Sending A Horse Away For Jump Schooling

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Mithras

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I would like to send my horse away for some showjumping schooling to improve her technique as basically with me she's developing a bit of a stop and her canter isnt forward going or long enough. Has anyone any experience of this and any ideas of where might be worth enquiring about to send her in Scotland? Who is good for this sort of thing? (I've ruled out physical and saddle problems first btw).
 
are you sure its something she needs to be sent away for is it not issues you could hire an instructor out to you to help with?

In many cases its not all to do with the horse sometimes we riders are as much at fault without knowing it.

I would consider some lessons with you and your horse together before going to the length of sending her away as you wont be learning together and thats a big part of horse and rider relationships.
 

I agree with Marmite, I think you should just have some lessons at home with her. The way your luck is going at the moment and knowing how down you are about everything a the moment, you will miss her terribly and you need her at at time like this. Have some lessons, youll enjoy it, but remeber to get the flat work perfected b4 you start on the jumping. xx
 
I cant jump for a couple of months as I've torn my achilles tendon. All I can do is gentle hacking. But I feel its a problem so fundamental with her basic way of going that I will just be rehashing old problems with her if I try to do it myself. I want to go beyond the 1m level but I'm not that experienced at jumping higher myself so I think it would be better if a more experienced rider got her going and got her confidence up over bigger jumps. Its quite hard to ride into big jumps if your horse has let you down when you think you've done everything right.
 
Why dont you just keep her with you while you can just hack and enjoy her while your having a crappy life phase, then once all your other probs get sorted, then see how you feel then, coz she prob just feels you being tense and not happy.
Id love you help if I was in Scotland, Ive got a scotty dog, but thats as close to Scotland as I am at the mo!
 
well will it not overface you if you do send your horse away she improves to that level of jumping and you yourself have not improved.

There is no worse feeling in the world than thinking your holding your horse back from its true abilities.

I just think with everything you are going through you are just reacting without really thinking why not give her a week or two holiday then just do flatwork for a while [or if your leg wont permit] ask a friend or somebody to ride her and you cover the cost of them having a lesson.
Try focus on the flatwork as its essential for jumping get that sorted then try again with the jumping.
 
and plus i would be a bit apprehensive if i sent my so so horse away for schooling and it came back this wonderful jumper i would worry about been sat ontop not really knowing what i was doing at that level and feeling more like a passenger that a partnership.

I really do think its better to build up confidence as a partnership than do it alone at seperate stages.
 
Marmite is full of words of wisdom, I know where to go when I need advise!
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M is bloody right though and I do think a couple of weeks off could work well to. Ive just given Arch some time off coz my frame of mind was not right for riding.
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I was actually getting quite comfortable jumping up to 1m20 and really enjoy it. But when youre just starting out at that level the last thing you need is a horse that stops. Theres so much to think about and I dont think I have the expertise to sort out her canter. I dont think she will ever jump more than a 1m course comfortably with me from what I can do. I feel trainers coming to you can only do so much and the real show jump trainers are not near me anyway. They're not really used to people jumping over 1m where I am, its mainly kids and people who just want to do British Novice. She also will jump perfectly well in a lesson or over the practice jumps but then in the ring over a course you have to do so much to keep her canter stride good and then she just throws in the towel. I know plenty of people get other people to jump their horses for them and at this stage in her jumping I dont want to make more mistakes on her, I think it might be better for someone else to get her going and show her the way it can and should be done.

But I really love jumping bigger jumps, its what I have a horse for as thats what I really enjoy doing and I just dont enjoy it so much if I cant do it.
 
yeah i can see where you are coming from its very hard to decide which course of action to take.

You know your horse best and i also enjoy the frill of jumping big.
But as for it all going bottom up in the ring is that a confidence problem on yours or her behalf because you are been watched and judged?
I know alot of people who are fabby doo in the warm up put them in a ring on there own it falls to bits and there is so much to concentrate on a canter can fall apart.
 
Tbh i feel horse can benefit from a holiday as much as we do they can only take so much info and stress into there systems before it begins to shut down.

And i know when im due a holiday my work is not exactally perfect because i know i need to shut down for a while and just have a rest.I feel all horses should get at least a week or two off completely in a year as we all do.
 
Andrew Hamilton is up in Scotland and holds regular clinics up there at various equestrian centres. If you can get his number or find out where he is doing a demo - he would be a great one to help you with your horse but I would wait until you can jump yourself rather than send the horse away for training. A few lessons off him and you will learn more than you think and have the added bonus of learning it together.
 
