Hi all,
I was hoping for some advice about teaching my horse to jump!
He is 15, and very nervous and spooky - an ex film and carriage horse who was abused into submission until I bought him. He’s also 16’2hh and quite big! He is also very very green as no one schooled him - he was just used as a ‘wild’ horse in movies.
One of my main objectives was to teach him to jump and get over his fears. Since I loaned him and subsequently bought him, I’ve jumped him around 5 times over 5 months.
He has a really big fear of ground poles at first, but after walking, trotting and cantering over them he is absolutely fine for the rest of the session. However the next time I try to lunge him / school him over poles, it’s back to square one with him refusing them and freaking out until I can convince him to walk over them again.
I asked an instructor to help me out during PC camp this year, and he had me jumping cross poles / 60cm gridwork on the right rein, and 85cm straights on the left which is his better rein, but I’m thinking that that was really rushed for my poor pony!
Every time I attempt poles or jumps, I get nasty refusals over tiny cross poles or poles on the floor, not so much over larger fences once he gets comfortable with them. Unfortunately these nasty refusals have resulted in me injuring myself pretty badly, and have knocked my personal confidence.
Does anyone have any advice?
*sorry about my weirdly confusing post*
Julia
I was hoping for some advice about teaching my horse to jump!
He is 15, and very nervous and spooky - an ex film and carriage horse who was abused into submission until I bought him. He’s also 16’2hh and quite big! He is also very very green as no one schooled him - he was just used as a ‘wild’ horse in movies.
One of my main objectives was to teach him to jump and get over his fears. Since I loaned him and subsequently bought him, I’ve jumped him around 5 times over 5 months.
He has a really big fear of ground poles at first, but after walking, trotting and cantering over them he is absolutely fine for the rest of the session. However the next time I try to lunge him / school him over poles, it’s back to square one with him refusing them and freaking out until I can convince him to walk over them again.
I asked an instructor to help me out during PC camp this year, and he had me jumping cross poles / 60cm gridwork on the right rein, and 85cm straights on the left which is his better rein, but I’m thinking that that was really rushed for my poor pony!
Every time I attempt poles or jumps, I get nasty refusals over tiny cross poles or poles on the floor, not so much over larger fences once he gets comfortable with them. Unfortunately these nasty refusals have resulted in me injuring myself pretty badly, and have knocked my personal confidence.
Does anyone have any advice?
*sorry about my weirdly confusing post*
Julia
leave a couple in the field in an area he likes to hang out, in a shady/sheltered area he likes to snooze or something, then maybe put a couple by the gate, and even set up a box to feed him in daily if he gets food, the bonus in doing it this way is that you aren't making a big deal out of them as they become part of every day life. Once he is moving around those without a fuss then re-introduce ground or ridden work with poles and gradually jumping.
however I plan to start giving him some loose time in the indoor school weekly so might put a few poles out randomly and see what happens