Help and advice needed!

C

*carrie*

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Mar 21, 2006
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Hello guys

As you may know I have owned Carrie since the end of feb. She came from a home where she was a bit of a fruit loop and bucked and reared etc. Anyway she has been an angel so far.

I am going to camp in a few weeks and will be having a go at jumping. I've never jumped before so will be interesting.
My instructor suggested I had a go of lunging Carrie over some jumps before camp. So today I had a go. All I did was put a wing up and a bucket the oter end then put a pole on the ground. To cut a long story she short she kept spooking then threw a completet wobbler. Bucking then she just leapt about 4 ft in the air!!
Thankfully I wasn't on her. She eventually settled and walked and trotted over the pole nicely. However she could do it while I am on her

I am going to lunge her more over the poles and then over a small jump and see how she goes. My friend seems to think that she won't do it while I am on her because I give her confidence but I know she has thrown this kind of wobbler before.
Any advice? Do you think she just doesn't like jumping?
 
My advice is to take it really really slooooow. This is a completely new thing for your horse and so you have to give her time to learn. I would continue lunging over the poles until she is 100% used to them. Then you can get on her and try walking her over the poles until she is 100% used to that then try a trot ect ect. Be sure that you have someone nearby in case anything happens when you get on her.Good Luck and be patient!!!!:) :D :)
 
I know she can jump because she did with her previous owner but she did tend to buck and rear with them which she hasn't done so far.

I bought myself a body protector yesterday so will wear it when I try. Wish me luck lol
 
Bucking and rearing could be that her saddle doesn't fit. The shock loading of a saddle as you land is surprisingly high and if her saddle is a bit sore she will buck and rear, rear in anticipation of the pain and try to avoid it and buck because she is in pain.
 
She has had her back and saddle checked and all fine. Also having teeth checked today. The thing is that yesterday when I was lunging her she wasn't jumping. It was just a pole on the ground so she was just trotting over it
 
My horse behaves like an absolute loon on the lunge but never bucks or rears when ridden. I've lunge jumped her before & shes leapt 3ft over a pole on the floor & charged off bucking & leaping, but she never does anything like this when being ridden *touch wood*. If you're worried about what shes going to react like when you jump her, is there anyone who would be happy to jump her for you first?

Good luck :)
 
I know she has bucked and reared with previous owner when jumping so I wouldn't put it past her.
Unfortunately there is no one that will ride her. She doesn't seem to take well to new people riding her and tends not to work for them. Also I'd feel really bad if they got dumped.

Think I might just bite the bullet, wear my new body protector and maybe put on a neck strap so I have something to hold onto should she freak.

I will talk to my instructor tomorrow about introducing poles to our lesson.
 
I think she doesn't really know what's going on and what's going to happen next. Do you work with her quite often on the lunge line ? Some people do, some don't. If you don't - if it's not your regular normal way to work, then I wouldn't worry too much about her reaction for now.

How about this - if you're confident riding her on the flat - first establish a regular normal schooling schedule - I mean, if you don't regularly school her in one particular area, then start doing that for a few days, then when all's going well, put a ground pole in there, and go ahead and school her while completely ignoring it. Then when that's just fine and dandy, start walking over the pole as part of your everyday 20m circles and just keep ignoring it. After a few sessions - you be the judge - start going over it as part of your trot work - don't even mention it to her - pretend it is not even an issue.

Just play it by ear, and gradually add poles 4 1/2 ft apart till she's trotting over 3 or 4 ... and you can raise one end of each one if you like ... then before you know it you'll be trotting her over a tiny, tiny jump as part of one of your circles.

By you being on her, and pretending that they're just so not an issue, she's very likely to take them that way as well.

Sometimes what happens, is if we think something might be a big issue to the horse, we make a 'special plan' to introduce the horse to the scary thing ... and we put on our gloves and back protectors, and get out the lunge line ... and before you know it the horse is looking at us and thinking OMG - she's expecting trouble .. must be something really scary today ! They pick up on this stuff, you know.

Oh - just have to mention one thing - this might be relevant to you, I don't know. I have an 'emotional' young mare - she has this personality type whereby she tries very hard to keep a lid on her emotions and so usually she's dead calm - like she's a dead-broke older horse. However, sometimes her emotions get so strong that they get the better of her and she flips out and does this big hairy bronc-rodeo type thing with all 4 legs off the ground at once. Bless her heart. She tries to keep it all under control .. but sometimes it gets too much and she has to bronc about for a minute. She's usually very apologetic afterwards. Sometimes she does it because she's frustrated, but mostly she's done it when she's been really brave and gone ahead and voluntarily done something that for her was a big deal - like for example, I asked her to free jump a little pole one time from a trot - and she did, once each way, then instead of coming in to me, she decided to try it at a canter - flew over it and then broncked ! Same thing the first time she trotted over a 9 inch high 'jump'. It was a big deal to her. Your mare might not be like this at all - interesting if she is though.
 
I'm not sure what goes through her head but I might try looking at it the way you said because you could be on the right track I just didn't look at it like that.
She is usually very well behaved on the lunge and I usually lunge her in my hat and gloves etc so nothing changed. She has the odd mad moment. I lunged her first without the pole being in there but when I put the pole out I put a bucket at the end and she seemed to spook at that more than the pole. Thinking about it it must have been the bucket because I have lunged her over poles before and she was fine!
Even though I know she has dumped people before when jumping I trust this mare so much that I want to try. Even if it is just a set of trotting poles it will all be an acheivement. I'm in no rush to be jumping silly heights (Too much of a wimp) I just want her to enjoy her work.

I am happy to take everything at snail pace just so we get it right. At least I'll get to try out my new body protector.

On a good note I rode her yesterday and she worked so hard and looked beautiful. You can't help but love her!
 
sounds like you are wonderful for her :) When I describe my mare to people, they quite often comment that I am 'wasting my time' .... and that she might never be a dead safe beginner horse ....and they're right, she probably won't ... but they don't know her like I do. And I bet nobody knows your girl like you do :) So, she might spook a bit at bucketsb - you can handle it. Have you fallen off her yet ? I haven't fallen off my mare so I have that to look forward to ! She's 4 and I started her in autumn last year so we get to do 'new things' almost every day. It's so incredibly hot and humid here, that a back protector is not feasible at all, though if we start jumping in a few years, I'll aim to do it in winter for that reason !!

Do you know how to use one rein to get her attention back if she has a fit while you're on her ? That's been the one big confidence giver that I've been able to use with my mare ... I can take things slowly for her, but at the end of the day, I'm not going to pad her in cotton wool, and there is a chance that she'll go loopy when I'm on her (and she has 3 times) .. but being able to get her attention back sharp with one rein makes that less of an intimidating thing to look forward to !
 
No matter what she throws at me we will work through. I belive we have a fantastic bond and I love her to pieces and I think she feels the same. She is very fussy with people but she will let me do anything with her.
When she had her paddy attack my friend took over but she got so stressed and wouldn't let her handle her. SHe really is an odd mare but I wouldn't swap her for the world.

No I haven't fallen off of her yet which has surprised a lot of people. I am waiting for it though. I think it will be when we start jumping at the end of July. She doesn't scare so I guess that is a good thing. I know how far i can push her.

Whats the one rein thing? She tends to ignore the rein aids when she is distracted so I'm not sure if it will work.
 
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