muddybay
Well-Known Member
Can someone please give me advice on what to do? At the moment I can barely warm up it's so bad and in the ring it's still bad! Does it get better as a horse gets older and more experienced?
Napping at shows
- Thread starter muddybay
- Start date
nikkimariet
Well-Known Member
What discipline
What does the horse do
What does the rider do
What happens at home
What does the horse do
What does the rider do
What happens at home
muddybay
Well-Known Member
Low level unaff sj at the moment
Horse rears and turns towards wherever horses are
I try to nudge on and keep my hands steady to not stress her out
At home she's fine and always behaves really nicely in the school around others
AmyMay
Situation normal
Do you ever go and just potter around, taking the stress off both of you?
J&S
Well-Known Member
There is such a thing as being Ring Shy. Whether this is more down to the rider than the pony/horse I am not sure.
A few possible ideas: do not enter the warm up area, try to find space to ride around any outer edge of the show field.
Only go for Clear Round jumping at lowest height, get your name down and watch proceedings from afar and attempt to ride straight into arena from your further away warm up area (thus having had no contact with the horses in the warm up).
Just jump one or two fences, leave arena with out stressing pony to get round the complete course. If succesful add more fences next time.
Just build up confiedence slowly and do not over face him/her.
You don't say age of pony/horse...... maybe he has been over jumped in the past. I owned an ex JA pony and she had been re registered under 3 different names and sent to Guernesey where they have a different SJ league, and jumping in the ring was a complete no no for her. She made a lovely dressage pony though! Maybe change tack , horses for courses and all that.
A few possible ideas: do not enter the warm up area, try to find space to ride around any outer edge of the show field.
Only go for Clear Round jumping at lowest height, get your name down and watch proceedings from afar and attempt to ride straight into arena from your further away warm up area (thus having had no contact with the horses in the warm up).
Just jump one or two fences, leave arena with out stressing pony to get round the complete course. If succesful add more fences next time.
Just build up confiedence slowly and do not over face him/her.
You don't say age of pony/horse...... maybe he has been over jumped in the past. I owned an ex JA pony and she had been re registered under 3 different names and sent to Guernesey where they have a different SJ league, and jumping in the ring was a complete no no for her. She made a lovely dressage pony though! Maybe change tack , horses for courses and all that.
paddi22
Well-Known Member
I find it great to go back and just do fun inhand/trec stuff with horses like this. I end up taking them to agri shows, showing and even kids in-hand fun classes (I've trotted some in hand over tiny tots crosspoles classes HC) , just to take the pressure off and get them used to the ring and show environment with no added ridden stress from rider.
the Trec stuff is brilliant as it's an easy way to teach them to focus in different arenas and environments and to get a better relationship and trust between horse and rider. since your horse is napping towards other horses at shows, it shows that the horse isn't looking to you for reassurance or to be leader when it is stressed. it'd be really beneficial for you to work with a good behavioural person to get tips and tricks to get this sorted, so that horse keeps focus on you when it is under pressure.
for ones that are very nappy at shows I've even just taken them to local agri shows and not entered anything,. just walked them around and let them graze and fuss over them, then take them home after them having a fun days of grazing and just looking around. you just need to break the pattern of new environment=stress/overwhelm. so for me, it's a case of bringing them somewhere and gauging their stress level and gradually increasing the pressure over time when the horse is ready. the easiest way to do it I found was to bring them to a show environment and just let them walk around and graze, then next time gradually walk near warm ups, then over a few shows progress to doing unhands classes and popping on for five mins for a walk around after. and just building it up. it is a slow process but until they are confident in that environment you get no good out of them competing wise.
the Trec stuff is brilliant as it's an easy way to teach them to focus in different arenas and environments and to get a better relationship and trust between horse and rider. since your horse is napping towards other horses at shows, it shows that the horse isn't looking to you for reassurance or to be leader when it is stressed. it'd be really beneficial for you to work with a good behavioural person to get tips and tricks to get this sorted, so that horse keeps focus on you when it is under pressure.
for ones that are very nappy at shows I've even just taken them to local agri shows and not entered anything,. just walked them around and let them graze and fuss over them, then take them home after them having a fun days of grazing and just looking around. you just need to break the pattern of new environment=stress/overwhelm. so for me, it's a case of bringing them somewhere and gauging their stress level and gradually increasing the pressure over time when the horse is ready. the easiest way to do it I found was to bring them to a show environment and just let them walk around and graze, then next time gradually walk near warm ups, then over a few shows progress to doing unhands classes and popping on for five mins for a walk around after. and just building it up. it is a slow process but until they are confident in that environment you get no good out of them competing wise.