Hi I am new to the forum (And I think I may have posted in the wrong place) sorry! but I have been searching high and low for some help with my 9 year old TB. I have had Lightning now for 3 1/2 years he came to me some what trained but nothing official. I have been working with him for the past 2 years on starting to jump. He did fairly well at first but more recently (this past spring and summer of 2012) he started with a fear of the poles. Poles on the ground, Poles next to the jump distracting him from the jump itself. Even when we are not jumping and working on the flat if we ride past a pole he looks at it like its going to attack him. God forbid there is a pile of poles on the ground between the standards. He stops dead... scared.
Now I can work him through this in my lessons with my trainer, and by the end he is jumping all the cross rails and the small verticals with no problem. Then we go back the following week for another lesson and we are basically back to square one. He is a cute jumper and would be good if we could just get him over his fear.
One thing that may have affected him is that this past spring he was stepping over a cavaletti and hesitated, he pulled his foot back and hooked the pole and drug it with him around the field that I ride in at home. (The scary pole basically chased him all over) I fell off and he had a nasty cut from it. He panicked... I dont know how to get him over his fear. :-(
Thanks for reading and any insight you may have.
Now I can work him through this in my lessons with my trainer, and by the end he is jumping all the cross rails and the small verticals with no problem. Then we go back the following week for another lesson and we are basically back to square one. He is a cute jumper and would be good if we could just get him over his fear.
One thing that may have affected him is that this past spring he was stepping over a cavaletti and hesitated, he pulled his foot back and hooked the pole and drug it with him around the field that I ride in at home. (The scary pole basically chased him all over) I fell off and he had a nasty cut from it. He panicked... I dont know how to get him over his fear. :-(
Thanks for reading and any insight you may have.