To camp or not to camp...

Paint it Lucky

Paint it Lucky

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I am debating at the moment whether to take my horse to pony club senior camp this summer. It is run predominantly as an eventing camp, with dressage, SJ and XC every day for four days then a ODE at the end. The trouble is I am worried it may be a bit mindblowing for him. I have had him since christmas and when I first got him he had no confidence jumping, being scared of even poles on the floor, he would just bolt away from them or anything resembling a jump as fast as possible!

But I have spent a lot of time gradually getting over his issues and he is now getting a lot more confident with his jumping but is still not 100%. He is fairly inconsistent still in that he can loose his confidence very easily if pushed (I think he was probably overfaced) and then takes ages to regain it. At the moment I jump him about once a week and take it slowly with him, only doing what I feel he is capable of on that day.

So though I'd love to take him to PC camp I'm worried that as we'll be in a group the instructors won't have time to put up with my slightly awkward/nervous horse and that it will ruin it for the others and I don't want to shatter his confidence by pushing him too far, yet at the same time I feel he could learn a lot from camp and if done correctly it would improve his confidence a lot. I will be jumping him a bit more over the summer (before camp), but don't know if this will be enough to get him confident enough to go. But I have to decide soon as it has to be booked early. So do you think it would benefit him or be too much to cope with?
 
I think pc camp is great, the horse is a herd animal and they learn quickest by watching and following other horses. Hopefully you will get a good instructor and they will give you both loads of fun and confidence.The hard work will also probably do him the world of good.
I say go and enjoy
 
Go for it! It will be a fantastic experience for him and he will probably love it! i really wouldn't worry about ruining it for other people, everyone is there to improve and your instructor should be able to cope with different levels (wouldn't they put you in rides anyway???). I have taken a green horse to camp every year I have been and they seem to get alot out of it! Have fun if you do decide to do it, where abouts do you have it?
 
go to camp i say! there you can have the opurtunity to have a lead from a more experienced horse, and that will give him confidence!
i took my youngster to camp at easter for 3 days, of 4 hours riding each day. my ride was the top one, and i found that most of the other riders had young horses as well, and about 4/5 were experienced. i have never seen a horses confidence grow as much as my young one when gettin a lead over xc fences! for the fourth day i took my more experienced pony to give the horse a rest. why not take your horse for a couple of days and see if you can ride sumfing else for the remainder?
 
Oh my goodness! Its sooo scary how so many people have like the same problems! I did a post on this the other day and everyone said 'don't go'.
i went last year on my veeeery green horse who wasn't steady on his feet, never been in big groups of horses and wasn't sensible ever ooo and never did any competing or anything before! It totally sorted him out! Its amazing! Today i found i could go
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coz the surgeon was was worried that it would ruin his progress (he has a deformed tarsus!) but today he said he will be fine so
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I would go, it won't be too much for him (as i thought last year), don't worry about the instructors (they normally prefer the harder ones!) and lots of people have diffucult horses.

Unless he is completely physco or in pain the i would say go! and enjoy it, its such a good experience for you and your horse! (Just make sure he is fit!!)
Have fun and let us know how it goes!xx
 
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