abused showjumper

[CurlyWurlyRach]

I got my beautiful TB/WB mare from a dealer friend at christmas. i adore her and think shes perfect but am forced to admit I cant handle her sometimes.
shes normally really really good and acts more like a placid cob than a TBx! On the flat she perfect and youd never realise there was anything wrong with her. Over jumps she changes. she flys over them as fast as she can, takes turns that terrefy me (up on her back legs and pirouettes) and takes several revolutions of the arena to slow from a flat out canter to a controlled trot.
Ive found out some of her history and she used to be a professional showjumping horse, used for jump-offs. She only practised jump off techniques and competed once a week at jump off. shes got it firmly into her head that if she sees a jump she has to fly over it as fast as possible. This got too much for her owners and they shipped her off to the sales.
I build tiny courses to encorage her to take them at a steady pace but i end up going round about three times extra while im trying to stop.
its kinda starting to get me down. Shes not being naughty or malicious. Its what she thinks i want. Is 7 too old to try and change her?
Any ideas to encourage her to take it steady and show her im not going to hurt her if she goes slow or raps some poles?

[HairyCob]

My Dolly could be classed as an 'abused showjumper'... she was beaten for refusing a jump at a competition... then repeatedly beaten when she then refused to jump at competition again:(

The girl I bought her from tried to get her jumping again using kindness, and she would happily jump at home for her, or on any XC course... but she wouldn't jump at SJ competitions at all... the girl who had her is a SJ'er, and so decided to sell her to a hacking home to save Dolly any further stress.

I haven't tried jumping Dolly yet, my confidence isn't that high, but I am experiencing some problems associated with her previous 'career'.

She is VERY competitive when out hacking with other horses.. she hates beign behind and will jog, attempt to take off and generally 'misbehave' to get in front. Once in front, she will 'up the pace' to ensure she is definitely 'winning'.

I'm hoping to resolve this issue... we've been doing a lot of 'solo' hacking- my rationalle being she doesn't then have to compete, and when we do hack in company, I'm working on getting her to hack alongside the other horse, and also making her spend some time behind and some in front without 'charging' off.

My only suggestion in your case would be to give your mare some 'time out' from jumping... let her 'settle' with you and get to know that you aren't going to hurt her and don't want her to do everything super quick, and then re-introduce the jumping slowly.

Hopefully that way you can avoid loosing your confidence on her whilst at the same time building her confidence in you.

Good luck!

[Emz]

To stop a horse rushing fences i start from the beginning again.

Start with poles on the ground, treat her as if she doesn't knwo what jumping is and introduce it slowly and calmly again, building up small grids and using poles leading into the jump to regulate her rhythm and speed.

[Afellpony]

I agree with what EMZ says, I'd give her a few months break and then start jumping again. If you have any where decent to hack her out just do that for a couple of months, then bring her back into jumping but start again with poles on the ground. Hope this is of some help.

[Cheeky]

A break could do her good :)

Then start off with just a pole on the ground .. and don't move onwards until she can accept that in her stride rather than racing at a simple pole. Build it up to a set of trotting poles .. then when she is calm over that, put an extremely small Xjump up. If you find that she rushes, you could try putting a pole AFTER the jump .. same distance as a trotting pole going towards the jump. This will make her slow down and listen to you. :)

Also - when you are doing the trotting poles/small jump .. just go around in a large circle and repeate until she realises there is little to get excited about :)

Good luck, she sounds a keeper

[HorseManiac]

Get her used to voice commands.practise this on the lunge when she is walking trotting and cantering so when she jumps and she is getting fast ou can slow her down.

then when she is used to this use it when ou ride her. put a pole n the ground first, walk over it the trot and canter. ou can also do this on the lunge.

hope this helps! xx