Introducing a young pony to jumps

[SJ]

Sorry this might be along explanation:

My 11 year old daughter has a gorgeous Welsh Part bred 5 year old pony mare. This is her second pony and her choice, something prettier finer and whizzier than her first hairy pony. The pony has a lovely temperament, paces and also a superb jump (already will jump about 3' from choice) when she's jumping fences she knows well but...

as soon as we take her to a show - we only take her at the moment into very low clear round classes she jumps perfectly until she meets a plank, filler coloured pole she's not seen before then she stops dead. Once's she's sniffed it, walked round it, she's usually jump it clean second time. This shouldn't really be a problem as she is obviously only learning but, we have been taking her out and about as much as possible, and she has seen lots of different things now.

I would really appreciate anyone's opinion on how long we should keep babying her i.e.allowing her a good look or whether we should now start insisting she jumps everything, if necessary, from a stand still - the jumps are very small. My daughter is very patient with her but is beginning to wonder if she is taking the Mickey!

Many thanks
Sara Jane

[Mehitabel]

it's tough to know when that kind of thing stops being a baby thing and starts being a habit. how long has she been jumping? if she were mine i'd probaly start insisting fairly soon, so it doesn't become an established habit. is it possible that your daughter tenses up when approaching jumps she thinks the pony might refuse at? perhaps see if there's a small adult you trust to have a go and see if that's the problem. does she also refuse new things at home? perhaps try taking her to friends' places and jumping there, or going for jumping lessons at various riding schools.

[Showjumper]

You could try to locate as many bizarre things as possible (providing they're safe!) and leave them in her field. For example; extremely odd-coloured jump poles and planks, bright pieces of fabric (tied down very securely to the fence so they don't flap), etc. Just try to get her used to as many "scaries" as possible, and she should become less worried about new things that she sees at shows.

Like Es said, getting someone else to ride her over some jumps could give an indication as to whether she's scared or confused, or just playing about.

If the latter, you'll have to be firmer and use much more leg and direct rein to get her over it first time.

However, five is still very young, and the last thing you want to do is put her off, so you mustn't use force, just persuasion and a lot of praise when she does it right.

Good Luck and Happy Landings! :D

[SJ]

Thanks for your replies

The pony is only 12.2hh and very fine, I thought of finding a light weight adult rider but they would have to be about 6 1/2 stone and I can't find anyone. She's not really a particularly nervous pony for her type and once she's seen something she's fine. She grazes in a field full of our own scary jumps and clears them all now with no probs.

She's just too suspicious or smart (I'm not sure which) for her own good. If you put up a new jump she might take a look and then jump it again and again. Rearrange it slightly and she'll stop again and have a look before she jumps, then she's fine. We're about to paint spots on the back of our sharks tooth planks and large circles of the back of the piggy fillers! but there's a limit to how much we can create at home.

Of course, at a show, however much we treat it as a schooling session there is inevitably some pressure just by having an audience!

She angelic in the showing ring and I think on balance it might be time to step up the insistance at a low height.