I had / have this mare. A few things changed: She got more confident when as she got older. Even with pro miles she was spooky and careful. 2. My kid took over the ride and the horse has stopped once in 2 years.
She and I did not click, I actually went to dressage for a bit. Maybe they click because my kid is fearless, maybe the kid gives her confidence, no clue. But the mare went from a bad stop to a reliable ride.
From the OP.
"We bought a young sweet, jumps a 10+, "
âFrom the first week we started jumping we discovered he had a bit of a left out at the fencesâ
âbut decide mid air to put his landing gear downâ
I am confused.
How does âleft cut outâ and âputs landing gear downâ constitute âjumps a 10â???
Bless you. It isnât always pain or tack issues. Sometimes the horse is just not happy with the job you have chosen for them. This is the only way he can tell you. Sometimes we are not listening.
When we ride our horse It is a partnership.
Iâm a little confused, too. Thatâs why I asked if OP had actually seen the horse jump a course of any size, with a rider on his back. Or was he just jumped in a chute?
When he does jump, I assume he jumps extremely well and stylishly.
I have this horse. Good mover, canter to die for, and when he does jump, jumps a 10 every dang time. But he hates it. There have been days when heâll come out and hunt around a little course, but they are rare and he still usually stops at at least the first couple jumps.
In his case, itâs (mostly) physical. Kissing spine (for which we did surgery/rehab), EPM (that we treated and manage), and crappy thin soles (that have also been rehabbed). I suspect he may also have vision issues, but I have yet to investigate that because ⊠Iâm tired. 
I think all of his physical issues, plus his natural inclination to be a chickensh*t, were just too much to overcome - even when I had him sound and feeling pretty darn good. He simply prefers to keep 4 feet on the ground.
So I havenât been on him since June. Iâm lucky that I have others to focus on and my own farm, so he can hang out and do what he does best, which is nothing. Lol. And my physical and mental energy can go into the horses that are willing and able.
It sucks. Heâs a NICE horse. But I just wasnât getting anywhere with him and we were both miserable trying to square peg/round hole the situation. If he was my only horse, I 100% would have switched to dressage. If I ever bring him out of retirement thatâs what Iâll do with him.
Iâll just say this: as an older rider, Iâd love to have a nice, well trained horse that I can wtc on. I hope the horses in this thread find their way to riders who have intentions like mine. I know there was a thread several months ago on this topic, and thereâs more riders like me. Heartbreaking situation if this an investment horse, purchased as a hunter prospect.
Agreed. In my situation, however, my guy is too quirky and has one or two too many physical issues for me to feel comfortable selling or rehoming him. I think he would be at risk pretty quickly since heâs complicated to manage when heâs in work, even on the flat. I realize I am lucky to have the space to retire him and just let him be a horse. Itâs so easy to just say âlisten to your horseâ - and I agree thatâs ultimately what needs to happen in situations like this - but I also recognize itâs a bit of a luxury to be able to do that.
I echo a lot of whatâs already been said.
Itâs hard when the careful ones lose their confidence, especially when it was shaky to begin with.
Not all horses like to jump. It sounds like maybe this one would be more comfortable in his skin with all 4 feet on the ground.
If you havenât gotten a bone scan done, I would check out that option. Itâs great for a hard to find physical issue when nothing else can be found with other diagnostics - it lets you know what specifically to zero in on.
I had a mare similar 10 years agoâŠ.super careful, but like clockwork, every few weeks sheâd start stopping! Had complete vet checks and nothing but after a year of constantly falling off etc, mine and her confidence was in the toilet! A pro could get her over but if not super accurate at all times, sheâs stop! She just did not want to jump so sheâs now living a happy life back at Spruce Meadows being a parade horse and looking after the weanlings! Some horse just arenât cut out for a) jumping and/or b) being ridden by a rider thatâs not 100% accurate (especially the super careful onesâŠ.they get scared really easily)
My friend had the most lovely wb, bred for jumping, with a gorgeous jump and endless scope. But he went backwards very quickly. Hugely hugely spooky at poles at standards, donât even suggest interesting fillers. All the physical things were checked, sight as well. But over natural obstacles in the country he was dead happy and keen, even big things.
She got a brilliant natural horsemanship person to help her for YEARS. They would do the kindest and most encouraging groundwork over a small pole cross for example. And after a few days he would finally just go over it without a look. And then a day or two later, over the exact same setup in the same arena he has been in for years he would just revert back to square one.
I think that some of them are hardwired to have a very strong and hair-trigger flight response to certain things. And in his case, with gentle expert help, it never got better. He retired a lovely (but very spooky) dressage horse.
People in this thread are far more accomplished riders than myself, but I admit Iâm a bit perplexed that we assume this horse is âcareful.â This sounds very optimistic, especially given that even when ridden by a pro he was running out to the left. Canât he just be a big chicken?
Of course. if he was started really poorly and unethically (being âchasedâ over jumps with a lunge whip or poled) he might have a good reason to be afraid. (I donât think the OP said if she knew his history before coming into her hands.)
