Jumping horse refusing jumps?

[SMW]

I'm feeling really discouraged right now, for two days in a row my mini has completely refused jumps. I spent three months working with her at baby steps to get her jumping to close to two feet, and today and the other day she totally refused one footers. Is there anyone here that's experienced this? I'd really hate to have to totally start over ):

She had her feet trimmed on the 12th, although I wouldn't think she'd still be ouchy by now? Is this a possibility? I was going to give her a week or two of break and trying again in case it was in fact ouchy feet.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

It may not be her feet, its possible she is hurting somewhere else. The first thing that comes to mind is that she needs time for her muscles/tendons/etc. to get used to the new way of going the trim created but it could also be that she has hurt herself in play or any number of other things. Did she enjoy jumping previous to this? Has anything else changed in her environment (a new horse in her pasture for example) ? Are you dealing with something that might change your mood/responses to her? Is she behaving the same as she always has in other areas, leading, being fed,being groomed, hanging out ? There are many things that can affect a horses performance and since we can't just ask them we have to do some detective work at times to find out what. It might be worth considering a chiro treatment in case she is out somewhere.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I have to ask...why would you get her to jump three foot in training? I think maybe you have simply over faced her. Of course you should have all the physical possibilities checked out, and a good massage would not go amiss either (it always works for me!!) but honestly, I would give her a complete rest until after Christmas, sit on your hands, take her for walks, and resist all urges to actually train her for a couple of months. Once you have the physical all clear, bring her back into work slowly, ground poles in the round pen, and build her up very slowly, making sure her physical condition keeps pace with her work load.

I have done a lot of jumping training in my life and I can tell you, over facing is the easiest thing to do, it takes a moment, for some horses, and it can take some time to overcome, so give her time and sympathy.

And the reason for my first question?

One of the most talented ponies I ever bred jumped a 4ft 3" course with two 4ft 9" jumps in it, to win "Gold" for her Pony Club, having only ever jumped 2ft 9" jumps in training, and, up til then, 3ft 9" courses. She was 13.2" and I considered 2ft 9" quite high enough to practise on, after all, a jump is a jump, to a horse....

 

[shalakominiatureshowhorses]

Did you jump her right after her trimming (like 3-4 days)? She could be a little sore from that. From my horrible experience with Bentley, soreness could be the problem. He never refused jumps though. He seemed to hide his pain from me. I retired him from jumping, though i think he enjoyed it, because he had such a horrible time with his soreness in his hooves, caused by alot more than jumping (rock bruises, drought etc)

With your mini, I would wait untill Christmas. If she is hurting in her hooves, give her some time. If it is a physical issue, i would ask a vet to look at her. I know how it feels to "start over". Its sad, but you have to do what is best for your horse. Let her go over some trotting poles in the arena for now. Its actually really fun to set as many as you can and see how many she can go over! I once went to 20 with Bentley

This can actually help her build confidence for the 3fters if you ever get there. Take your time with her, I was to stupid with Bentley jumping and made him jump even with some hoof issues, trust me, dont rush her. I ruined a good jumping-horse-in-the-making like that, wouldnt want that to happen to you and your mare!

Good luck

 

[SMW]

thanks for the great responses. She has always greatly enjoyed the jumps, even to the point where she's trying to jump it before we even got to the jump. In the differences of enviroment - she's always been in a stall. Very rarely going out (she is clipped with a blanket so she obvioiusly has to stay inside until it grows in more than it has.) I picked up all her feet, and she appeared OK when putting weight on the other three feet. So I'm thinking it might not be a problem there. (but i'm no vet)

I didn't mean exactly three feet, I poorly worded it there. Although it is possible that the 2 feet and the raise a few inches overfaced her. She was perfectly fine jumping one and two footers. I raised both a few inches (although this was after the trim) and then she began the refusals. Brought both down to 1/2 foot and 1 foot and she'd refuse the 1 footer. So perhaps the few extra inches freaked her out? She's 31.5" (no idea what that is in hands.)

going back to the first responce, there HAS been a new horse in the stall next to hers, and she's been particularly nosey when walking by said stall. Would that potentially be part of it? In the indoor since her trim there's been a bunch of roundbales put in there that's caught her attention more than once, and the round pen was moved to the center of the arena. Thinking over that, she did seem to be pretty distracted by that.

I will keep to walks around the property, roundpenning & liberty in the meantime, since those don't seem to bother her. Would rather keep jumping a fun activity over something scary

 

[targetsmom]

We are getting hard frosts here in the morning so I am wondering if some of the issue might be that the ground is just getting hard/frozen. We have already (farther south) put our jumps away for the winter. There will be plenty of time in the spring before our first show to get everyone ready.

We did have one mini that had a bad crash into a jump and had to be started all over again, but going slowly, she came back just fine.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

She's 31.5" (no idea what that is in hands.) A hand is 4 " so 31.5" is just under 8hands but since we measure minis by inches not hands your measurement is the one that matters

going back to the first responce, there HAS been a new horse in the stall next to hers, and she's been particularly nosey when walking by said stall. Would that potentially be part of it? In the indoor since her trim there's been a bunch of roundbales put in there that's caught her attention more than once, and the round pen was moved to the center of the arena. Thinking over that, she did seem to be pretty distracted by that. I have found that often with horses of a certain temperament, changes in their environment can be so distracting that they are lacking in the focus required to do the jobs they seemed to know before. This seems to be more of an issue with horses who's lives remain pretty routine with nothing unusual popping up for them. So giving her some time to get her mind settled to the new things is not a bad idea. I think your plan to keeping the demands light for the next while is a good idea. And even if you must go back to low jumps chances are she will advance much more quickly than the first time around. Give her some down time then try again being careful as rabbitsfizz says not to over face her.

I will keep to walks around the property, roundpenning & liberty in the meantime, since those don't seem to bother her. Would rather keep jumping a fun activity over something scary

 

[SMW]

once again, thank you all for the great and helpful responces