Refusing pony

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amabelscott

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For the last 8 years i have ridden my 14hh pony without any problems until recently when i started being trained by a showjumper where i am trained on much larger horses. I have found however that when i ride my pony at home he has started to refuse at fences that we have usually jumped with ease, and my mum says that this is because my style has changed due to riding horses and has affected the way that i communicate with him, even though i don't feel that i change the way i ride depending on a pony or a horse. I really want to be able to ride horses and ponies at the same time so does anyone have any tips on how i can continue riding my pony in the same way that has made us such a successful team in the past?
 
Erm, hard one. I guess the only way is to keep remembering when you're on a pony! I competed a 16.2hh and a 14.2hh for about 3 years and managed to switch. However a few times I did cock up a bit jumping the pony because I tried for the odd long one (which wouldnt have been long on a horse if you know what I mean!).

Can you get training with your instructor on your own pony as well as the horses? He might be able to pick up on the problem?
 
Could it be that you have grown over the last 8 years and are now taller on your pony? So not so much your style that has changed or that you are too big, but your height in relation to his size has changed.

Even just be a few centimetres can make all the difference to the balance of a pony, particularly on take-off.

You are probably not doing anything wrong or different, it's just as you get to the point of take off, as he is getting ready to push his weight back from his forehand onto his hindlegs ready to jump, your weight is going forward too, which is normal.

But if you are even just a little taller than you used to be, that means more of your weight is coming forward.

Your head is the heaviest part of your body, and that is now further forward if you are taller, so there is more of you on his shoulders making it harder for him to push up.

So you have the option of making sure you keep your upper body up far more on the approach so you don't tip forward at the point of take-off, and see if that helps. And yes, take him for a lesson with your instructor to see what he/she thinks.

And if you haven't grown at all in the last 8 years, then all of the above is irrelevant!
 
Dont know if this will help but when you were jumping your pony before did you just let him get on with things in his own way with little or no help from yourself as a rider?

My now 5yr old started jumping last summer and was going near perfect until my rider decided to over ride and try to make him look the part (teenager wanting 13hh pony to look like a fancy showjumping horse), since then he comes into jumps nicely, slows to refuse then leaps them at the last minute, sometimes from a standstill and no matter what height of jump, sending me either out the back door or sky high! My opinion on it is that he had his own way of doing things and was happy until the rider interfered!

Your maybe trying to help your pony now in the way you would ride a jumping horse if that makes sense? and he's objecting to it because he was happy with the old you as a rider!
 
I should mention that for example on one day he will happily jump 3ft3 fences in the morning, I will then have a lesson on larger horses that afternoon and the next day he will refuse at the same fences that he has jumped so happily the day before, so that it does make it seem as if my riding style must change ever so slightly with the change in size of the horse.

Llewelyn and AmyMay – I realise that it could be that but it doesn’t explain why he jumps so well one day and not the next!
 
Do you think it's because you're riding him into the jump as if he should take off 6ft away [like a horse would] - i.e you're seeing a horse stride not a pony stride and giving the minuscule signal for take off when in fact you're too far away from the fence?

I can't swap between different horses myself. Found it fine to go from my 14.3hh to my 15.3hh but then back to the 14.3hh she felt like a midget and our 'gel' really suffered.
 
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should mention that for example on one day he will happily jump 3ft3 fences in the morning, I will then have a lesson on larger horses that afternoon and the next day he will refuse at the same fences that he has jumped so happily the day before

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Are you sure you're not over-jumping him?????? Jump him once a week only. Too much of the same things makes them very stale.
 
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