unpredictable horse - advice needed

[powelso]

Hi everyone,
i have owned my horse for 11 years and throughout that time we have competed in dressage and showjumping (although he has always rushed a little when jumping) and we've had our ups and downs like most.
last christmas he was jumping really well but unfortunatley he damaged a tendon in the spring and had to have the year off, this year he has been bought back into work and seemed to be ok. i tried some pole work in the spring and he just galloped through them. he was also started to head shake so i had his teeth, saddle and back checked which were all ok. the vets have put him on a course of bute to see if that helped and his headshaking has greatly reduced. my problem is the jumps - whenever he sees a jumps he just gallops off. i have not jumped him for quite a while now but this happens even if there is a jump left in the school or a pole on the ground that i don't even go near. i did trust him completly and had started to ride bareback and really enjoying it. however i recently went in the school (with saddle) and he saw a jump out the corner of his eye,galloped to the gate and jumped out if the arena. i ended up being airlifted to hospital and thankfully nothing is broken. i'm just not sure what to do now. i trusted him so much but i feel what he did was unacceptable. even is he associates the jumps with pain i don't feel that's an excuse to endanger me when i'm not even going near the jump. sorry this is so long winded but i need help in whether i should carry on with him or sell him and try again.

[Afellpony]

How long has he been back in work? Have you had everything you can checked again to make sure he's no longer in any discomfort? Does the tack you're using fit him properly? If the answer is yes to everything, then you'll have to look again at whether the is still in some pain or discomfort. May be he just remembers the pain he may have been in. Good luck with this one.

[Cheeky]

Hey there

Alrighty .. so lets try and rule out some kinks in this situation:

- He hurt his tendon by jumping .. There is a good chance that he now associates jumping with pain. To help him get over this, you need to take things slow .. go back the lunging him over a pole .. let him run around and go nuts for a bit .. give him time to get over the fact that he isn't going to hurt over jumps again. Just get him lunging over poles, then gradually move up to a small X bar. For some horses, knocking or hurting themselves over a jump can cause a little mental scar .. and will need good attention to help get over it.

- He hurts when jumping .. there is also another good chance that he has grown out of shape to his saddle .. Because he hasn't been worked for so long, his body will change. Get his saddle/back/teeth and his tendon checked out again. He may prefer to have some support from a tendon boot on his legs to a) give him confidence and b) give support to reduce injury

Take it all slow :) Good luck

[The Flying Irishman]

Loks like yo have the same problem as me, my horse has been off work (previously would jump anything and always placed) but since coming back into work he has totally lost his confidence only with him it manifests in a different way - he will not go near a jump.

If i were you I would go back to basics, I am doing a lot of grounwork over poles, walking him through, stopping, getting him to step backwards over the poles, trotting over cavalettis etc

Good luck
Kath x