Had a lesson from Andrew Hamilton when he was up doing a clinic and he said to me that I wasnt to be so soft on her! I know what he means, its like she looks for excuses not to put the effort in and throw in the towel. But if you give her even a tiny smack she sulks and wont jump at all. We have actually jumped up to 1.15/20 and been placed in a newcomers but more through luck and bravery/stupidity on my part in that I will just sit and ride forward into a big fence quite happily. But when your horse isnt going forward with you, even though you are asking her to, its not good.

Believe me, this horse hasnt done much and has been very lightly jumped and isnt stressed! She is a bit overweight and I dont want to give her a holiday even though she isnt going out to shows right now.

I also think if someone else got her jumping for me, I would then think well, if they got her jumping over x height, then she must be able to do it.

Half of me is thinking whether she is suited to being a showjumper, if she doesnt really want to do it and sees it as an effort and an awful bother, even though she has a big jump. She loves flatwork, generally she is quite a lazy horse but in the school doing flatwork she comes to life and loves to learn new things, often quite difficult things. She really puts the effort in whereas jumping I often feel she is only half trying. But I hate dressage, wouldnt give me any enjoyment at all!
 
well in that instance she may be more well suited to dressage?

i can understand how it feels though coming up to a huge fence and your ride is not quite with you it can be very scary.
 
Hi susutoo,
If anyone isn`t having these problems, its probably best that you don`t read this as it is very long and may be a bit boring for you, so I apologise in advance.
I know all too well what you are going through. I was going OK on my horse last year with about 6 shows BSJA. I know its not a lot but personal circumstances didn`t allow me to go often. I had regular lessons with an international event rider for over 6 months but didnt jump a pole. I learnt a lot however about flatwork but we started having the odd run-out, then more run-outs. I have her back and teeth checked regularly and had not long bought a new well fitting saddle etc. This had all been happening indoors, and with the less room, I found that I was slowing the pace and so losing impulsion on the corners etc. This lead to me not making hte distances through the doubles. Through a 1njs, I was getting 1 1/2!!!
I had a friend over who jumps Foxhunter to tell me where I was going wrong. She told me that I was too soft on her and that I had to smack her when she ran out. Well, I did this and instead of the run outs, she started stopping in front of the jumps. This, I found out is better as I could stop on, whereas with a run out, it happened at the last minute and I was hitting the deck! It was soon Christmas and she always gets a couple of weeks off, so we had a break and went again in February. Nothing had changed.
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Friend came over and watched me ride, then got on and shortened the canter and took control basically.
She told me that I had to have more energy, and ride her on down the long sides, and just basically get her going forward.
Then when I had the energy I had to shorten her up in her frame and hold her together but still maintain the energy. Watching friend do it was easy. Anyway, I took her to a show and we entered the BN on a surface and we got eliminated at fence 6 after a stop also at fence 3. This is what changed everything. I was so hacked off with her that I gave her a few digs in the ribs and growled at her and then took her up to the lorry park and worked her for 15 minutes with a firm leg and a firm but giving hand. I had the most wonderful flatwork, light, impulsion etc. So from that day which was about 2 months ago, I set about riding her with a firm leg and demanding her attention instead of her usual nosiness at everything in the fields.
I then took her to an outdoor school and jumped a round of fences with my new found control, and we went clear.
So something must`ve worked. I have since taken her to 3 shows and jumped a DC and just had the pole down in 2 classes, and I have taken her schooling the morning after a show has been on to jump round the Foxhunter course at 1m - 1.10m high but with the more asking course inc a triple with 1njs between each element and a water tray.
We have gone from being well peed off to actually enjoyng it again. We did 2 dressage tests last night and we got 62.50% and 68.18%.
I had decided to buy another horse to give me more confidence, so went to try 2 horses from a top sj yard as they are friends of my friend/instructor and she watched me ride her horses. Two weeks later, she saw me jump my horse, (a month ago) and she told me that I didnt need a new horse as this horse has everything that I need, the ability and scope and honesty but I just need to use my legs and contact more. She told me that when I had ridden her horses, she thought that I rode them as if they were gonna break and that I wasnt hard enough, but she thought that I was mamby pamby.
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She told me that I had to be firm and ride not be a passenger, and to tell the horse, not ask it as it gives confidence therefore gives me confidence. It all makes sense.
Her son rides at Top level with all the bigwigs, regularly jumping 1.40m and competes abroad so she knows her stuff.
So I am saying, and I am sorry that this is long, that you need to toughen up with your horse, and be positive. You have already proved that your horse can jump Newcomers etc, so you just need to be more firmer with her and reward when she does it.
Now I am very soft with my horse, she has all regular back checks, teeth and tack checks, I buy loads of things for her to make her happy and well and she is spoilt, but now we have a more respectful relationship and I am enjoying it more than ever. Now I am gonna go to get her in, put on her PJs and tuck her up with a nice tea and a great big pile of hay. She knows that I love her and I know that she loves me, everyone always tells me this, and I would never do anything to hurt her, but the day I got firmer was the best thing I could`ve done.
As Marmite says above, to send her away, she may get to a higher level but you will still have these nagging doubts, which in turn may cause problems. You are best to try it yourself first. Good Luck.
 
