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Young really green horses shying at flowers on jumps in the ring

Any help or ideas?

Desensitize desensitize desensitize!

Do you have flowers on your jumps at home? If not, thatā€™s step one. You can order cheap ones online from wholesale party stores!
Do groundwork around them and let your horse look and sniff as long as they need to.
Do circles around them.
Just jump the flower boxes with no rails.

I wouldnā€™t force your horse to accept them by kicking, whipping, yanking, etc., just make them a part of their lives - just like a bridle or a lead rope. No need to get stressed about them. Over time theyā€™ll learn theyā€™re no big deal as long as you donā€™t MAKE them a big deal (see comment about kicking/yanking).

Patience is 100% the answer here.

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I have seen projects in the past by horse owners doing wild decorations on their jumps at home.

There were many ideas how to remake the show feel at home, some included pool noodlesm streamers and baloons.
So when you get to show grounds itā€™s ā€˜meh, funny things on the jumpy partsā€™

check out the dollar store.
get fake planters (now that lumber is high) and fill them with the silk flowers.
Not sure wt waht point Iā€™d add pinwheels, and streamerrs,
Perhaps a few flags here and there.

It is all about the exposure.
and make it symetrical.
Because the posie on the left side is Ok, when it;s on the right it will eat you! :roll_eyes:

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My favorite flower horse picture.
174576c47e56eba34a06d0f4935af56d

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Iā€™m all about the local dollar store when it comes to jump and trail course decorations. :+1:

OP, hereā€™s what we did with our babies and greenies: Get some of those flat landscape poles at Home Depot or Lowes. Theyā€™re usually stained like redwood and lay flat on the ground. Buy some cheap fake flowers and attach them to the landscape poles either by drilling holes into the wood and sticking them in, or using a heavy-duty staple gun (like the kind used for wire fencing). You can bend the wire stems of the fake flowers up as needed.

Lay these poles around your arena and ho-hum just ride over them on a straight line, with purpose, at the walk. Eventually trot, etc. Once your horse gets used to the flower ground poles, start placing them under low, simple jumps. Get more creative and bolder with your flowers only as your horse becomes more confident. We added pumpkins under the jumps in the fall, tied those cheapy scarecrows from the craft store onto the jump standards and even twirled tinsel around the jump poles for Christmas. But you have to work up to that!

Essentially, as @Mander said, youā€™re aiming to desensitize your horse to what heā€™s going to face in the show ring. So your horse should be curious, and interested in the jump decor, but not frightened of it.

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Basically what others have said; jump them 100 times at home and at shows it will be no big deal. Larger Boxes are another thing they usually donā€™t see. In my experience shows tend to have red ones, and red is a color many horses hate jumping over.

You can make a lot of filler jumps pretty cheaply at home. Even just hanging a beach towel over a jump pole can work.

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I am sure Pinterest has some boards about that by now?

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Garage sales, thrift stores, dispersal auctionsā€¦ check them out. Itā€™s amazing what you can find at such places. Silk flowers, so many that I had to make TWO flower brush filler jumps. Each piece often still had the price tag on them, hundreds of dollars worth of them make up each jump. And I paid nothing for them. Most were actually free, as they were part of a lot that I was interested in, but did not buy. The buyer only wanted the rest of the lot, not the flowers. So the auction company gave them to me. Iā€™ve bought a few other small lots/bags of similar flowers, making ā€œflower potsā€ out of log rounds, with the holes drilled in them, glue in the holes, and cram a bunch of the stems into a hole filled with glue. The heavy log round (6 inches high?) keeps things nicely upright. The only problem Iā€™ve had with my many flower jumps is that the dam deer who sleep in my arena on hot days try to eat them, stupid thingsā€¦ deer! But they are like unicorns, they like to eat flowers. Even fake flowers.

