Odd jumping problem - long sorry

[Archangel]

I'm hoping someone might be able to look at this and give me a different perspective.

My 14 year old mare has had 7 years off due to an accident to me. In her previous life she had shown a naturally scopey/stylish jump but had not had much chance to get out and prove herself (I had her sire and full sister to compete).

Fast forward 7 years and she is back in work for 1 year and out come the trot poles. There is no pressure but she is fairly inept over them. This is unlike her but she gets the hang of it.

We progress to crosspoles and it is a demolition derby. She appears to ‘blank out’ on the way in. Does not rush, stop or run out but horsey equivalent of shut your eyes, hold your nose and keep going. It looked like she actually couldn’t see the jump or had no idea where her feet were.

Out comes the vet. She gets the all clear. Vet sees her ‘jump’ shakes his head and says “why not just do dressage?”. I may have to, I have no unbroken poles left.

But… out hacking.. we get to a huge fallen tree and the only way round is over a yawning ditch with running water, trappy take off and landing. She puts her chin on the floor, has a sniff, over we go perfectly.

To get back to the path there is now barbed wire on one side and a hideous drop the other (which is actually a rabbit warren). She has a quick look takes off from the top, hangs in the air, clears the lot, lands perfectly.

I am left thinking “see she can bl**dy jump”

The only thing I can think of is that she has lost her nerve over a physical obstacle and the reason for this may be something that happened during her time off. She tried to jump out of the field, got caught on the fence, and slid along on her side on concrete. She bit through half her tongue as she fell poor girl. It was about 5 years ago.

She is also utterly disrespectful of electric fencing and will shut her eyes, take a deep breath and just plough through it.

I am a bit stuck. No one has ever ridden her but me, she has had no bad experiences, she is a charming gentle horse.

Has anybody encountered this sort of thing before and got over it? We are not aiming for Badminton but I would like to do riding club events or possibly even just dressage!

Thanks for reading this!

 

[flyingfeet]

Get her free jumping over baby tracks so you can she what she is doing and use grids to build her confidence

I imagine she does remember falling over, or is very stiff from her time off

Out of interest how long has she been back in work and are you doing lots of schooling to supple her up?

 

[Archangel]

She has been back in work a year now, I started her off again as if she had done nothing. She is very easy to work with so has rattled through the 'baby stages' and is nicely supple and balanced. All this disappears over the poles though, she goes forward but has feet like lead.

Free jumping is an excellent idea thank you, the poles I have (or rather had) were rustic... was thinking of replacing them with coloured poles to make her pay more attention. Will have to hire an arena to do free jumping but will take my own poles!

 

[daisycrazy]

I think coloured poles is a good idea and, if you can do it safely, make small fixed jumps out of them (perhaps with fillers and things to make them more interesting) and see if she starts to work out her feet a bit better. What about taking her xc, maybe with another horse - perhaps a xc ride like they have at Somerford Park? Also, what does she do if you ask her to jump out of trot?

I would be inclined to use huge amounts of praise and titbits whenever she jumps successfully, no matter how small it is. If you talk to her really enthusiastically ("Come on, you can do it" type stuff) she might focus a bit more. Perhaps also have a person on the ground to jump over them in front of you? I know that probably sounds silly, but I've had some underconfident horses and ponies who really get the idea if a person they know (preferably bearing polos) hops over in front of them. The key is to make it fun and enjoyable and hope she forgets her current hang up about it. I imagine once she remembers that she CAN do it, she will be able to progress on to bigger jumps without too much difficulty, so long as it is done sensitively.

I would also be inclined to do lots of exercises with and without poles to get her thinking about her body again and what she's doing with her feet. Exercises with poles don't always have to involve going over them and if she gets used to them being around and having to think about them even when she doesn't actually have to go over them then she may start to relax with them again.

 

[DuckToller]

Can you try doing work in hand with her, moving her in and out and around poles on the floor (broken ones would work!).

Maybe she just needs to be reminded of where her feet actually are - it's a long way from the brain to the back legs, after all

Can you tell if she is hitting them in front or behind, or is it a case of landing on the jumps?

Would also agree with trying straight-pole jumps instead of crosses, I did have a pony that struggled with cross-poles as he had a defective eye which meant he couldn't judge the x shape very well. Daft question but her eyes are ok? Just a thought...

 

[Archangel]

Funnily enough in desperation I did run alongside her over one jump with my hand on her shoulder and she actually jumped, not brilliantly, but did leave the ground!

She is naturally agile and light on her feet but it is almost as if she needs to quite literally find them again! (her eyes were tested and she is fine).

The straight pole suggestion has got me thinking, whilst waiting for new poles I am going to use good old fashioned straw bales as fillers, the thinking being that if she can't see through it she might go up and over it!

Am going to work steadily on this so will let you know how she goes.
Thanks for your help.