Thankso much to everyone for responding.

Peanot - that is exaclty what my mare did, the odd run out developed into a stop right in front of the fence when I smacked her. Culminating in refusing t he first jump last time, then jumping it and refusigfn the second. Cue elimination.

But I know her problem is her canter. I have been told by numerous people and I have started riding her better, more forward, more positively, I know how to achieve the better canter and what it feels like. But she just wont respond. Not consistently anyway. I have also been told that when I have established a good canter, she shortens up at the slightest excuse. And that last time when I was eliminated at the second jump, I had a fantastic canter, really positive, bouncy, energetic, but she just threw in the towel. It was a particularly inviting easy jump too. And we had had a particularly good warm up and jumped the practice jumps fantastic.

What she does is that when I establish the canter, she will shorten and be negative and so basically I have to ride round constantly pushing and squeezing her to keep her going, she doesnt take me to the fence at all, and becauase of this quite often she arrives slightly long at t he fence and started stopping. Like maybe 1/4 of a stride out, which is perfectly jumpable, but this she used as an excuse for stopping. Which quickly developed into stopping all theh time. Hence no point in taking her to any more shows. Its hard enough doing a big course without having to constantly push and shove your horse round, and then the bit she has to do on her own, when I deliver her there perfectly and she just cannot be bothered to jump!
 
I had a horse that I wanted to sell as I couldn't ride him very well. I sent him away for 2 weeks and he came back to me a different horse, very forward and a lot easier to jump, so much better in fact that I kept him, his 'reschooling' lasted about a year before I had to send him back for a refresher course.
 
Hi, I do feel for you. That is what my mare did, started stopping at the first fence. I paid £15 to enter the BN in the indoor school and had a stop at fence 1, then at fence 7. So frustrating I can understand how you feel. My mare wouldn`t go forward in the canter and then with all the pushing and kicking by me, she would arrive too far from the jump, put in half stride, then stop. This is what lost my mare her confidence I think. Perhaps your mare has lost it a bit with taking off too soon. I used to think that my canter was OK but BSJA trainer told me to ride a bigger canter, this was out of my comfort zone and felt too fast, but I have got used to it now. I had to push her forward in the canter with hardly any contact to get her to go forward and I took her for a few canters round the open fields, she always was faster round the fields. But in the school, she was lazy, so I put spurs on and drove her forwards. When I had the forwardness, then I could take my reins back and ask for a contact without losing impulsion or the forwardness. It was bloomin hard at first but I was told to keep at it and it would get easier. A good tip that I picked up too, was to relax my lower leg and I found that she went forward in the canter easier, as if I had been blocking her somehow. Do you ride in spurs? I was told to do this by her previous owners when I first had her, but she was a little too forward for me so I didnt, she was only 6. But as her flatwork got better and I could use my leg without her tanking off with her head in the air, I can wear them. I let her feel that I have them on and she doesnt need me to use them. If you dont, then I suggest that you get some and get that canter forward, forward, forward. I also put my mare on the propel plus for an xtra boost to her red blood cells and this also helped.
I no longer feed the propel plus and she is once again pulling me into the fences and my confidence is growing every jump.
It will get better, just work on that canter. If she enjoys her flatwork, put a x-pole in the schooling area and jump it every now and then, not very often.
 
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I had a horse that I wanted to sell as I couldn't ride him very well. I sent him away for 2 weeks and he came back to me a different horse, very forward and a lot easier to jump, so much better in fact that I kept him, his 'reschooling' lasted about a year before I had to send him back for a refresher course.

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That is also a good idea if you get the right people to do it. It must be someone that you know and trust or it could do some damage. Perhaps you could find someone that can give you lessons after they have done the work.
If you have tried everything else then perhaps this is the way to go.
The friends instructor who I mentioned earlier told me that perhaps I ought to let a man ride her, and take her round a couple of big tracks, and I know she meant her son. But although I did think about it, I decided to try it myself first, and now hopefully (touch wood) we are on our way to succeeding.
 
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