crime and punishment

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sprite

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Apr 28, 2003
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i've had a problem with my horse recently that i'm not sure how to deal with. His showjumping is good and he will jump o.k away from home, and he will jump simple rustic fences. The problems start on farm rides or cross-country where he will refuse to jump anything bar the smallest log. He gets himself in a state where he will try to buck me off on the approach or if i give him a smack. My instructor seems to be of the opinion that i just need to improve my seat so that he can't get me off whatever he does and that if i just smack him harder he will give up. he also says the horse is just naughty. having been chucked off a couple of times recently i am reluctant to carry on teaching him he can get me off he if wants, but equally i don't want him to get away with threatening me either. The other point is that i can feel him getting tense as soon as we go anywhere with these kind of jumps, so is he just unable to deal with the pressure? He is quite a nervy horse and it has taken some time to build his confidence over show jumps , but i'm only asking him to jump things like rails and tyres that are not unfamiliar to him.
So, do i punish the behaviour, and if so how without getting hurt, or back off and not put him in the situation. I may add that there is no-one i know willing to get on and have a go themselves!
 
Im getting the feeling that after being chucked off a few times, you are starting to get nervous? am i right... if you are nervous then your horse can feel that and that isnt good, at all. So if you are nervous, i would suggest someone confident jumping your horse for the time being..

i dunno, just a thought
 
I don't think smacking a nervous horse is going to do you very many favours. A scared horse will only be more scared if he thinks he's going to be smacked! It doesn't help to build a very trusting relationship, the horse should go & do whatever you ask because he trusts that he will not be hurt if he does as you say.

I think a more relaxed approach is needed in this case. Try getting his confidence by walking/trotting/cantering around/past these obstacles, let him go & have a look & a sniff at them without any pressure of having to jump, once he's confident to go near them then get another horse to lead you over a few times, build it up slowly & try to do it as often as you can.

It sounds like it is now such a big thing for both of you that he probably doesn't even realise you want him to jump, he won't remember that, all he'll remember is that you always have issues/fight/get nervous/he gets a smack etc at that spot so he'd rather not be anywhere near.

It won't take long to build his confidence back up, just take things slowly & don't allow yourself to become nervous or anxious.
 
Have not got to a point where its scaring me yet, he has only had me off twice, and that was really i think because the instructor was encouraging me to hit him harder than i might otherwise have done. i don't however want to do anything that makes it become a regular occurance. i agree myself that a more sympathetic approach is needed, but find myself disagreeing with my very experienced instructor and many others who will think i'm not dealing with him threatening me. by the way have tried following another horse and he won't even do that.
 
OK, let's imagine a scenario.

You are walking home from work on a sunny evening, there are quite a few people around who got off the same bus as you did. Behind you, you hear footsteps. Scary? No, just normal.

You have missed your last bus, you have to walk home through a dark, shadowy, deserted and unfamiliar part of town. You hear footsteps behind you. Scared?

This is called context specificity. The same thing might be perfectly fine in one context, but if you're in a situation where you're already a bit nervous, it may suddenly seem terrifying. This applies to horses as well. Just because your horse will jump at a show, it seems to follow that they will be OK jumping the same thing out on a ride - but it's not necessarily the case.

So I'd advise working out what it is about the ride that makes your horse feel nervous or afraid... Is he usually OK hacking out or can he be a bit nervous heading out without his usual companions? Is it something about the other people on the ride that makes him feel nervous? Is is something about the specific place you are that he doesn't like?

Anything you can do to build up his confidence will help, the same that you did with persuading him to jump at shows :)

Finally, if you're walking home through the dark scary place with the footsteps behind you and you start to run, how would you feel if someone whacked you? I personally might be rather afraid to ever leave my house again :)

Hope the (rather extreme, I admit) example helps...
 
I dont think punishment is the right word here. It sounds like he's unsure, 'tense' says it all. Theres naughty, and there's tense. Just because he is comfortable over showjumps doesnt mean to say he is over everything. Someone said to create some jumps like this in schooling...i think that would be a good idea. Where there are showjumps, set up a tyres jump or something. Make rustic jumps look more cross-country ish, add a few tyres underneath a pole or something. What is he like to hack out generally? It may be the actual hacking out you need to sort, rather than the jumping part.
 
Thanks capalldubh, that really helps.I definately think the solution lies in making him feel relaxed in the situation so that the problem doesnt occur, rather than waiting for trouble, but sometimes its hard to keep thinking you're right when more experienced people have a different view. I've always thought that though i may not have many years experience of riding, i do know my horse better than anyone else does, which has to count for something.
 
echo whoever said to try just working around the jumps (see *Sez*'s post about getting her horse over a few jumps recently) she schooled him round them until he felt relaxed in the jumping environment and when both of them felt ready, she jumped them.
once you get over a few and your horse starts tensing up, just pop him over something small that hes already jumped and call it a day. end on a positive at all times :)

Best of luck!
 
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