Lack of Concentration!

[Retty]

Hello guys,
Posting a problem for a friend who can't use the internet. She has a 6 year old TB X mare who she competes on in both dressage and showjumping. When she is jumped at her yard she is usually fine but when at shows she ploughs towards the jumps and seems to have a total lack of concentration inbetween each jump. AT the stable yard she jumps with little problems and mostly concentrates. The main problems that she has is that her mare is very bouncy in canter and she won't open her stride before the jump, then she bounds over the jump at the last minute and then tries to pelt off afterwards leaving my friend outta breath and with her arms hanging out of her sockets! When she tried dressage at a show her mare went into rearing fits although in training she was as good as gold.

Does anyone have any ideas on what she could do?

[happyhorse]

hmmm sounds annoying.. esp if she goes so well at home... my friend went to look at a horse for sale the other day and it was perfect but they were told that it was fine but no good at shows because he lost the plot when he got there (too much going on, and too exciting)

. Has she been to many shows with her or is it a fairly new thing? It could maybe be that because its new , its exciting for her and she struggles to contain herself and maybe with the more she does the calmer she'll get? (just a idea)

[galadriel]

What has she done with respect to making trips to shows uneventful for the mare? If she just took her to one the first time ever and expected the mare to perform, then the horse probably just associates being at shows with excitement. Desensitizing a horse to crowds, lots of other horses, excitement, separation from pasture pals, etc is important BEFORE you expect the horse to be able to concentrate at shows.

(I know this isn't "your" horse, I'm just speaking in general terms.)
It helps to take your horse to shows several times and NOT ride. Lead around, feed treats, graze, until horse is calm. (Don't let horse touch noses with other horses or sniff manure piles, though.) Just make the whole trip an attempt to make the horse happy. If horse won't calm down, you may wish to lunge him a little to try to get his attention on you without risking getting your arm yanked off at close range ;) Hopefully, being offered grazing around the place will help horse calm down a lot.

After you do this a couple of times, horse learns that going to shows isn't a strenuous scary thing. Next couple of times, you can hop on horse and walk around, again making it your goal just to make horse calm and happy. If horse is attentive and calm, you might even want to pop over a jump or two in the practice arena--but riding in an arena full of horses is very differen from riding round the edges. If you can ride at the show and keep the horse calm and his attention on you, then probably the next time you can enter a class or two.

Once your horse associates shows with excitement, it may take longer to wind him down than it would if he had no experience at shows at all. If you put effort into it, though, you can proably teach your horse to enjoy shows and treat them like being at home.

And now that I've typed this all out, i have recalled that Jessica Jahiel has an aticle on showground desensitization.
http://www.horse-sense.org/archives/20011216113154.phtml

Hehe.

[Retty]

HI, thanks for your replies, I will pass them onto my friend. Yes, her horse has competed at many shows and she always is very excited.

[casey]

Could it not be you friend who's feeling anxious, and passing it on to the mare? All I can think of is your friend is relaxed at home and in the collecting ring and she may be anxious or nervous in the arena. After all most problems can be found in the mind of the rider and not the body of the horse.

Just a thought.