Horse training problems! Please help...?

Question

My horse is VERY inconsistant.

We are working on jumping small cross rail courses. He's been jumping cross rails for probably a month. He did a perfect course for me last week...

Today, I can't even get him over a jump! He's refusing, he GALLOPS after the jump, annddd he was pacing before and after the jumps. (He is obviously part standardbred but his pacing has never usually been an issue.)

I don't know what to do, he was an angel last week, now all of a sudden this happens. He has no problem on the flat. What can I do about the pacing issue??

Answer 1

Well, just remember that he has only been jumping for a month and a good jumper takes a long time. Horses are like people. They have their good days and bad days. If you have ruled out pain or lameness, then I would just chalk it up to the fact that they are learning and it won't always be perfect. Just make sure you always end on a good jump, praise him when he does well and be patient. If you feel him start to refuse squeeze him, make him move forward and encourage him to go over. If you know he sometimes he gallops after a jump, be sure you are sitting back down in the saddle after the jump and not staying in two point. Sit back down and if he tries to gallop pull him back down. You might try taking him over single jumps and after each jump let him canter a few strides and then halt him. Once he has learned to go calmly after the single jumps, go back to courses. I know nothing of pacing, so I can offer no advice there. Good luck!

Answer 2

I trained a TB mare that had a similar problem. She would "wack out" 1-2 times per week, and the other days she would be fine. Our vet could not find anything wrong with her and concluded that she was just lazy - she did not want to do the work set before her.

Eventually, we sorted out the problem on our own, and sold her to a loving family who is winning left and right in HUS and HOF with her.

Anytime she would refuse a fence, I would make her jump the vertical again, but this time, I would add a series of cavalettis to the beginning of the jump. This seemed to take her mind off of the initial vertical (Sometimes it was an oxer/spread as well), and slowed her down considerably - again, focusing on the cavalettis made her reduce her speed.

Hope verything goes well! :)

Answer 3

As you ruled out medical reasons the next step would be to rule out rider error. Horses are very forgiving, but not all the time. If he's trying to avoid the fence, and then takes off after them, there is something happening over the fence that he doesn't like. A green horse will have testy moments but they generally are not going to last an entire ride. Be very conscious that you are not dropping your horse a stride or two out and leaving him to face the fence alone. Be sure you allow him plenty of freedom in the air and are not restricting his head or catching him in the mouth. You don't want excessive movement by jumping ahead and throwing your upper body forward, but you need to be careful you're not dropping back into the saddle too early either. A common mistake is to "clamp" with your legs over the fence which will act as a driving aid over the fence. It's difficult to pinpoint without seeing (pictures are awesome in a situation like this), but as much as we all don't always like it, errors in the horse are generally due to rider error.

Just because he jump a single fence well doesn't mean he should be faced with courses. Get him (and you if needed) solid and confident with single fences and gradually increase difficulty. You don't want to overface him and develop bad habits right away. Retraining a horse not to refuse, run out, rush etc is much more time consuming and frusturating than taking the patience at the beginning to build slowly and correctly

Answer 4

When a horse suddenly changes his behaviour that drastically, the first thing you need to rule out is soreness.  The behaviour you described is indicative of pain, especially if he's an honest horse.  Sounds like back pain, but could be further down in the limbs.

I'd lay off the jumping and have a vet out asap, if it continues.

Answer 5

Get a professional trainer to help you with him. I wonder if he's sore or hurting somehow, and that's the reason he's acting like that.

Answer 6

I'd say there is something wrong with his feet. That's how my pony was acting. So we called up a horse shoer and he has to put pads on him yet. That's all I can say.

Answer 7

it sounds as if your horse is in pain. when horses bolt suddenly from a jump like that it suggests they are trying to run from the pain. maybe get a vet to check him/her out. as you've only jumped for a month you must expect your horse to be inconsistant as it's a whole new phase for him/her. but by th sudden change in behaviour, running after the jumps suggests your horse is in pain. hope this helps

Answer 8

My friend works with a Standard-bred horse who showed the exact same behavior as yours. She would sometimes be very skittish around the jumps and hurry through them, like she was afraid and just wanted to get them over with quickly. My friend was particularly annoyed with her constant pacing. What she did, essentially, was introduce jumping to the horse all over again. She kept repeating the very basics, pausing to smooth out the areas at which the horse was apparently afraid.

Fear could be the main issue with your horse, too. You could try setting up a reward system for him-- Sky, my friend's horse, responded well to that! The key here is to gain his trust with *lots* of groundwork and just basic quality time. Pacing is a pretty annoying habit, but while you may not be able to eradicate it completely -- he is a Standard-bred, after all -- you should see it lessen once he becomes familiar and comfortable with your course.

Good luck! :) I hope I explained that well enough.