OP, this horse will destroy your confidence. Sell it to a dressage person or a pro, and buy a horse that likes its job.
He can be both. But I think the definition of the word âcarefulâ in this instance means a horse that doesnât want to have a rail/jump from a bad distance/gives an extra look at any type of unusual fill, etc. The end result of being careful can manifest itself in a 10+ jump OR a stop. Both things are possible.
I think youâve gotten good advice here. Itâs a question of, âhow much more do you want to invest at this pointâ whether time, money, or sanity. Andâeven if this issue improvesâis this the type of horse you want to ride?
I have one that is not a naturally brave fellow. Also very careful. At first it was a physical strength thing (literally didnât have the strength to get himself out of a bad spot to a fence), so we worked a lot on the flat. Then it was straightnessâwhich was also tied to strength, so we did even more with poles and cavalletti. Then he had a set back because of a traumatic event totally unrelated to the jumping, and it turned into a stopping issue.
Long story short, we did get his confidence back, but like there was never a clear flip-of-the-switch where we could say âyes! Heâs going to be a great, fearless jumper!â or âwow, heâs so much happier; we know he should actually be doing BLANK.â
Coming away from that rehabilitation period (if you will), we learned he naturally carries a bit more anxiety, and so itâs a matter of how we manage that and knowing his threshold.
He will never be like the young horses you describe where heâs constantly bullish and gung-ho to newer situations/newish fences. And it sounds like your fellowâbarring any physical issuesâwonât be either. So even if you DO get this horse back on track down the line⊠would you be happy managing a horse that carries a little more anxiety in the ring?
Just wanted to echo this very good point. Regardless of the cause of this behaviorâor the possible solutionsâthe risk of injury for an average ammy rider is extremely high. It is so much easier to fall off one that slams down the landing gear mid jump than one that declines to jump at all.
Think of it this wayâŠwhen you ride a willing horse and jump around a whole course and have a big smile on your face, you will ask yourself why did you spend (waste?) all of this time on this one. Just not worth it in my opinion. Here is a new clip from the wonderful Julie Ulrich who has some great words of wisdom on horses being suited for the jobs we want them to be suited to (or not!). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-_vh6SXkyY
Iâm an ammy and turned 35 last fall. While I have more skills than I sometimes give myself credit for, riding the right horse makes all the difference. I continued to ride the wrong horse for several years and it absolutely wrecked my confidence. He wasnât a bad horse, but he was a bad horse for me. He also didnât jump, so square peg in a round hole and that whole bit.
I canât afford to lease or own at this point, so I ride a variety of horses in lessons. Horse 1: Can show at 3 foot, but super testy and will begin to veer away from the fence several strides out. My mental state couldnât handle him, though skill wise I could get him around. Horse 2: greener TB gelding that is a very good boy, I just donât like jumping him. I canât explain it other than I just donât feel confident riding him around. Horse 3: 1.15-1.20 jumper, WB mare. Tough horse to ride and stay with, but I feel invincible riding her. She did wonders for my confidence.
All that to say donât waste time on the wrong horse. It simply isnât worth it. Not all horses love all jobs and not all horses are the right horse for every rider.
And not even that unusual! The really good ones, at their best, have a bit of a peek and maybe canât take too many wrong or unconfident rider decisions, most especially at the early part of their training.
At their worst, they have been lied to and no longer have any faith in the pilot, and are looking for a ANY way out.
And we donât get to decide what was too big of a lie, thatâs for each individual horse to decide, some horses are saints and others are like me and think people can be counted on to make the wrong decision more often than the right one.
You can try to modify their opinion of the riderâs behavior, but truthfully, itâs a narrow window of time thatâs not going to happen unless EVERY ride from every rider is a) consistent, b) insanely accurate and c) can ride this horses like the horse he can be, not the horses he is (aka âride him like heâs a good horseâ). This describes very few riders and far fewer ammies, and every time a rider fails at any one of these things it makes it less likely that the horse can be reliable or trustworthy in this career. Honestly from the initial description I think maybe the window for this horse is closed.
From an ammy perspective, a dirty, dangerous, fear based (pick your name or description) stopper is an absolute soul suck regardless whether the horse has a good reason to be such a thing. Competing in equine sports is too expensive, too time consuming and too hard for that kind of rider trauma IMO.
Itâs really not worth it. There was a huge gorgeous WB mare at my barn growing up who could win the hack on a bad day. She just had a dirty stop jumping and they spent years trying to get her over it, vet visits, training etc. I was riding her in a lesson because I was the sticky 18yr old who wouldnât let her stop. When she did it with me we made it over and then she scoot bolted to the left, my right foot was stuck in the stirrup for a second and I was basically whiplashed into the ground on my right hip. My back is totally f***ed up for life from this fall. I couldnât ride for months, slowly got back into it but my confidence jumping is ruined. It just sucks. Iâm paying over a decade later for monthly chiro visits just to stay functional and I still have back pain after 5 minutes of t/c on a horse. They eventually sold the mare to a dressage home and she did really well with that. Itâs just not worth it.
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