Horse trust?

Question

I ride English every other week... just once a week cuz it's expensive here... and I was going to start jumping a couple weeks ago... but I told my instructor I wasn't up for it because my horse was acting up. I thought he'd be in a better mood next time but whenever I'd go from a canter to a trot he would throw his head down... not too nice... I didn't want to jump then either because I didn't trust him. I thought he'd refuse. If i couldn't trot him, I obviously couldn't jump him. Any tips on how to get him to behave? Or am I just a bad rider :P

Answer 1

Well if you are confidant trotting him then trot over a small jump. I dont canter my mare much (shes fairly green and working on it) but I jumped her 2'3 at a trot.. do the pace your comfortable at and if your afraid hes going buck then lift one hand and look up your ALMOST gaurenteed your won't fall off.. and if he refuses o well just make sure you look up in your lesson. Also remember to jump they need to be in a lower frame. If you watch horses show jumping they will hold them back until before the jump then they give their head so they can see the distance they need to jump. Trust me it can be nerve racking but its deffantly worth the work and frustration and if you fall then yea it might hurt but get back on it only hurts when you think about it.. :)

Answer 2

You say "can't" and "couldn't" a lot.  Remember, horses can sense your feelings.  If you can't, then why should he?  I used to have this same problem with my horse.  He was a flighty four year old Arabian with only 30 days undersaddle.  The first time I rode him was when we went out to look at him to buy.  They lunged him for about half an hour and I got on..He was completely perfect at the walk and trot (he didn't know canter then).  Then we brought him home and I got cocky and decided to get on him (bareback, no less) A leaf moved, he bolted, I fell off, and I the entire idea that I had had about him being calm morphed into him being a psycho, spooky Arab.  It took about a month for me to even get on him again (I wanted lessons first).  And even after a month he was pretty good...when someone else rode him.  I got on him and he felt my tension..so he became tense.  This went on for about another month until I learned to take a breath...I was the one spooking at things.  A car would start and I would jump and think "he is going to spook at that" and then I would wait for it..Anticipation makes it happen.  I don't know if your horse has been acting up for no reason at all, I would consider two things: Is he hurt? and what is the riders attitude?  I think you are anticipating that he will act up, and so he does.  Relax, and breathe...Keep your hands and seat soft.

Answer 3

Well, when you didn't jump him the first timebecause of his acting up, you were pretty much saying, ok, you act like this, you don't have to work. What I would do if I were you is start from the beginning and get your confidence back up. He knows you are scared or nervous when you are on him or he starts acting up, but if you stay on him that's like telling him, That doesn't work with me anymore mister! And sooner or later he will come around. But you have to be confident and you can't let him know you are scared/nervous when he acts up. When you are nervous, he can feel it, so that makes him even more nervous.

Answer 4

when he throws his head down he could be heavy on his forehand or wanting to roll. If hes like that all you need to do is pull up and give him leg. Just start slow with the fences such as trot poles and see how he does, if everything goes fine start small cross bars. Don't move too fast into bigger heights tho, take your time. It does take a lot of trust to jump, but just start small and build from there, you'll both gain trust. The longer you are partners with your horse the more trust you will build. When you are jumping, GIVE him leg, he will sense that you don't trust him, if you tell him to go he will listen and gain his own confidence and trust in you. Just concentrate, relax, don't look down, GIVE HIM LEG (or he WILL refuse), if you believe he will refuse he will, and if he does no biggie all horses do it sometime, just turn him in a tight circle so he doesnt have the time to think about it and jump again. Keep working on the trot for a bit and don't let him put his head down (thats a bad habit for him), then start with really small jumps.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 5

Seems your trainer's not understanding how to help you correct this or you aren't telling us the whole story.

Your horse and YOU need to go back to a round pen and lunge for a while.  Does he do this when you lunge him or only when you are on his back?  If he's fine on his downward transisitions (From canter to trot) while being lunged, then you need to get on his back and have your trainer be on the end of the lunge line and she can correct him as he goes to stick his head down.

She can also rig up a check rein, that makes it HARD to get his head down and put it on him when you ride.

Answer 6

I agree with Couch spud. Tell your Instructor that you would prefer to start jumping with a different horse. Your Instructor should be helping you move on, not pull you back. I learnt to jump on a big black cart horse called Beauty....many, many years ago, and I'll never forget her. If you have never jumped before, it can be scary, but beleive me, if you have a 'jumping nut' under you, it is the most exciting and rewarding feeling. It may just be nerves holding you back, which is understandable, so ask for something a bit calmer, but knows the job. As soon as your confidence builds, I'm sure that getting back onto this horse and jumping will be fine.

If you are not confident on this horse, getting on him every other week is not going to help. You have your doubts that this horse will do it for you, so get on another horse that you know in your bones will. It is not a case of getting this horse to behave, he is feeling things from you, and you might not be a bad rider. From the way you have written this, I do feel that confidence is lacking, not talent. There are too many people riding these days that don't realise when they have overhorsed themselves, don't be one of them! Horse riding should be enjoyable, not turn you into a jibbering nut bag!lol

Good luck, and I hope you resolve this...for your benefit.

Answer 7

Your instructor should be helping you with this - maybe you need to get a better one!  You could also ask them to switch you to another horse.  It's hard to learn to jump on a horse that you can't trust.

My first jumping lessons were on the biggest, fattest old trustworthy plowhorse you've ever seen.  I once literally  closed my eyes and won a jumping class on him.