How to get rid of refusals?

Question

I've got a 9 year old mare that I'm working on jumping with. Last year I took her on a fun show race with some jumps, and she loved it. It was her first time, and she never refused or paused, just went right over them. Now I'm trying to teach her to jump, and its constant refusal. The jumps are very low, I've tried cross and straight jumps, and I don't know what to do. I'll admit I'm not feeling very strong on the approach, so how do I help both of us? I need a relatively fast solution (if there is such a thing with horses) and one that will give us both confidence. Also, please enlighten me on the correct speeds to approach a jump,etc. (I'm obviously a novice jumper, although I've been riding for most of my life).

**Just one more thing - totally off subject but if anyone can tell me how to perform a rollback and sliding stop on my reining prospect - never done one and don't know how to show her the cues! Thanks!!

Answer 1

Karin above is correct.  You already mentioned you were a novice, and the fact that she jumped on a "play day" and not on a "working day" may be your answer.  You were playing and confident.  When it got serious you got serious.  She senses this and it makes her nervous too.  Start with trot poles at a walk.  Practice jumping position over them.  Never look directly at what you are going over, but straight ahead or at your next obstacle.  She will do the same.  If you stare at something she will, and she will feel your hesitation and she will stop.  You have to be confident and say it's no big deal which is what you were probably doing at the show.  Slowly work up to a trot, and then eventually a canter.  Once you have mastered the poles at every gait then start adding a little height - not much - just 18" to start.  Do the same with that - walk, trot, canter.  Eventually she will be comfortable with you and you should feel comfortable jumping.  Do a lot of flat work in jumping position, even without stirrups.  Get your body used to it while you get hers as well.

You mentioned about doing a rollback at the end of your question which leads me to believe you ride western.  No big deal, but I do believe finding someone in your area to teach you these sort of things may be your safest and best bet.  Good Luck!!!

Answer 2

Once a horse has the refusal habit become ingrained, you are going to have a very difficult time getting it corrected.  FWIW, when I was riding hunters, the trainer that I worked with told those of us that were training with her that she would rather see us ride through a fence, scattering it into pieces, than stopping in front of us.  This was because she didn't want any of the horses even thinking that they were ever going to get away with refusing a jump.

That said, it's almost certain that something you are doing is making your horse want to stop.  It might be that you just aren't getting the distances right, forcing your horse to either take off so far from jump as to be impossible, or so close to the jump that it's impossible.  Or you might be hanging onto her mouth, or hitting her in the mouth as she tries to rise for the jump, or going so far forward of her center of gravity as she tries to jump that she just can't do it.

A lot of possibilities, but what you really need to do if you want to solve the problem is start working with a trainer.  For whatever reason that your horse started to stop, she's got the habit now, and every time you ride her up to a fence and permit her to stop, you reinforce the habit.

The solution is going to be somewhat painful for your horse.  Someone who knows what they are doing is going to have to ride her up to the fence, and when she tries to stop, apply corrective aids to let her know that stopping in front of a fence when the rider wants her to go over it is never, ever, ever acceptable.  Translation:  the trainer is going to go after your horse with crop, leg aids (with spurs if necessary) and every other means necessary to convince her to jump the fence, and is going to have to do this enough times to break the habit.

This is why it is so important, when you are trying to teach a horse something, that you know when you're stumped and need to get help from someone else.  If you allow a disobedience to become an ingrained habit, you have to really punish the horse to make them give the habit up.  

Please seek out a trainer who will work with you and your horse before you or someone else gets hurt.  Continuing to try to fix this problem without knowing what your are doing is only going to make things worse.

Answer 3

When a horse starts to refuse correcting takes a long time... a horse mainly starts to refuse because of the doubt in the riders mind.To prevent the horse from refusing hold ur whip on the side the horses refuses n when she reuses stop her in front of the jump n punish her by constantly taping her with ur whip don't ever hit her with the whip at the back.An easy way to prevent the horse by sensing ur fear is by eating gum while riding that helps a lot.