Hmmm...can anyone help me solve Skippy's jumping 'fear'?

skips and soda

Skippy Bum & Skoda Fabia
Sep 15, 2007
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South West, Nr. Bath
Well, on my vet's ok I was doing some work with Skippy on the lunge today (not 'lunging' as such, more just messing about as I don't like him on too many tight circles, but we were having fun!) and I decided to pop Skippy over some poles.

As some may know, Skippy doesn't 'do' jumping, his arthritis has meant he hasn't been able to but now that's under control vet has said that seeing as Skips can hack for hours over all sorts of ground and canter/do school work etc. with no ill effect he doesn't see why the odd pole and tiny jump will hurt (I do have tiny in mind by the way, he was talking 2ft3-2ft6 ish, I'm talking 1ft3-1ft6ish!) Lol! Even before the arthritis though Skips has been funny about it. Out hacking the other day we went out for hours, halfway through the woods we came across some branches blocking the way about 2ft off the ground, trotted Skips at them and he flew them, no bother. Today I set out a pole on the ground. Nope. He egst so far, stops and looks at it like it's going to kill him. I ended up walking over it with him several times to prove it wasn't scary. Then walked hi over it on the lunge. Okay, fine. Popped him up to trot (bearing in mind this is a pole on the ground) he hurdled it (silly racehorse jump) and took off. Came back round and all was fne, then the next time he hurdled it. I stayed calmly talking to him until he was totally chilled. Had exactly the same performance on the other rein. But then fine, totally chilled. He didn't look distressed, not blowing, not sweating, no eye rolling, none of his usual signs that he's not happy, lovely big, free trot, ears pricked, happy face on, hence why I was so surprised.

Popped it up to a tiny cross pole (about 1ft in the middle) came into it, strangest reaction ever. Ears pricked up, stride lengthened, ever so bold and keen, reached the take off point and panicked. You could see him just go "Oh sh*t what do I do now?????!" Took off, cleared it by miles (again with the steeplechase jump) an took off. Got him back to trot, talking quietly to him again, he calmed down, came into it again, exact thing happened again and then again. Eventually on the fourth go we got a decent, calm pop over it and we finished there, although he was still hesitant at take off point but I wasn't about to push it.


But I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions? It's so bizarre, he obviously wants to do it as as he comes in he really gets keen, having ridden him you get the feeling he's never going to stop and is really loving jumping. Then he spooks and spins and is gone. It's like he suddenly changes his mind, and I could see him doing it on the lunge. There seems to be some sort of mental block regarding poles and jumps here. It's like he's had some huge confidence knock and he can't get over it. He's perfectly capable of getting through the fear one day and then reverting back to square one the very next day. It's really bizarre. We're not pressured, it's a relaxed yard, he wasn't tacked up, just a bridle and loose lunge line, I wasn't nervous, it hadn't been planned, a spur of the moment decision as I'd recently spoken to the vet, took it super slowly, jump at the end was more like a raised trotting pole than a jump, particularly bearing in mind Skips is 15.3hh and fairly athletic.

Just wondering what to do really as it would be nice to be able to pop the odd tiny little fence without having to worry about it. The branches blocking the path were fine, but perhaps because they didn't look like a jump as they were just raised branches and he had to go over them to get through. It's what is so weird though cos he jumped them 'properly' no bother at all, but we have this big mental block when it comes to 'real fences'. (He's exactly the same with mini XC fences as well btw).

Any suggestions for how to solve this? He's obviously never going to go out competing or jumping anything big, I've worked hard enough to get him sound not to jeopardise that! But given that I have vet's ok for Skips to do a few small jumpies every now and again it would be nice if we could as when he does go over them he's fantastic!

Thanks. :)
 
could it also be anticipation of pain ?

my mare used to love loose jumping (she's western backed but I had been planning to get her jumping).

then we hit all the lameness issues that turned out to link to DJD in a hock

sometimes there are still poles down in our arena - and you can see she's thinking about it... but she is pretty cautious even walking over them.
 
could it also be anticipation of pain ?

my mare used to love loose jumping (she's western backed but I had been planning to get her jumping).

then we hit all the lameness issues that turned out to link to DJD in a hock

sometimes there are still poles down in our arena - and you can see she's thinking about it... but she is pretty cautious even walking over them.

See, I've often wondered that, but his ears don't go back as he jumps or anything and he bucks when in pain (trust me, I've experienced it!) and occasionally when incredibly excited/[laying in the field but that's fairly normal and they're different bucks, and he didn't buck after jumping.

He's done it ever since I bought him as well, and he passed a full 5* vetting and flexion tests etc. for that so I wouldn't know that it was linked to pain in his hocks, that's only been in the last 6 months and tis pretty much under control now (without wishing to tempt fate).

Wonder if it's remembered pain, like pain that he expects but doesn't actually get? He's got an array of interesting scars, look as if they could be old jumping injuries. We can't find any pain anywhere (trust me, he has the full works about every 6 weeks to make sure as we've had so many probs with him. He does seem to have had a bad past at some point and does have a tendency to have very odd reactions to things.

