not really a very good example but the only ones i have got.

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Getting left behind
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Will get recent ones tomorrow when Bandit comes up as these were taken on the 2nd December
 
Haven't read the other responses - so sorry if I repeat, or whatever.

But - at 5 she is still a baby. And to be trying to clear a fence for an hour is just plain stupid. You felt frustrated? Imagine how your mare felt......

If you're serious about competing your lovely little horse properly then get yourself some good professional help.
 
Please don't shoot me down for saying this, but my first observation, particularly of the two photo's from the indoor at Merrist, is that your weight is too far forward and could be restricting her jumping properly in front. It could also be contributing to her jumping flat
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She does enjoy jumping and always has her ears pricked forwards.

I cant use a whip or spurs anywhere near or around her as she looses the plot and you dont get nothing out of her then.

I cant even use a whip when lunging as even knowing its there sends her loopy
 
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