poles- no respect for them!!

[lysette]

i have the most amazing little mare, a 5yo ex racehorse that i reschooled myself purely by hacking and ive had her for 2yrs. she's a teenagers dream, she never says no, dusnt even look at taffic and loves to please. her flatwork is beautiful, and cross country she's immense, gives everything a go with a foot to spare no matter how high, wide or scary looking and i trust her to keep me safe.

one problem. last year i tried some polework with her and, as usual, they didnt phase her but she had no respect and kicked them everywhere so i jacked that in for another year and kept up the flatwork and hacking. reintroducing her to the poles this year, we are having the same problem, even with wooden poles! its not that she hasn't got the ability, she loves her cross country and sails round 3ft6, once clearing a 6bar gate when we went the wrong way! its like she just cant be bothered! the odd thing is, at ODEs she never even touches the poles in the showjumping phase!

i hack her 5 days a week, lunge her once a week and she has 1 day off. our work is lots of trotting and hill work, long canters, we gallop most of the hillwork and if theres anything in the way to jump, we jump it. we're out for 2hours or more (i work split shifts so my day is free). she lives out full time and is on coolmix and hifi lite (i find she can be keen on working mix) and she has a pack of jelly when she's been good (every day hehe!) and she's a good doer.

any suggestions? i'm 17, i pay for her myself and have a hefty vet bill to pay so jumping lessons with her arn't an option

please help! xxxx

 

[Weezy]

I don't understand what you are asking

You say she respects poles when you are out competing, so what is the problem?

 

[lysette]

i don't compete very often due to nerves- so she sees poles about 5 times a year, and due to the lack of practice she struggles over doubles and triples! gets over them, don't ask me how. also its not about competing for me, i get more out of teaching her, getting her fit and doing new things with her than the actual competing, i want the schooling to be more intresting, i don't do dizzy horses. its not me because a few people have got on to "sort 'er out" and she refused point blank to jump atall! basically i just want to be able to jump without having to ride into the wilds to find some logs! xxx

 

[Baggybreeches]

Try using square poles or planks instead. But it sounds to me like you need to do some gridwork to slow her down and build her confidence.

 

[muddy_grey]

Do you have a XC course at your yard? If so you could start adding in coloured poles along the way. Other wise add what ever you have lying around as fillers (as long as it's safe.) I've jumped everything from posters to an old coffee table! It might help if there is somethng else to concentrate on other than the poles. Good luck

 

[Tinkerbee]

At the yard we have a livery whose cob is a big bolshy thing and just doesnt see the point in poles

We have lightweight plastic ones in the school and she just ploughs through them

But we got her jumping over barrels and heavier wooden pole, at a decent height, so she had to jump them, and shes a bit better now...

 

[lysette]

thanks everyone, will spend today finding random things to spice up the poles lol! otherwise il just donn my show gear, chuck a few plaits in her mane and put a few cardboard cut outs around the paddock we ride in yes we have a smal cross country course including banks, water, palisades and tyres but its closed off at the moment because its in the same field that the horses are currently grazing in but when the fields next rotate i will try adding the poles.

thanks for the tips xxxDragonxxx