Stage Fright!!!!!!!!!

[keyo140504]

I'm new to all of this so hi to everyone.

Bit of a dilemma on my shoulders at the moment so advice or suggestions greatly appreciated.

My WBxTB who is now nearly 7, has all of a sudden developed stage fright?? What I mean is, he's an absolute angel to school at home and away from home, but as soon as we go into a competition environment, he completely switches off and backs off of everything. With SJ, it's as though he's forgotten how to jump (refuses, jumps very greenly etc), and with DR, he goes completely dead to the leg and I can't get him going forward.

This is really frustrating for me because as I said, he does a fantastic DR test at home or away at my instructor's place or training clinics, and jumps in excess of 3ft6" in the same kind of environment. What am I doing wrong? I've even asked even more experienced people to try and compete him for me, just to see if it's me that's the problem, and he does it with them too!

Sometimes I want to sell him, but then I think how much I enjoy riding him at home and it doesn't seem an option then.

HELP..................

 

[4whitesocks]

Has anything happened recently to trigger this or has it been a gradual thing - is there are problem with him travelling? Do you change his tack to compete?

Can you go back down a level (jump HC in a lower level competition to see if that's the issue)....

have to admit it does sound very odd....bound to be someone on here who has some suggestions!

 

[Beanyowner]

My horse does exactly the same at the moment...I am persisting with competitions as he seems to be improving very slowly. I figure he needs to build his confidence more so as the competition environment is the only place I can practice we are still competing!

Slightly embarrassing at times though...but hey ho! Our horses are sent to try us!

 

[JAK]

An unfortunate time of year to be able to do much about this, being as local RC have now all ground pretty much to a halt!

Is all tack etc. exactly the same as he wears at home? Almost certainly a confidence issue on his part if he is like it with other riders as well & only way to solve it is to take him out & about with no pressure, i.e. not competing, just 'watching' & 'being there' initially!

Maybe a calmer would help but I have never used them myself, so wouldn't like to comment!
Perhaps start with something simple like a 'fun ride' come spring, if you want him to go out & 'do' something?

Unless of a very nervous temperament anyway, such confidence issues often have an underlying problem relating to insufficient confidence in the tasks expected of the animal (i.e. a horse or whatever is 'trained' if you like when it can perform said tasks in varying situations, venues etc.) or in its rider, so don't have too many variations on this maybe, stick to riding him yourself if it's you who is going to be competing him generally?

Is he confident about entering/travelling in the trailer/lorry? Do you 'flap' at shows yourself? Does he get to do much training 'outside' at home?

Sorry if a bit garbled, been a long day & am v tired now!

 

[piebaldsparkle]

My friends mare does the same thing with dressage (retreats into her shell and loses all her sparkle), she is slowly improving. Just keep going and try not to put yourself or him under too much pressure. Maybe also stick to clear rounds, so you can go round the same course at several heights. Try to give yourself plenty of time to warm up for dressage, so his nerves have chance to settle and get him out as often as possible. Good luck.

 

[BethH]

You know this is really interesting to read, I have been rehabbing my horse after an op, all was going well and he has been really good for the last 4 months ( I had huge behavioural problems with him learnt from pain) until 2 weeks ago when he decided he just couldn't cope, even played up when I asked for trot in the school and suddenly seems to be terrified of the most ridiculous things like a red bucket in the field that had been in his stable - do you think it is anything to do with a change of season/coat etc - as I am now at a point of trying to decide if I can cope with him anymore, I would be very reassured to hear it isn't just him being difficult for no good reason!

 

[seabiscuit]

I know EXACTLY what you are talking about- youv'e described how my horse used to behave down to a T! At comps it was like he was completly star stuck...just withdrew into himself, had to kick him to get to A to B, and was therefore just like you describe in the jumping and dressage.

Theres nothing you can do, except give it time, and more time...lots and lots of shows....he will eventually mature and suddenly realise that it is all OK. It took my horse about 2 years to get used to the show enviro, but then he had a very limited amount of competitions during those two years.

I think what changed it for him was that although he didnt go to many comps, he had loads and loads of short little trips in the horsebox, to see the farrier, for lessons, for XC schooling, to hack with a friend. I think that was what did the trick

 

[seabiscuit]

Beth what has changed for your horse in the last 2 weeks? Any change in feed/exercise? But also a lot of horses seem to be undergoing a behavourial change at this time of year...something to do with the weather ?! Don't give up on him

 

[BethH]

Hi Seabiscuit, no he lives out most of the year 24/7 as I have tons of grazing so although I am sure the grass is a bit better at the moment, he is muzzled for 12-15hrs a day to restrict intake (as he go sideways on a blade of grass) and it doesn't normally affect him, he gets no feed unless he is stabled and again that is high fibre, he isn't good on mix it blows his brain so gets hi fi lite and economy nuts poor soul!

Typically kissing spines syndrome isn't it - he has learnt to fire on all cylinders when unhappy - yesterday I was incredibly tempted to beat him within an inch of his life! he saw two horses walking on to the yard and decided he wanted to be with them and reared in my face about 10 times but I managed to contain myself long enough to get him to the field and walk away and then because I ignored him when I went to check on him later he started galloping around the field having a complete tantrum even though he had a companion in there with him, I can't decide if it is temper at not getting his own way or if it is a panic attack, either way not very well mannered but if you are heavy handed with him he get really terribly upset so you just have to ignore him and move on - very hard some days!

I am still trying to work out why after 3 years of this I keep going!

 

[BethH]

By the way Seabiscuit are you selling a horsebox? If horror comes good am looking to possiby buy something similar to get him out and about and socialise him which is a major issue for him to deal with at the moment!

 

[eohippus]

Hi Irish E
aw, how frustrating.
Personally I would take him out to lots of comps but do not compete, get him used to all the perlava (Sp) take him in the warm up area, even go into the dressage arena walk around doing some of the movements then retire, or jump one or two fences, then come out, an expensive way of doing it, but sometimes, the rider, no matter how experienced, is riding differently than when in a more relaxed non competitive environment, If your horse is particularly sensitive, it will only take a small change in riding, maybe slighty more tense, maybe pushing him slightly more because of the pressure of competing, maybe not quite focused on him but on everything else around, ect ect, there could be many reasons.
hope this helps
Dawn

 

[gemz666]

i have exacly the same problem with my pony

 

[MagicMelon]

One of my horses was like this. Amazing at home, in lessons etc. but in an actual show environment he just conked out and napped! 20% of the time he went great and in his good mood, would win easily but 80% of the time he was dreadful. It was very very odd. In the end I realised he just didn't enjoy competing. He was sold to a fabulous home who jsut do training stuff which he loves. I later found out that the previous owners I bought him from had basically thrashed the pants off him in the show jumping arena when he was 4/5yo. So no wonder he never enjoyed competing.