What would you do??

H

Howbizarre

New User
Joined
16 April 2011
Messages
6
Visit site
My 15 yr old daughter has a 16hh warmblood mare who is as clever as she is talented. She sometimes puts in the odd stop or spook, but recently she has started to stop at fences allot more. We've tried giving her a rest, lots of lessons etc but my daughter, who is 5'5'' is starting to get very scared of jumping. The horse is lovely for dressage, but can be quite strong jumping and tricky to handle. She generally isn't the nervous type of rider, and I'm starting to wonder if the horse is just too much for her, or if we should carry on in the hope that she will learn how to manage her as she gets older??
 
Her saddle had been checked out, but several instructors have said that she makes my daughter work very hard, not always a bad thing. We are going to talk to an experienced friend about the situation though
 
My boy started stopping at jumps and i gave him a very long break and it seems to of worked :) How long was the break from jumping you gave her?
 
If it isn't the saddle or any soreness in the horses back or mouth then it could be that at the moment they are caught up in that vicious circle of worrying each other. Because subconscously your daughter may be worried which in turn will unnerve the horse. Which will unnerve your daughter and so on.

Could they go back to basics with the good instructor you know, do some pole work, gridwork etc and then see how they are both going?
 
Another thing i did was went out a jumped smaller heights to make sure he was having fun when he went out :) not sure what height their jumping but prehaps get them having fun again? :)
 
ISHmad said:
If it isn't the saddle or any soreness in the horses back or mouth then it could be that at the moment they are caught up in that vicious circle of worrying each other. Because subconscously your daughter may be worried which in turn will unnerve the horse. Which will unnerve your daughter and so on.

Could they go back to basics with the good instructor you know, do some pole work, gridwork etc and then see how they are both going?
Click to expand...

Been there done that!
 
If they've gone back to basics, then how did the horse react? Did she go over poles, grids etc or was she still stopping?

When mine started to stop, I loose jumped her and this helped her massively to sort herself out and then we slowly built up the jumps, which also helped with my confidence.
 
I'd be inclined to think she's reacting to your daughters loss of confidence in her - that classic ever perpetuating cycle. Could they get some intensive coaching to try and break the cycle? It sounds like she's always going to make your daughter work hard but once they iron out these issues thats not to say they won't make a good team. Just tell your daughter to invest in a pair of dumbells or gym membership and get working on those thighs & biceps :D I'm sure you're providing lots of encouragement & positivity to prevent her getting in the doldrums, these situations are very psychological too.

I guess it depends how much your daughter wants this horse to work out, if her enthusiasms lacking or she doesn't want it enough it would be counter productive to persist. 15's young - too young to be overly stressed or worried about a horse for too long.
 
Last edited:
They were jumping 95cm courses, so they went right back to basics and worked up to 75cms, all fine, then 85cms where the problem re-appeared. The other day at an xc rally she stopped at a 90cm jump, then point blank refused to jump a 70cm jump with a lead. I think she would really like to work things out with this horse, but is already quite worn down and is worried that is she persists she will end up having another bad fall or completely loosing her nerve.
 
I would give loose jumping a shot and see if she'll jump these without a rider.
At least this will give you an indication of whether the rider is perhaps a part ofthe issue? Have you tried a different rider to see if you get the same reactions?
 
I'd get someone experienced to jump the horse, and see if she's still stopping then. As other people have said it could be a vicous circle of your daughter expecting a stop so bracing herself for one.

If you've had saddle etc checked then I'd consider speaking to your vet - there might be something hurting her subclinically that is only hurting when jumping, so it might be her giving you early warning signals something is wrong!!
 
Sounds to me like this horse doesnt want to jump...why make it when you could find a horse that fills your daughter with confidence and loves jumping???

Personally i would loan out this horse, or sell if you prefer, to a dressage home and get ur daughter a jumping horse. That way both your daughter and the horse are happy!!

Why ask your horse to do something that it doesnt want to do? I certainly put up a fight if i was asked to do something i didnt want to. Not all horses like jumping. fact.

I dont mean give up at the first hurdle, but confidence once lost is hard to regain, especially on the same horse anyway.

Thats my take on it anyway :)

Good luck!
 
Thankyou all for the advice, she jumps fine when ridden by a professional event rider ( badminton standard), we'll probably try to find her a more suitable and experienced home
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bexcy-bee
Well, you do apear to have tried everything! Maybe the only answer is to sell her for meat?

Is it still the school holidays!

?????????! What an odd reply.


I think the poster is thinking TROLL ALERT
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top