Regaining a horses confidence

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XsugarstarX

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Last year around June/July my mare took a confidence hit. Before she would jump anything infront of her! She loved jumping courses and had no issues with the different types of jumps. Suddenly she start refusing to go over jumps or even poles in the end! She was ridden 6 times a week and jumped 1/2 time during the week before this happened.When she started doing this we changed it to jumping once a week or once every two weeks, as we thought she might have been bored. With no improvement she had 1/2 months of jumping and steadily introduced back into it. In August we competed at Trailblazers Championships in showjumping and she was an angel! After going to Stoneleigh she started jumping again but never has been the same as before.

We thought of many possibilities of what exactly it could be including being bored, tack (she is now ridden bit less and has slightly improved), rider (has had many lessons to see if anything would improve) and no conclusion. My instructor thinks it maybe due to my horses loss in confidence.

She now jumps happily but HATES oxers with a passion? Is there anything I could do to help regain her confidence in these as she is a showjumper at heart? :)
 
Are you sure it is confidence and not a physical problem? As you say it is oxers where they have to use themselves more particularly through the back and often putting more weight back on the hocks could something be sore somewhere? This could also tie in with having less work.

If it is a confidence issue are you yourself confident? Horses easily gain confidence from a confident, positive and determined rider where by a tentative rider worried about a possible problem can sometimes make things worse.

What is she like jumping grids at home where she is always on the right stride? I would do lots of these if you have ruled out a physical problem.
 
Hi, yes we have had her checked over and there are no physical issues with her, I will get her rechecked though just to make sure. I am confidence myself as I am often put on the "problem ponies" or young ones. She happily goes over other jumps its just the back pole that she seems scared of? Once this has gone she is fine, She has to look at the jump and see how it looks. She often puts her head down to ''judge'' it then she will happily do it. Her strides are pretty good but occasionally she has the tendency to go too close to the jump or take off early. I will try some grid work and see if it helps as she might be able to judge her take off better then :)thanks
 
Has she been checked by a vet, most horses that start to refuse regularly will have a physical reason unless they have had a really bad experience to cause it, loss of confidence is not usually the reason it is the result.
She cannot hate oxers with a passion but may find it hard to stretch out or the trajectory causes her discomfort when landing which makes her want to avoid jumping them.
 
Hi, she does not refuse other jumps often, Its just oxers. She has been checked and 100% it is not a physical problem. I agreed with my instructor that a loss of confidence maybe the issue as her mother had the same problem. Her mother fell when jumping a jump and since has not jumped any higher then 2'6foot because of the accident.
 
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