Need lots of help - 1st event coming up

M

Mbronze

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Well, as some of you may know I have got a new horse and bearing in mind she is 5 yrs old, we have recently been getting into a few disagreements.

She is fantastic in dressage, very balanced for her age, she can showjump very well, when i don't use spurs (i found this out when she reared then bucked me off after using them in a practice arena ..ouch)
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However until today i have not jumped her over solid xc fences, went to Somerford Park on the farm ride with a friend whos horse to be honest isn't the bravest. And my girl started off not wanting to jump any of the (evil) fences even though they were only tyres...she spent a v long time getting into the water and every now and then she would be cantering along and suddenly stop (for her friend)

I didn't wear spurs because of the last fiasco that they caused, but initially used lots of gentle persuasion, trying to make her think it was her idea to go in the water and lots of praise. But occasionally i had to resort to a bit of pony club flapping, by the end of it she was going along, not looking at the jumps(i call it the sniff test), but jumping them.

I was really pleased, but i just wondered as I am doing Bradwall at the end of this month (eek) should i keep the xc training up or cancel my entry, or just give it a go, see what she thinks..Any thoughts are welcome
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i think i would want to be confident schooling before i put myself and horse under the additionl pressure of competing as well. if you have got somerford close to hand i would make the most of it and go again. there are plenty of experts based there you could always get one to help you out if you have a problem.
 
I'm always stunned by the bravery of people on here who take their young horses straight out to Intro / PN with hardly any XC schooling beforehand .... being such a nervous nellie, such events are the height of my ambition rather than an easy introduction to eventing for a youngster
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So if it were me then I'd withdraw and get her confident over xc fences first, rather than risk setting her progress back by possibly scaring her.
Having said that, Bradwall is a lovely course - I've walked round it the last couple of years & am hoping to take my boy next year if he does ok at unaffiliated events this year!
 
I would withdraw, and build your horses confidence and try a few unaffiliated events and a lot more xc scholling.
I am having a bit of trouble with my fella sj, but have a fortnight of intensive schooling and competing planned, so hopefully the penny will have dropped, but yours is only 5 yr so save her for another day, when she can come out and go nicely and confidently and enjoy her experience.
 
I would def withdraw.
Im entered up for an intro early may, my horse did his first schooling session a month ago and was a complete star, he went 2 wks later to aston le walls and happily popped everything including some novice fences without question.
We've had our problems lately due to an allergic reaction hes had, and has started to rear and be very nappy - but put a fence infront of him and he tends to forget.
However, im not withdrawing yet, as im hopefully we can get this allergy under control and start competing and he will go back to being the nice bold horse he was.

If he showed any waver at his fences i would go back and repeat everything until he felt it was easy and *then* enter him for an event.

Your horse sounds very nice, just give him time over the solid stuff
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Take her xc schooling two more times and then decide, thats what I'd do. Moon didnt pick up xc on the first attempt and was still a little baffled on the 2nd but once it clicks in their brains, theyre fine and she did an intro very quickly after her first xc session- about a month I think. You may literally need to go xc schooling twice a week in as many different places as you can but it is do-able!
 
Yep agree boss.
Bally when she was first starting out was very spooky and didnt get it all, although loved water and ditches the other stuff seemed to baffle her lol *dopy mare*
I had to go xc schooling right up until her first event. I just kept on taking her until she got the idea.
Equally we had done a fair few hunter trials/pairs before she went eventing.
 
Obviously with two weeks to go the decision needs to be made fairly soon, but I'd give it a couple more times before withdrawing. I would suggest you use the 80-acres at Somerford for schooling as there are a better selection of fences for preparing to go xc. String them together though to get into the swing of going forward across these types of fences. If you find your horse is still nervous then I would suggest you withdraw and start more basic schooling, where you take one fence at a time and give the horse chance to have a look at each before appraoaching it etc. If your horse is happy to go forward over a selection of fences combined then you'll probbaly be ok for Bradwall, but if you find she is happier having a look at each then you should probably withdraw at this time.

When we were bringing ours on, we used a combination of lead horses and doing it ourselves, (albeit my OH or I, whoever was on the ground, sometimes had to give Pulsaar a lead on foot!!), but remember, with two weeks to go, if your mare needs leads over anything daunting then she may not be happy to tackle it on her own at the competition.

Remember that the ground work you do now will set her up for the rest of her life, taking her out and scaring her at a competition is pointless at that age, on the other hand if she seems confident by the end of the month then you'll be fine.

I would also suggest you do a schooling session at Smallwood too, in order to go to a different location. If your mare gets comfy at Somerford then she may work well over the fences, especially if you tend to do the same ones, but taking her to another location will prove whether she is happy to go out and xc in any location. This is particuallry important at Bradwall because there are a small number of fences that may catch her off-guard, such as a fence early on in the course in which you swing left through a hedgline to be faced immediately by a small palisade, it catches a lot out because some horses have been schooled with so much time to look at fences. Another is the ditch, which doesn't come long after this palisade. After doing the drop log you then swing right to the ditch, and often the grass obscures the ground line, so the first horses know of it it when they need to jump. A confident horse will take comfort from your leg over these two fences, whereas an unconfident horse is likely to stop.

I never did any unaffiliated events before going BE, I think Intro is put on a pedestal by some people, who will quite happily do an unaffiliated 2'9 or 3' course, but feel they are not brave enough for BE. In truth most BE Intro courses are probably a better introduction because you know the course has been well designed, with correct distances and sfaety in mind. So I think that once you've got the schooling right then just jump in and go Intro.

I would also suggest a lesson over xc, to have a good opinion from the ground as much as to take advice about riding style. Overall though you know your own mare and will know how shes feeling in a week or two. The last thing you want is to be eliminated xc, purely because it is dis-heartening when bringing out a youngster, you're better off being absolutely ready and then coming away with a big grin at the end of the day.

Remeber to withdraw sooner rather than later if you decide not to go, Bradwall has been heavily subscribed this year, and by withdrawing early you may give someone else a chance if they need to waitlist the intro sections.

Good luck though.
 
Thanks for all your posts, I have decided that next week we will go xc schooling. Perhaps without the other nervous horse (to be honest i think that made matters worst) she absolutely loved the water once she was in it!!)

Will def use the 80 acres in Somerford and go to Smallwood, i feel really stupid for not taking her before. But when she gets the idea of how to do it theres no stopping her. Her main prob i find at the moment is she likes to "sniff the object then jump"

The only reason as said above that i wanted to do intro was because the course isn't really that difficult (just a couple of questions) and i know that they are well set out.

Thanks, though for all your views, i appreciate that i should not rush a young horse. I will see how she goes this week and withdraw by Friday if no success.
 
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