Might be worth a think about that...Might talk to my jumping instructor next time he comes over to give lessons. He's seems to work with a variety of different horses and I think takes on all sorts of quirky horses so might see what he says and thinks it is.

All food for thought though.
 
yep - I think on Fi's good days a little pop would be quite fun for her and not hurt..

but she doesn't know when it would be ok and just anticipates that it will hurt every day :s

she did do a little pole work the other day when she was feeling good. And in trying to "save" herself, she tends to tweak other parts of her so I'd worry about doing much more than ground poles unless she clearly wanted to.
 
Havent got any advice or anythin, just want to say its great that he is well enough to some some gental jumpin:D Keep us updated, and good luck:) x
 
Could it be that he's never really been properly taught how to jump or how to approach a pole/jump?
If he's not had much teaching then this would explain why he doesn't seem to know what to do with them

Or maybe when he was first jumped he wasn't taught sympathetically (maybe even getting rapped?) and this lead to him being nervous
 
There could be lots of reasons for it but you'll never know for sure why he's like this, just that this is how he is. I'd stick to polework, only move on to a weeny cross when the polework is relaxed & taken in his stride. Then stick to a weeny cross until this is relaxed & taken in his stride, off the lunge or loose if necessary. And so on. If he doesn't relax there could be something that still hurts or he has a serious hang up, and maybe it's best to leave it. Good luck :)
 
get on the ground together and lead him over like fun running around together :) , and then when you ride do trot poles

then when he is settled in hand walk up to the fences rather than trot , try and get him to walk in then bob over them gently if you can

then go back to asking normally once hes settled

take your time tho :) but I also think you need to show him the poles with you on the ground next to him to show that you touch then stand on them roll them with your feet , walk him lenghtways along the poles too, just play about with it all till he settles :)
 
Thank you everyone for the help and advice.

As everyone says, he's obviously got something going on there and I'm never going to know what. I think it's a confidence problem. He's genuinely nervous, he clearly *wants* to do it but something holds him back. He's a sharp horse anyway so I think the problem appears more pronounced in him as well.

I do think he's been abused in the past, he's a funny little lad really, very strange reactions to things and very quirky, he'll be fine one minute and a nightmare the next, but it's not nastiness or conscious bad behaviour, or it doesn't seem to be anyway on the whole, just some part of his brain is triggered and that takes over. I don't mind, I get on well with Skip, but I know a lot of people can't get to grips with him at all.

I believe he's done some sort of NH racing tbh, he's raced but no one knows when/how etc. but looking at his jump I'd say he has, he hurdles it with a proper 'racing jump' and the main aim for him seems to be getting away from the fence as quickly as possible. Not in a frightened way, more that that's what he's been taught.

He has also got an injury which (although now fixed) my chiropractor believes was caused by a fall when Skips has been going fast and fallen hard, and was then just left for a long time without being fixed. Strikes me that he's fallen whilst jumping, probaby racing, it all adds up pretty well, particualrly with the scars on his legs. I think he's been seriously frighetened in the past and the pain from the injury is a bad memory which he associates with jumping. and this is probably why he is the way he is. The pain isn't there any more though, well, to the very very best of our knowledge, so hopefully that memory will fade. He does try hard to please, bless him.

The jumping isn't something I'm overly fussed about tbh. I'd sort of resigned myself to him never being able to jump again so I shan't be oushing the issue, but if we could get him to do a bit it would be fab. If it doesn't work though I won't be freaking him out by constantly attempting it, we shall just go back to flatwork and hacking. I do think we'll be able to get somewhere though, he was so willing to have a go out hacking the other day, and by the end of the lunge session he was doing quite well.

Did have a major breakthrough today though, took him in the arena following a hack with chickyd444, set out one pole, I rode him round, then walked him over it fine, trotted over it fine, then, just as a spur of the moment I cantered him over it! All fine! :D This is the horse who before took a 10 minute battle to ride him over a pole in walk, usually a fall and a 10 minute battle to get him over a pole in trot and if you were brave or sturpid enough to attempt it in canter he hurdled it and bombed off at a million miles an hour! Not today, today he was ever so calm, didn't aletr his pace at all in walk, tort or canter, didn't jump the pole, didn't take off and din't spook! It was like riding Soda over poles! I was thrilled. We were only there for about 5 mins, but that is such a breakthroiugh for Skip! I really hope we can continue in that vain as I think if we build up the number of poles gradually then perhaps try some raised trotting poles if all goes well, and we carry on in the same vein, then we really might have made a breathrough!

We shall see! Lovely positive moment though! I really hope it continues! So nice to be on a calm, relaxed, happy, unbothered Skippy over poles, I never thorugh the day would come when I'd ride him over poles and I was in control! :D


Thank you for all the great advice/suggestions everyone. :) I have found them really helpful and will be putting them into practice! :D
 
perhaps

perhaps he has that weak-something-something-thingy :)confused:) like what ...someone... said, an anticipation of pain... or something, maybe you could try him with support boots when jumping, he might be more confident then,
 
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