What causes a pony to become a 'dirty stopper' ??

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I have a pony on loan who used to be affiliated. His owner lost interest (and I think around the same time he started switching off in his jumping and stopping) - he was put out on grass livery and did nothing for about a year until I took him on last Feb.

He's a great little pony but has started to put in really dirty stops at jumps. Two weeks ago he stopped so suddenly I landed on his head face first. Today he did the same thing at a show and had me off. He literally stops at the last minute - never ducks out / swerves just does a sliding stop and seems to be able to do it much easier these days. I used to be able to get him over jumps by riding him very forward - almost so he couldn;t stop - but he has learnt how to stop at speed and its almost impossible to stay on. I'm far too old to be falling off and hurting myself - and am starting to lose confidence jumping him!

Of course he jumps nicely at home / at clinics etc! I'm wondering if he has just had enough of show jumping and is switched off. I think he may have been over jumped in the past (As in 5 days a week in the school and every weekend at comps for the past 7 years!)

We've had a very variable summer jumping - we either get eliminated due to refusals or get placed towards the top of the class! It has never felt particularly controlled / comfortable however. I can tell in the warm up if we're going to do ok ... or not

I'm not too bothered about showjumping, but my passion is showing and we started doing really well at working hunter classes this summer - i'd like to do more of that so need to ensure the jumping part looks good (and feels safe)

Back, saddle and teeth all checked in the past month.... thinking i should just give him the winter off jumping and focus on other things... or perhaps take him right back down to bottom hole / do some clear round jumping just to try and get him going nicely??
 
has his saddle fit been checked recently?
pony I know started to do this as the saddle was digging into his shoulders on landing so he didnt want to jump....
if all is ok, then I agree, give him a bit of time off from jumping then start him from tiny jumps again.
 
Could be pain from a strain or joints, meaning he doesnt want to jump in case it hurts.
Could be you- no offence intended- but the rider pulling in mouth or losing balance can make a horse unwilling.
He might be sick of jumping.
He may be physically stiffer so finds it hard now.
Could be the bit.
 
Are you getting to his limit height wise? You need to keep sitting up and keep your shoulders behind his so you dont tip off the front end! You mention a sliding stop ? is the going good or is he slipping and feeling insecure? Why dont you work on the control and comfortable elements of the jumping? Grids, bounces etc keep the fences small/ish and build a partnership. sounds like the trust has broken down between you. you could also loose jump him for a bit of fun though you will need a friend to help you and build a lane so he cant duck out and learn another trick! Good luck and dont jump too often, keep routine varied so he is keen for the job! Good luck
 
I know you say you've had the saddle checked, but make sure the points fo the tree aren't digging into his shoulders
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.

LL has a brilliant pop in him, but the saddler thinks the points have dug into his shoulders in the past
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. He puts in the most wicked stops on the last stride - he has a look of almost panic in his eyes
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. Once he's been over them a few times he seems to relax, but we decided he'd never be jumped again.
 
I agree with Katie give him a break for a while it will give you time to build your confidence too

It cant help if you are feeling nervous, they know these things and it all becomes a vicious circle

After the break try schooling with a couple of small jumps in the centre of the school and every now and again pop him over one then go back to schooling like its no big deal, then a qucik jump etc.. etc..

Also later try some 'fun' jumping like small XC courses, lots of fun, terrain and changing directions to make it less regimented

Also finally dont jump the same SJ course at home agan and again, set up 10 jumps and do different combinations of 8 or so jumps just to keep him on his toes
 
Like a Thelwell drawing; dangle a carrot infront of his nose!

Try to see things from his point of view. Could there be a change in what you've been asking him to jump? If he "has just had enough" ask yourself why?
Apart from that, keep stuff fun and his brain switched on task and not on how he's going to stop at every jump.
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A neighbour's daughter loaned a horse from a local well-known jumping family which had become stale and refused point blank to jump. She didn't ask the horse to jump for well over 12 months but had a set of jumps bought for xmas last year and as far as I know the horse has enjoyed jumping low jumps with no pressure.
Your horse would probably appreciate a break.
 