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Lots of good suggestions above for going over flowers, but if by chance you also mean shying at flowers/jumps while riding by them, I have one piece of advice: Donā€™t look at them yourself! Plan your path around/past the obstacle and look where you want to go. I know it sounds dead obvious, but when I had a baby horse who would spook a little sideways passing the jumps, I started to anticipate it and low-key stare down at the jumps.

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Years ago I had a baby horse who although he had jumped flower boxes at home he still thought they were highly suspect at his first couple shows. While he was brave and jumped them he needed a confident ride and preparation for a big effort so as not to hit him in the mouth or discourage him in any way. Here is a funny picture of him giving the flowers a peek while passing over.

image

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:rofl:
And yes to being able to approach the Weird&Different from both sides :+1:

My own not-so-green TB once scared himself just standing in the warmup.
He reached over to nibble an evergreen decorating a jump standardā€¦ & It moved!!!
^. ^
O

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@Trekkie & @2DogsFarm, you just described my horse! We host at least 5 horse shows a year at our barn, and he still gives thing the evil eye when they get changed. For a while, he lived with a ā€œflower poleā€ similar to what @Paint_Party described across his stall door so he had to step over them going in & out. Iā€™ve had him 6 years now, and I think I may be stuck with that ā€œGah!!! You moved things!!ā€ initial reaction. He will still occasionally jump like Trekkieā€™s horse as he goes across to make sure there arenā€™t any trolls in there.

That being said, OP, it sounds like your guy is just still green enough that he needs to just see more. Set up things at home and just hack around them, making sure you donā€™t react to them or pay them extra attention. Ignore him if he reacts and try again. I regularly ride my horse around & between things in the ring (past signs, between flower pots, etc) where most people wouldnā€™t just to reinforce the fact that ā€œyou go where I say to go.ā€

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This describes one of the horses in our barn to a T. He could care less about flowers, but heaven forbid you change that crossrail to a vertical. :joy:

To OPs question, Iā€™ve found great stuff for jump fill in the clearance sections at Walmart, Joann Fabrics, even Big Lots. Inflatable childrenā€™s pool floaties or toys make GREAT fillers for the looky types, and they can be had for cheap this time of year.

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Or try to jump something the other direction! :laughing: Never assume there arenā€™t trolls

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Cemeteries have clean-up days. Iā€™d ask permission first, usually allow a few days for stragglers to claim any they couldnā€™t come retrieve so they wonā€™t complain.

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Mine has an astroturf blanket that travels with him to schooling rings. We find if he has a giant peek while schooling, heā€™s less worried about anything in the ring. You can find them at Home Depot.
Walmart and Joannā€™s/Michaelā€™s usually have cheap flowers. Check out your local dollar store too. The uglier and brighter, the better.

I remember this picture - Epic!! It was at one of the Young Horse Dressage competitions, where the judge actually talks to the rider at end of the test. So they were talking, horse was eating.

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One more idea besides whatā€™s been mentioned.

When you are at home, teach this horse how to manage his suspicion or fear. If he has practice at doing that, he has a better chance of managing that at a fast-moving, adrenaline-producing gallop.

The main ideas are that you let him stop and look (but face) the thing of fear/interest at whatever distance he can manage, and teach him that he controls how close he gets to that so that he discovers his curiosity. If his new reaction to ā€œI donā€™t know what that isā€ becomes ā€œHey, what is that?ā€ you have a really cool horse who can look (and be expressive over the jump) but also go forward and stay rideable because his emotions related to that rise and fall quickly.

I learned how to teach this curiosity thing to horses on the ground. (And doing this with cattle is even better and quite magicā€¦ but most English riders canā€™t/donā€™t want to find a cattle clinic for their training.

Anywho, while yā€™all are on the ground, find something that heā€™s not sure about. Walk up to it as close as you can get, but his ears need to be up and he needs to be facing it with all four feet on the ground. Donā€™t you go first to ā€œhelpā€ him. He should be abreast of you or, if you have taught him, walking slightly ahead of you.

