Will jump on grass but not arena?!

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AmyP28

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Has anyone experienced a horse who is completely different to jump on grass and an arena, but the wrong way round 😂

My 7 year old gelding (who arrived with me very green) jumps like a stag in the field at home, will fly over 70cm like it’s not there and pulls me into them with that lovely feeling that we could jump anything! Gives some exciting bucks and is so keen.

In our local indoor arena, he loses all confidence and stops at tiny cross poles and will barely walk over them - has anyone experienced this?
 
What is the surface like? Same on all arena surfaces or just this one?
My last one was v enthusiastic on grass whether soft, med or hard ground, but on some arena surfaces then v cautious.
One indoor in particular. I actually got off in a training session and led her up, found the surface v loose myself, so called it a day.
To add, once the venue resurfaced, we returned and no further issues there.
Sometimes it can just be down to surface maintenance.
 
Thanks all! I’ve been told by friends/riding club members this surface is known for being quite hard but not loose at all - it’s very hard packed looking at it. Do you think that would be an issue? Thinking more about this, I haven’t actually jumped it at another arena at all!
 
AmyP28 said:
Thanks all! I’ve been told by friends/riding club members this surface is known for being quite hard but not loose at all - it’s very hard packed looking at it. Do you think that would be an issue? Thinking more about this, I haven’t actually jumped it at another arena at all!
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Probably feels like concrete to the horse or worse, bearing in mind the force down one limb can be equivalent to 4x the weight of the animal (plus whatever it's carrying) so more when jumping. Can you hire another arena? Trying a different surface will answer pretty well that the surface is the issue.
 
I think some horses can 'go green' again when going in to an area they don't often go in or on competition days where they go in to do a max of 3 mins work for their allocated test or round. Some arena are generally more spooky/things to look at too so it could be that the horse isn't concentrating on you when you go in to do your round. I'd probably go back some steps and do some arena hire and then build up to clear round jumping, no pressure, take a bit of time to have a trot round the arena, get the horses attention on you, trot over some poles on the floor and then go home. Next time do the poles on the floor and maybe a small class and keep building that way.
 
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