Saddle hurting - I'd get it checked again, even if it's been done recently.
Pony is sore or in pain - worth getting vet out for lameness work up, scans, x-rays. My horse that loved jumping suddenly started putting in dirty stops, found out he had bone spavins in both hocks and was basically bilaterally lame behind.
Rider error or loss of confidence - mine won't jump if i'm not 100% with him, the minute I waver, so does he.
Foot problems maybe so that he feels it on bad ground.
Simply the pony may be bored of jumping. Give him a rest for a while.

Might also be worth taking him hunting to get him thinking forwards again.
 
If not physical (have you had his back checked) I would say could well be a confidence issue. Without seeing you ride it's hard to telll but I have been through similar with my horse and I've had him years! It stemmed initially from him having a sore back and also maybe from being used for some jump lessons at college with some not so experienced riders.

Knocked his confidence and my confidence in him as he had never ever stopped before. Cue vicious circle - I lost faith in him and he then didn't gain any confidence in me. I actually stopped BSJA jumping him as was getting eliminated at first fences so i stuck to doing 'fun' stuff - did a fair bit of XC and ODEs and also got some lessons with a fab instructor who picked up on the confidence issue straight away.

Between us we got him back to his old self and I have faith in him. We still get the odd stop SJ but normally it's my fault (he's always been a 'look at the fillers' type jumper so I have to ride strongly even though he is strog coming into his fences).

I would say get yourself a good instructor and my main advice would be to hold, hold, hold and drive with your legs coming to the fence. Do not 'drop' him at the fence. If he's rushing I would say def confidence (or lack of) that's the problem.

Going XC and having some fun can really help i think as well.
 
My old horse was a VERY dirty stopper...I found a lot of it depended on approach- if i let him get flat and rush (which you may inadvertently be doing in a competition environment?) he found it a lot easier to slide to a halt than if i kept him 'bouncing' and using his hinds.
However, if he is a seasoned jumper etc, sounds like maybe it is more than just naughtiness
 
Frank has been and occasionally still is a dirty stopper, so I can only tell you what I know about him.

I dont know if he stopped with prev prev owner, she rode very well and had him quite a long time and I think he had a lot of confidence in her.

He started stopping (and rushing) with the next owner, who would never find him a stride and I think he lost a lot of confidence. He also became a very stressy welsh while with her. He stayed there about 3 months (very close to me)

Then I bought him. He pretty much always jumps fine at home, whatever I put scary underneath will occasionally stop in lessons but is mostly fine. The first year I had him if I took him anywhere at whatever height he stopped. I had the prev prev owner come and ride him and she also showed us videos which showed that he didnt normally rush and had been ridden much better than I could.

After that year things clicked much more and we started to have some success and got better from then. I think a lot of it with him was settling at both home and with rider.

He still stops occasionally though he does have a stop miles away and oggle version which is more usual now and what he does XC though we are getting over that now. sometimes there is no reason I can see for it but its just one of those things. If he stops sharp I still fall off sometimes!!
sometimes he wil just have days when you know it isnt going to happen and tbh that will normally mean I just do a lower class and go home.


I dont jump him at home, he is much better fresh and have got to the point now where we both know what we are doing but I still go for lessons occasionally. If he stops, unless it was a total mess he gets a single smack on the arse and he'll always jump it second time.

I found at the start that 2 stops and your out really didnt help us so used some RC events and sweet talked some judges to allow me to carry on regardless.

not sure if any of that helps!!

he does get issues with his pelvis but they dont cause him to stop, the only reason I know he is out is if he starts to be a bit disunited.

our other mare started stopping, dead, we later found this was due to probs with her front end that meant that it was hurting to land. She was also trying to land very head up too.
 
I had a mare on loan who had done BSJA fairly successfully - had about £700 on her card, but who did a pretty similar thing to your horse.
She had incredible talent and scope but was very tricky to jump. She put in filthy stops (front feet off the floor before she decided she wasn't going) and I ended up on the floor on numerous occassions. The problems started when we were competing and she was under more stress, although as it affected my confidence she started to do it more and more at home.
Having ruled out all the usual saddle, teeth etc, we came to the conclusion that she'd lost her confidence at some stage.
I started to lose my nerve and decided that the best thing would be to end the loan and give her back to her owner. It was such a shame as she loved jumping but couldn't cope with pressure any more.

