what would you do?

[BroadfordQueen]

i took my ginger pony to a very local show last night, just to see what happened. we knew he bucked occasionally- he bucked when we went to try him and bucked with his old owners when they showed him us. he has calmed down considerably in the last month and has only bucked once or twice at home with us. we jumped him at home round about 5 3ft fences and he was fab, no bucks etc.


we got to the show which was about 2"6ft. he was fab in the warm up, really calm and didnt buck at all. got him in the ring and as soon as he saw the fences he bucked. and bucked. and bucked. i finally got him going and jumped up to fence 3, where he started bucking again, so i retired. i tried hitting him with the stick to stop him bucking, which made it worse. i tried just kicking him on but that just made him fly buck.

he has scope and ability, as when he was about 6 he won nearly £200 BSJA. he then developed his bucking and has obviously been beaten round the fences with a whip as he is terrifed of them, he wont come anywhere near you if you have a whip in your hand.

im wondering which approach to take. should i just forget about showjumping and hunt him for the winter and try again next year, or hire out our local sj course, or take him to some clear rounds, or give up sj totally? he is 8 years old- do you think it is too late and that he has something in his mind that wont come out?

any help much appriciated!

 

[airedale]

what's he like if you tried taking him to a show - warming him up - and then taking him into a ring and doing another sort of class with him - just a fun showing class - wonder if he'd buck then ?

might be a way of stopping him thinking warm up OK - class =buck/pain

 

[allijudd]

have you had all his tack check etc etc?

 

[BroadfordQueen]

havent thought of this option actually. may well give it a go.

one idea we did have was to rent out this equestrian centre and walk him into the ring when its empty with no jumps in it and gradually add fences in when we are in the ring so he gets used to jumps being in there and then jump them and then go out of the ring and back in and see what he does.

its such a shame, he has obviously had a hard time as it wasnt nasty bucking, but it wasnt excited bucking... he seemed scared.

 

[BroadfordQueen]

yep he has been checked, teeth and back and has been recently shod.

 

[monica123]

umm, well maybe try v. small, see what happens, and if he gets better, gradualy get bigger, hiring the arena soun ds good aswel, good luck hun! keep us updated!

 

[Bess]

It sounds like he associates show jumps with being hit so why not go hunting and try hunter trials. I think you need to get him to trust that things will be different with you, so do other things to get his trust before trying showjumping again.

 

[BroadfordQueen]

thanks- i am taking him cubbing tomorrow morning and have done a "fun" teamchase already with him which he really enjoyed. am going to try and gain his trust in me and build a partnership with him, let him have some fun, see if that helps. thanks for ideas

 

[Twinkle Twinkle]

I would take him hunting it will teach him to go forward and he wont feel under pressure.

 

[Clodagh]

I'm with you! Hunting does teach them forward is fun!

 

[kerrylou123]

Ah, Thursday night Gracelands... i remember those days well. Not getting home til gone midnight

 

[Blackhawk]

Is it possible to ride him without a whip? As if he associates it with fear then whipping him won't help the bucking.

I don't think it's too late at all at 8 years old either. Loads of years in him!

 

[BroadfordQueen]

i dont actually ride him with a whip, he doesnt need one, my mum came in and gave me one in hope that it would shift him. she quickily had it back though when it didnt work!

 

[Skhosu]

ok, sounds very like my pony!
He still does teh occasional buck,but used to stand at one end of an arena and buck constantly, plus stopping, napping etc. Couldn't get round 75cm, yet won a 1.30m puissance jumping competition with me. Now, I know this was all our fault, we three kids shared him, overjumped and rode him as a 6yr old and were not always very nice to him so... Also he had no confidence
He couldn't deal with the pressure I reckon.
Now I don't have him as my primary pony, and don't much if he wins/gets eliminated he goes so much better. He's enjoying his jumping and recently came 5th in a jump off plus is going round a xc as well.
I would say relax , take him to very small (even 50cm!) clear round jumping and just get him over every fence.
Either that or hunt him, hack him, anything but showjump an dtry again in the spring. No advice re: hitting, if he's scared I wouldn't, being naughty (as miune is prone to still being occasionally) do.
PM me if you want more info.

 

[KatB]

Just take all pressure off him, do really little classes that you can walk round if need be!! Just to teach him coloured poles dont mean pressure and pain. Just sounds like he's got to learn its fun again. By the sounds of things he's done too much too young and has just given up enjoying his job. Kepp everything small and chilled until he lets you know otherwise.