FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
SIDELINES APRIL 2013 47
Cause your
horse to have
a positive
expression
in the
arena using
psychology.
show ring. She’s generally a really quiet, steady mare so I’m
not really sure what to do to fx this problem. Thanks for your
help.
Answer:
First of all, it’s important to rule out that there is any pain
involved. Then let’s look at the behavioral aspects. Horses refuse
jumps for two reasons: fear or disrespect. Stating that your horse
is more quiet and steady makes me think that it’s probably the
latter reason, disrespect. I would link fear with a horse that is
more tense, spooky and impulsive. Now, in saying “disrespect,”
it’s important to know that you cannot smack respect into a horse.
Respect has synonyms such as esteem, admiration and a high
opinion, so a horse showing disrespect means that it has a low
opinion of the rider as his leader and sees no purpose for doing
the exercise. So instead of willingly doing as the rider asks, the
horse argues or becomes unresponsive. What you need to do is
become more provocative and get the horse to think about getting
to the other side of the jump.
Here’s what to do:
1. Ask your horse to go from Point A to Point B across the arena,
with a small, 12” jump in the way.
2. Start at the walk, and the moment the horse crosses the
jump, ask her for a lively trot to Point B. When you get there,
stop and rest.
3. Turn around and head back to Point A using the same
strategy. As soon as the horse gets over the jump, send her off
in a lively trot and stop when you get to Point A.
4. Repeat the exercise until you feel the horse wanting to take
you over the jump and take a straight, unwavering line toward it.
As soon as it feels great, stop the session. Start again the next
day and pretty soon you’ll fnd that she picks up right where you
left off and is more eager to get to the other side of the jump.
Also, it’s important to use the same points at frst.
If your horse gets sticky about crossing the jump, make it as
small as possible and do what it takes to coax her over it. Just
don’t get mad or aggressive, as this will create more problems.
Horses are emotional animals and if you cause them to feel
scared or mad at the jump, they will associate jumping with that
negative feeling.
After about four sessions of training your horse to get to the
other side of the jump, you can begin to vary the exercise - slightly
higher jump, different destinations (Point B), then two or three
jumps and fnally a course of jumps. But remember to keep things
fresh for your horse. Give her a reason to want to get to the other
side of the jumps; it will help her see the purpose of it - that she’s
going to arrive somewhere and rest.