debsflo
Well-Known Member
daughters horse of 1 year 15hh highland x tb has always been quite strong willed and opinionated.shes now 13 and apart from her breeder has had a succesion of owners.what i do know about her is that she was overfaced a few years ago jumping in pony club open teams and both her and then owner were frightened.she was sold by previous owner as too fizzy,fast showjumping.my daughter is a quiet rider and suits her very well.we have been progressing nicely.did her first hunter trial last week and went clear but she has started putting dirty stops in show jumping even small fences.pony club instructor thought she was just being naughty and i am keen to sort it out quicly if possible.teeth,back,saddle all checked so i tend to agree.instructor is going to ride pony herself to see how she feels but if this is more in her head than anything else how should we work on it.she has never been with anyone long enough to feel secure and i think is very bright but defensive and quite a high maintenance mare.she has our other 2 horses who are easy and gentle as friends and is not on any heating feed and has daily turnout and regular work.
I think your idea of having the instructor ride the horse is the best one - they will then be able to advise you how to tackle it. In the meantime, keeping it low key so that all of the work is fun is probably best, so that they can build up some confidence in each other