I think you have to try to work out why your pony is stopping (if only they could speak) and whether it is something that can be rectified, or he just doesn't want to do it any more. Doing some other stuff with him over the winter seems like a good idea to me.
 
He's gone sour and doesn't want to do the job anymore. Maybe just needs a break or sometimes they just hate show jumping and you have to accept it.
Most likely it's been caused by pain and / or bad riding in the past.
 
Had his saddle, back and teeth all done in the past 2 months.

I definately rush toward fences particularly when I think he might stop ... Think I'll give him the whole winter off sj comps but get so e good lessons. I'll get him out on lots of fun hacks too.

Another rider took him round the next class up today and got round - she's a great teenage no fear rider .. It didn't look tidy and I thought he was going to stop several times but she kept him
going. It's prob my confidence too now.
 
My only experience of this was with my pony BB who was a super experienced and successful sj pony when we got him, then he stopped jumping, and did the dirty stop stuff. We were able to take a year out for him and soon realised that he hadn't hacked out on the roads, hadn't done xc, hadn't done pc stuff, just pure sj all the time. We left sj alone and got him into other stuff, especially the xc which he loved, and then came back to low level sj stuff with my niece riding. He has been fine since, we don't overface him and keep the variety going. I read that you've had all the usual checks done so perhaps he just really needs a change for while. Good luck with it all. x
 
OP, I also made sure Frank did lots of other jobs, we do drsg, lots of fun rides, about to go hunting etc etc.

and def stop the rushing.
 
Thanks for all the replies - that has really helped! Think the winter off is the way forward - and lots of hacking / XC etc.

I am due to do a working hunter showing class in Dec - wonder whether to reschedulde or just give it a go. Its 2ft max jumps so think we should be ok.
 
What height are you doing currently? I'd take him to a show with TINY jumps, like 1ft6 ish get his confidence back, so literally he could trot over them if he really wanted to.
 
I would go and do your WH class but just make sure you are riding forward and jumping out of your stride this is after all what judges are looking for remember to smile and have fun
 
It may not be his back, teeth but could be something else that causes him to not want to jump from his previous jumping days and may still unbeknown to you still be causing him pain.

Oh if only they could talk
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re WH,

frank loves WH, has stopped maybe once in all the years I have been doing it. I would go and do it is a very different atmosphere to SJ, no bell etc.
 
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Had his saddle, back and teeth all done in the past 2 months.
I definately rush toward fences particularly when I think he might stop ... Think I'll give him the whole winter off sj comps but get so e good lessons. I'll get him out on lots of fun hacks too.

I had a lovely little mare who was a "point and shoot" ride and would jump anything. She then started putting in really dirty stops so I knew something was seriously wrong. Sadly, it turned out to be pedal-ostitis.
If he is also feeling "footy", I would get his feet checked.
 
If he is jumping fine at home and in lessons but stopping at shows then to me it sounds like its coming from the rider.

He has stopped at show - rider then worries about him stopping at a show- rider rides differently at show - horse picks up on riders different feeling it worries him - horse stops at show.

Its a horrid situation to be in and I think the winter away from jumping just enjoying life then going back to basics with lots of gridwork and tiny clear rounds etc should get your confidence back in each other
 
I'd stop show jumping him completely for at least a year, I think he's stale and fed up.

I went to look at a horse on loan that was a former grade A showjumper. He'd got stale and was being loaned on the basis that I could do anything over summer apart from showjumping. He spent his winters with his owner as an amazing team chaser.

I didn't have him in the end but he'd just developed a block with showjumping.

So my advice would be to check that nothing is hurting him (check his fore limbs and feet especially) and once you are happy try as many other things as possible. If he loves WH (this horse I looked at would WH but not SJ) then do that but practice over WH fences and xc fences. Try XC or indoor xc, try team chasing, try le trec, try hunting, try jump cross, and have a go at dressage.

Sounds like he probably doesn't need loads of jumping practice, I'd concentrate on flat work and getting that perfect, and think about him enjoying his jumping then he is unlikely to stop.
 
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