When you get to that line where heā€™s looking, but you donā€™t think he can manage to stay still, stop. The idea is that when you stop putting the pressure on him of going toward it, heā€™ll let his adrenaline come down a notch and heā€™ll apply himself to the problem of studying the object. And thatā€™s the money shot experience you are trying to give him: Not sure, but engaged with the suspicious object.

When his mind wanders or he looks away (which can be his way or relieving pressure), or when you have been standing there for a time and you just feel like it, pick up the contact and in a business-like way, turn him away and lead him somewhere else. Change the subject.

When his mind has been on the other subject, circle him back around toward the object and see if you can get him closer before he stiffens up or does something ā€œcheatyā€ like trying to brush past you to get away from the object. Donā€™t let him do that, but do respect his boundary. Again, you find that line or distance from the object where he can stand to look at it and think about it.

If heā€™s stood there and gotten calmer, try sending him forward a step. Again, donā€™t you go first and donā€™t drag him. He gets a vote and heā€™s got to say ā€œOK.ā€ This is important for your relationship with him as a jumping horse because he needs to know that when you send him to something heā€™s unsure of, heā€™ll be safe because you said so, thus over-riding his suspicious and instinct to turn and run.

You might get up to the object by stopping and letting him study it from a safe distance two or three times. The goal is to have him reach up and touch it with his nose. When he takes the initiative like this, praise him effusively. Really make a fuss and help him celebrate that feeling of courage he gets when his curiosity wins out over his fear.

Do this with any object around the farm that he gives the side-eye to. Do this from both sides on the ground so he gets to see it in that state of unsureness from both eyes. Do this again on his back and know that you being on top of him and not beside him will reduce his courage a bit. When you are on him, the same rules apply: You stop to let him look and think wherever he says he canā€™t get closer. But heā€™s got to face the object squarely and stand still.

Some horses can get ā€œstuckā€ here. That is to say, they are standing still but no longer really focusing on the object. Itā€™s like they decided to mentally take a coffee break while they were still anyway. That doesnā€™t count. From there, the work begins again: Ask him to step forward or circle around and try to stop closer. If heā€™s not done/he mentally checked out during and took a coffee break while you thought he was just being calm, his tension and suspicion will come back.

The bottom line is that if heā€™s calm, you can ask him for another step forwardā€¦ but donā€™t harass him. You are trying to spark his curiosity, not just to get him by the object and not, IMHO, to ā€œdesensitize himā€ in the sense that he notices nothing about the world and goes along impervious to flowers or flames or whatever. Instead, you are teaching him how to feel confidence instead of fear under pressure.

When you have done this a lot, you can make the most suspicious and turn-and-run horses turn bold and start walking up to cool shit and really exploring the world. Itā€™s a nice feeling to be on that engaged, interested horse. Also, when these guys have been treated well with stuff that really raises their questions, they make less of a big deal about smaller stuff. They have been ā€œdesensitizedā€ in a sense, but the mental process in side wasnā€™t about making them not care. Rather, it was giving them tools that they can use to help them calm down and think and not have to care because they made a self-confident decision about that. And when you do have a problem with something they really donā€™t want to go toward, you can work thought that faster because both of you have tools and a ritual that lets the horse always feel safe. Plus, the horse as lots of experience of you as his handler and rider as a very good manager of his feelings of safety. If he can feel curious and confident underneath you a lot, heā€™ll be happy to do his job.

Sorry for the long post. I hope this adds something of use to you.

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OP, we are assuming that the horse is spooking at shows, but not at home. Is that the case? If it is happening at home, one training method that i was taught was to work by the ā€œpreferred areaā€ (like the gate, or the middle of the ring or whatever) and near the scary thing is where they get to rest. So if they are spooking at the flowers at the far end of the ring, work hard in the near end of the ring (only needs to be a few minutes), and then go rest by the scary thing. Wash-Rinse-Repeat until scary things are preferable to the non scary place.

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This is very smart!