What to do next? Jumping related. Long sorry.

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Flight

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Sorry this is going to be long but need some advice on what to do next. I have a 9yr old dutch warmblood who I have owned since he was 3 1/2. He has excellent breeding for jumping and although was very nervous when I got him he has grown up to be a very well mannered horse who loves to please.
We have had a few issues over the past few years which started with him going lame, never found out why but think he twisted fetlock in field and it took nearly 1 year for him to be completely sound again, just got jumping which was going really well. He was happily jumping courses at home up to about 3ft but I only ever took him to one show to do novice. Then he had a couple of nasty falls from not jumping properly and getting pole caught in legs, he tweaked tendon on front leg. Had a couple of months off to allow that to heal before being brought slowly back into work.
Then I got a really bad back which I ended up having to have an operation on and 3 months off riding. During the time that my back was bad but I was still riding brought him back to jumping very slowly but he started refusing. When he did jump it was horrible and he really wasn't happy. I went for some lessons thinking it must be something I was doing and was told by a couple of people that I should sell him as I wasn't a good enough rider for him :-(
I chose to ignore them and have stuck with it. Now I've got a good back, horse has had all checks done and a new saddle as he lost so much muscle from all time off he is now jumping brilliantly again. I am so pleased that I didn't give up and had the confidence in my ability despite many moments of doubt. I have taken him to 2 shows in last couple of weeks just to do novice. I came 2nd last week and then today he came 1st. Biggest jumps today were about 70cms which I know is tiny for him but equally with all problems I don't want to rush him into doing bigger fences which he may not feel as happy with. This time last year he wouldn't even go over a pole on the ground. I do feel like a bit of a fraud doing novice classes when I know he can do so much better and as I compete one of my other horse affiliated but only BN, Discov level.
So should I keep doing some smaller classes or should I keep going up a class every show until I find the point where he not as happy then work on that?
I heard people commenting at both shows that we shouldn't have been in these classes and that my horse can't have been a novice although I know that's not true it did kind of spoil the achievement.

Sorry this was so long but thought it was important to know whole history. What would you do?

Lots of cookies and strong drinks of your choice if you got this far. Thanks
 
I'd only jump the horse at the leve he was happy with - rather than looking to max him out..... - And to hell with what others may think.
 
Problem I have is that I don't know what he is happy with. He was happy jumping 3ft + as a 6yr old with a lot of scope to jump bigger. How do I find out if I don't keep increasing it but need to do that without upsetting him.
 
First of all well done!
Second of all who cares what people have said. I take my 16.2HH horse to jump 55cm and hubby will hopefully soon be taking omar to do 60cm classes.
Now bearing in mind omar is a 17.2hh brick outhouse of an irish draft with fantastic jumping blood lines i have no doubt people will think the same as they have said to you. However omar has lost his nerve (or never had it!) jumping and so hubby wants to make sure he's happy.
You know your horse. I would maybe do a few more shows at the height you're at then maybe do the next class up, do that for a while then move up ec.
What is the pont of undoing all your good work?
 
hi shame about all off the injuries. i had a pony which hurt the tendon but she wasnt confident with jumping to start with and stoped, once she hurt her tendon she had 18months off and then we slowy started flatwork. finaly after a couple off months of flatwork we came into very small jumps, we slowly worked our way up in the field but we didnt go up in competition till i new she was confident in the field as i didnt want to knock her confidence and make her start stopping again incase it pulled on her tendon to much.

if i where you i would make sure and get lots of practise before you go up and make sure you dont overfase your horse
 
Surely it's about fun - so by all means increase the size of the fences you are jumping - just don't over do it. From your description of the horse it doens't sound particularly scopy - so just enjoy together what you can do without over facing him.
 
i would stay at that height until you feel you're both ready to go up, when it's too easy i think its time to move up a level. if you're winning the class i would say he's probably up for doing a slightly bigger class but only you know how he feels. well done for proving the people who told you to sell him wrong
 
Thanks for your replies, I am glad i'm not the only one who goes in novice on a big horse who should be doing more lol. I will see how he gets on at next few shows doing 70cm and might try 80cm if he feeling happy.
 
This is totally unrelated, but I own a mare who's jumped up to Newcomers. She has since lost all her confidence, been written off by vets due to lameness, and not to mention that I'm terrified of jumping after an accident, and competition-wise I am an absolute novice!

We constantly have people muttering about how we shouldn't be in the class. One jealous parent even made an official complaint against us coming 2nd (at our first show) much to my embarrassment!! You can't really win - either you do badly and have people mutter about what a numpty you are, or you do well and have people accuse you of pot-hunting.

I'm afraid you just have to blank it out. Don't let other people rush you into pushing him up the levels - far better to keep him sound, happy and confident.

It sounds like you've had your fair share of problems, well done for working through them and enjoy your horse - someone has to win after all!
 
Hi, I'm kind of in the same boat as you - my horse as amazing scope - he'll happily jump 1.50 without a problem...BUT he's scared of fillers! So we've been doing 65/75/85/95 classes for 6 months, working up through those to gain his confidence.

When training we do 95/1.00 courses and at shows we do 75 and 85 classes usually. I do feel as though people think we shouldn't be doing them, but they only think that when we do well - they wouldn't think that if we had a stop at a silly filler. Ultimately you decide what level your horse should be comepting at, and I would always aim to be jumping courses 10cm higher when training than when your competing.

It sounds like you've done really well with your horse, well done
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Don't let these jealous people take any of your glory away
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Just ignore them! If you'd been winning every 70cm class for a year and kept coming back for more, I might start to wonder, but you've only been twice! Take all the time you need, and if people mutter, you can tell them how he and you are both being rehabilitated---that should shut them up. If you find yourself at a point where you think you're winning too often, but you're still not happy about moving up just yet, you can always compete HC.
 
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