We seem to have hit a brick wall....

[Shrimp]

... and im really at loss what to do next

A brief update as I havnt posted much on here recently. At the end of April, Shrimp got a really bad bout of puss in the foot and was off for about two months. Anyways got him back into work and we went to Bold Heath last week to do the PN.
He was a little over excited

and his eyes were on stalks for the whole event. But on the cross country he got halfway round and decided he'd had enough and wouldnt jump anything, didnt respond to my leg voice hand whip what so ever.
We thought perhaps because he hasnt been out for so long and needed more work etc so didnt worry about it too much.
During this week he's been alot better, calmer and more responsive so was thinking, ok, this weekend could go ok.

Oh how I was wrong.......

So after getting up at 4am (

) we went to Solihull. Walked the course when we got there and thought that fences 5/6/7 would cause us problems, if any, as the course looped back on itself right past the start, a big oppourtunity to nap.

Dressage: so much better this week and I actually enjoyed it! Got 31.0 so very pleased

Showjumping: Was in the indoor arena, up to height and a fair but testing course. Shrimp jumped the best in ages, again listening and responsive to go clear

Crosscountry: He flew over the first four fences but as we came back round to the start, he was really backing off, somehow managed to get over 5 and through the water at 6/7 which was rather spooky with beach towels and beach balls galore! As we went down the field towards 8, he was wobbling, looking around everywhere, not responding to me at all and he did exactly the same thing as the week before

He was stopping about 4 strides before the fence and there was really nothing I could do. Its like he knows he can do it now and uses the fence as an excuse to finish and go home.

So whilst riding back to the lorry I was really at a loss what I could do. He wasnt physically pain, his routine and behaviour has been normal. On the way back home we stopped off at Somerford Park to go the cross country schooling just to try and get into his head that he cant get away with it.

Well he jumped everything I put in front of him, taking me into the fences and not napping at all. Cue a confused me and now at more of a loss!!
Why do horses do this too us eh??!! Its like he's feeling really insecure out on the crosscountry, but he starts off great and then says he's had enough

Anyone had any experiances of this and how they got through it? Ive only got 6 weeks before I go to Uni so I just really want to enjoy these last few weeks....

Sorry for the rather long post but I need any help I can get!

 

[Fiona]

Not a problem I've had Flic, but hope you get some good advice and get it sorted before the end of the summer.

FIona

 

[Hattikins]

Oh no poor you!

On the plus side his SJing and dressage sound fab

but thats no good if he wont go XC!

cant help you, just hope he regains his confidence if it is more confidence that he needs and that he gives you a great last 6 weeks before uni

 

[MistletoeMegan]

Sorry to hear you've been having problems, I've always been a fan of Shrimp!

Do you do much schooling between events? Is he ever anxious at other times about leaving horses?

If it makes you feel any better at all, Moon Man used to do the same thing, just down tools half way around the XC.... it was mentioned in the H&H article this week about how hunting can help, though you can't really hunt Shrimp in August

 

[archie1]

deffo hunt when you can. is he tired when he stops eg runs out of stamina?? does he have a bad fence then stop?? is he just being naughty and do you really tell him off?? and do you ride a course at the schooling fields?? have you schooled with another horse. mine starts out brill then about 10 fences in needs riding really strongly to finish like he gets over the excitement and can't be bothered.

 

[wizoz]

Oh dear, yes, I had a horse that did exactly this

He had been my first eventer and had taken me to Novice level and i'd won an awful lot on him, then one day he started putting dirty stops in but I could get him round the course then he started getting to fence 3 on the xc and just stop about 4 strides away, rear, spin round and piss about until I was eliminated

Just prior to this, we had got on the riding club event team and were due to compete in Peterborough

Fortunately for me, the weather decided to be so awful that it got cancelled.

Anyway, after a lot of head scratching, checks on the body to make sure there was nothing physically wrong with him, I booked some lessons with a pro event rider. It was a turning point for us. He saw first hand what my horse did and made me ride though the rears and spins so that my horse couldn't get away with it, I know that is very difficult on a xc course in a competition but I learnt how to deal with it and once he knew that, he stopped doing it.
He was a horse that needed you to place him perfectly at a fence and I was never the best at that

He just wasn't a genuine type of horse that would take control if the pilot made an error, you had to ride him every step of the way and if you didn't he spat the dummy.

My advice, you need someone on the ground to watch EXACTLY what he does, what body language there is from your horse, then go from there. Pro event riders, if you choose a good one, really do help.

 

[hotellie]

oh no...poor you but what a fabulous dressage and showjumping (i bet that makes it worse!) i would agree with wizoz and go and see a pro to help you out.

 

[Bossanova]

I'm sorry for you

Boss started doing a similar thing but in the sj and as it was so unlike him, I gave up. He didnt want to play the eventing game anymore.

 

[PaddyMonty]

Oh yes I have experience of this. Ginger one started doing the same thing.
At his first event (MKEC 3DE) he flew the xc without fault and inside the time. His first BE, again at MK we had a stop at 4 but ok for the rest. Second event (ALW2) he stopped at 2, 4 and 9. Third event (carlton) he flew all the tricky stuff in the first half of the course then started stoopping at the simple stuff. This was the BIG clue to what was going on as up until then i was putting it down to his inexperience. Now my gut feeling was he was taking the mick out of me as not only was he stopping but he was backing off the fences from some way out (6+ strides).
So I took him back to carlton 2 days later (course still flagged) and warmed up as per an event. Changed the way I carried my whip so it was in my right hand but across his withers pointing to the left. The instant he started to back off the practice fence he got a very serious reminder I wasn't going to put up with it.
Next approach when he backed off just a sl;ight movement of the whip was suffiecient.
In to the start box for simulated count down. Leg on and not a lot happened. Another strong reminder. Tried to back off fence one so another. Fence 2 he thought about it but again a slight movement of the whip was all that was needed. From then on his attitude changed. He flew the entire course with a 'phah, these are simple'.
Next event (ALW3) he was fine over one, started to back off on approach to 2. Cue a good reminder about attitude. I swear I could feel him think 'oh ok I'll get on with the job then' and he flew the course without the slightest hesitation.

Basically he was just testing who was in charge of the relationship.

And before anyone gets the idea that I'm a monster hortse beater the only gets results through fear......here are a couple of pics from after the xc round.

 

[lizzieb]

I'm really sorry to hear you had a bad day. I did too so you're not alone. My chestnut mare started stopping on the XC and refusing to go any further this year. The first time was at Rodbaston where she would go to fence 3 so we were eliminated. Her next event was the RC qualifier where she flew round but our next event was PC at Somerford and she stopped at one jump then when I turned her round she wouldn't go so I just patted her and calmed her down then she went. Then at Stafford she was fine.

I have no idea why she's suddenly started and why it's only sometimes she plays up. But having spoken to a couple of people about it they suggested it's because I'm riding her a lot less competitively now she's 18 and we're just having fun. She's lame now so is off for the rest of the season so I won't be able to test the theory out.

Sorry I can't give you any more help as I'm sure you are riding positively. Hope you manage to get to the bottom of it soon.