my horse is an awesome jumper but as soon as you stick something slightly out of the ordinary in front of him, he freaks. does anyone have any ideas of exercises or things l could do to help him become more comfortable with weird jumps?

im seeing him tomorrow and im going to start with just some raised poles and gradually adding things to it like cones or a jumper or feed bag tucked underneath it. is this a good idea or should l be taking a different approach?

thanks heaps :D

Alright, haha, my riding instructor would be the perfect person to ask this question. XD anyhoo, what l think u should do, is walk him over some regular jumps,and then gradually change them up, each one being different. And keep walking him over them. Priase him when he has done well, & just keep making the jumps as hard as u r comfortable when riding him, & completely different each time. And then, once u think he is desensitized enough by them, try riding him over them. My horse did not used to do this, he does not react to anything XD but one of my buddy is horses did, a three year old, & now she does really well. Good luck. l hope this helps. :)

my horse is like this too.

my advice is to start very very low - a pole on the ground or the first hole. & let him walk over it.

let him get a good look at it & figure it out for himself.

if u can it would be a good idea to get a more confident horse to go first, trotting over it ahead of you.

also, to help biuld a horses confidecne u could try taking him hunting. they see all sorts crazy jumps & ditches whcih they would never jump on thier own, but they have the safety of all the other horses around them & they gain tons fo confidence from doing it.

l am not sure u should rush into it because if he freeks out u could fall & hurt yourslef (and no im not a health & safty goodie-goodie, just think logicaly)

l sugst u put up some jumps maybe 3 or 3 but only wierdify 2 of them, jump the other one normally (just bare poles) & trot or canter round the wierd looking ones.

This will get him used to seeing strange jumps at a little bit of speed.

Do this a few times & Then u could start to walk him over colored poles or whatever freeks him out about them. Walk him throough cones, buckets, empty feed sacks, ful feed sacks (if possible) tyres, tarpaulins, all those strange noisy blowy things.

Good luck & have fun

NB: Christmas tinsel is great for steadying too, if u can get him over a jump with tinsel wraped round it, u can concour the world!

Good luck!

ride the fence like theres nothing underneath it. pretend that you HAVE to jump it and do everything in your power to just be like l need to get over this fence. it helps a lot!

&& yeah l think its a good approach, at least thats what l would do.

Try a bunch of trot poles laid in a row with a whole bunch or scary stuff on each side. Use anything! Plants, tree's, pumpkins, barrels, boxes, anything! That way if he freaks ur not in the middle of a jump & it does not end bad. When u start to jump, start small, do not be afraid to use a crop or whip on him! Being spookish is just as in correct as being on the wrong lead or bucking when he is being a brat haha. Give him a good tap behind ur leg a stride before the jump. Sit deep in the saddle 3 strides before so u can push him over the jump & have more control!

Putting stuff under the jump is a good idea to make a 'scary' jump. If you use a feed sack, make sure it is secured so that it does not blow in the wind. You can also use a small tarp and fold it under the jump to simulate a liverpool or over the jump.

Keep pushing his buttons until the buttons no longer do anything.

My old horse was like that scared, of all different looking jumps, now he is fine. What l recommend is jumping ur horse over an 18 inch or higher jump (what ever height u feel comfortable at) until there is not even a slight chance ur horse will refuse the jump. Then slowly start to add flowers, saddle pads, blankets, tarps anything u can think of that will make the jump more scary without it interfering with the horses jumping arc (from take off to landing).

You can also add wings to the jumps, almost like a free jumping chute. The wings point the horse right at the jump so there is less chance of a refusal.