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  Discussion on Refusing jumps
Author Message
Member:
Cwilson

Posted on Monday, Jul 28, 2003 - 12:41 am:

Romeo is a 17 yo QH who has been jumping quite well for two years. In March he was injured(basically a very bad shoeing job) and now he has rehab and does the flat beautifully. He will jump but it is like he has to study the jump and make sure everything is just so. Nothing seems to be hurting him. The other day we turned the polewhich was dusty on one side to the other side which was a little brighter and he went over it. He can jump 34" easily when he wants to. We really don't have a good trainer for jumping and just need some advice. When he refuses he does at least refuse nicely- he just goes towards the side, he doesn't come to a dead stop and throw my daughter(which I'm thankful for!)
thanks,
Chris
New Member:
Renie408

Posted on Friday, Aug 8, 2003 - 1:20 pm:

Go back and pretend like you are starting him over. Start with poles on the ground, the whole bit. Don't be tempted to rush through any steps, but it isn't going to take the time it took to train him to jump in the first place. Just work trot poles for a few days, hack a day or so, come back for crossrails, etc. Give yourself about a month to work him back up to where he was before the injury. Some horses will have their confidence rebuilt just by this process. Others will hit a spot where they start stopping again. When you get to that point, carefully analyze how gradually you built your program (make sure that you didn't go from two foot verticals to 2'9" oxers in one day) and take a tiny step back and stay at that level for a little while. Let's say that you get him to where he is happy and comfortable over a 2'9" vertical with a clear ground line and an easy approach, but he gets uncertain over an oxer of the same size. Step back and try working him over 2'6" gymnastic jumps for a week or two before going back to the 2'9" height. Build your gymnastics the same slow, methodical way. Start with a simple in and out then go to three jumps and you can get to where you are working a two stride to a long one stride to a short one stride...whatever you and the horse are comfortable with. Once he is breezing through gymnastics confidently, I will just about gaurantee that he will lose his nerves over the regular fences.

Horses want to do for us, they sometimes just need the job 're-explained' to them. I always avoid any kind of 'rude' discipline for a horse that is quitting. I have just never had it help. But staying calm, praising the heck out of them when they go and using a steady gradual building process has never failed.
Member:
Cwilson

Posted on Thursday, Aug 14, 2003 - 10:02 am:

Michael,
Thanks for the advice. We've been on vacation and Romeo wasn't ridden much while we were gone so Jenny is working with him. She road him yesterday but won't try jumping until next week. I printed out your e-mail and gave it to her to use.
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