I have a pony that is a awsome jumper. I've beem told by hunter trainers that she has perfect form and her strides the size of a normal horse's.(Chloe's 13.2) She's got one problem. When ever we get to a show, she won't jump. I mostly show her in 3 phases. This is how they go:

Dressage, we buck,get a 3, We do a pretty trot circle, we get an 8, our canter is crazy, we get a 5

Cross Country, our last event, we had 4 refusles and she wouldn't canter

Stadium Jumping We had 120 penilty points. We refused almost every jump. On the bright side, she didn't refuse the first jump!

At home, we never refuse. Our canter would get a 6 and we hardly ever buck. She hasn't had any bad showing experience with us and we've had her since she was 6. The one time she didn't refuse at a jumping show we got champion.

The time we got champion we did't have a jumping warmup. The times she is bad she has a nice warm up. Could this change how she acts on course? What do you recomend about the bucking? I can handle it but I would like to get rid of if. Her saddle fits, and her bit is a french link -ring that fits too. She was in shape, and gets 24/7 tounout. What could be her problem? I do ground work and we have a good relationship. I can ride her without a bridle and she follows my around. I don't think it is a relationship problem, and I think she is comfortable.

D you have any ideas about why she is like that at shows? Thanks!!!

 Aww, your horses sound very cute! I love Welsh Ponies! What did you need help with? Your post title says, Refusing to jump at shows!Help! If you can give us a little bit of information about what usually goes on, we'll be able to try and help you.

Sorry I put the title in and them pressed enter. I fixed it and wrote down everything I could think of about her. Sorry!!

Sounds like it is possible that she is feeding off of some nervousness or tension from you at shows.  Do you find your body is tight during jumping phases?  Are you holding your breath, staring at unfamiliar jumps, using stronger aids then normal, etc? 

Thanks

I thing I might be expecting her to refuse, which might be why she does. I know that my biggest problem is that I look down to jumps. She's a sensitive pony so she must feel me looking down. I might be useing stronger aids because I really want her to jump.I'm really not that nervous around horses because I've been around horses all my life and only do really small shows.

Chloe has little experence at showing. I might brought her to 10 shows in the 4 years I've ridden her. She was my sisters pony before that and she didn't really do much jumping at shows. Do you think if I showed her a lot she would inprove or get even worse? She used to refuse alot at home, but after a lot of practice she stoped. I still rembember my first lesson that she didn't refuse one jump:). I live at the best place ever to trail ride. Theres about 200 acers that I can ride on, but ther are few x-counrty jumps. I have a lot af jumps in my ring, but they don't look like the ones that you see at the events. I have 1 pair of standards, lots of hay bales,chairs with poles across the arms(the poles can slide off so they are plenty safe), and a bench. My trainer and I are quite creative, but you won't see our cool jumps in the show ring. Maybe Chloe is so unfamilar with"normal" jumps that she doesn't know what to think of them. Could it be a mixture of these reasons that she refuses so many jumps at shows? I think its a mixture of my riding and her behavior that makes her refuse. Also, when she faillaly does jump, I sometimes catch her in the moulth. I find it a little hard not to because she will canter at a jump like she's about to fly over it and she'll slam on the brakes and them jump the jump. I was watching a small video of me jumping her about 2'4' and once I looked pretty good, and theother time I got left behind.

I have one more theory. I'm 5'6" and she's 13.2. I'm not too heavy( the last pony that bucked my trainer off was Chloe), but my legs are way too long. My trainer said itis harder to keep your balance on a too small pony once and Ithink its true. I've also been told that I can't really tell her what to do with my heels which might be the reason she can refuse.

Do you think what I think is true?? Please tell my what you think. Thanks for all the help your giving my. I can't really ride too too much in the winter, but reading about what I could do better helps!!

Sounds likek you hit the nail on the head.  Anticipating her refusing plus looking at the jumps will do it every time.  My gelding is VERY brave and will jump anything, but if I stare at the jump and get a little tense, he'll stop because I am no longer a confident partner supporting him.  You need to really focus on keeping your eyes up and looking at either the arena rail on the other side of your jump or the next jump after the one you're jumping.  Practice this along with breathing and staying relaxed and I think you'll see an improvement.  Count out the rhythm as you're approaching each jump "one-two-one-two" so you can't hold your breath.

I have to agree with everyone else, sounds like she may be a little nervous and your expecting her to misbehave and she is feeding off your nervousness.  Maybe take her to a few shows and ONLY do the warmup and start building both of your confidence back up. Then you can both relax and WIN!!!! Good Luck and by the way this is not uncommon.  I have had horses and riders do this same exact thing before and that is what we did. Pretty soon when the horse goes to a show or a "new place" he wont automatically assume there is a reason to get tense and nervous.

Both rider and horse need to learn to compete. Not every well trained team will go out and do well in a show environment. It's high pressure from packing all your gear, to the travelling, finding a place to park, getting warmed up - then add the judges, the announcers and a bunch of other riders and horses feeling the same strain, spouses, dogs, baby strollers....

And this is supposed to be fun? LOL

I highly recommend schooling shows - the same motions of a competitive show with the freedom to school like you would at home. Travelling for lessons is a good alternative - going thru the motions of packing up, driving to a new place and being on someone else's tuft is good practice. I travel to all my lessons and clinics and I think it really helped me get over that whole worry about being on the road. Sure the strain of the actual show is still there but the travel part of it was gone and that is a huge relieft, one less thing to worry about! I would also suggest only doing one event at a time - master it and then add another. Horses get into the habit of showing poorly and it sounds like she already has you figured out a bit. She probably did well without warmup because you may not have had time to worry or overthink - or try to do last minute miracle training like so many people do at a show. If you didn't have time to warmup your mentality could have been "oh well, I guess if we mess up, we mess up" - which is a way of taking the pressure off yourself. I've done that too. But I wouldn't suggest making a habit out of it. Preparedness is always best rather than relying on chance.

OK, I'll try to travel with her in the spring. Theres a farm  in my town that would would be a great place to school. I've been to camps there, but the instructers don't know Chloe. I've had x-country lessons where Chloe wouldn't move move. I thought that horses were supposed to be FAST on x-country.Don't get me wrong, she's a little to quick at home sometimes. (x-country) She's also a horrible traveler. She walks right on to the trailer, but when traveling she's a sweaty mess.

Well, I'll try to improve my postition so she'll have no more excuses other than show ring stress, or possibly a case of the I don't wanna jump's. One more thing, whats a good way to get rid of bucking? To make her stop I just bring my hands up slowly and she stops, but the next time she is asked to do something hard she'll start bucking again. 

Also, I only do schooling shows and could care less about how I place, as long as Chloe is better than she was the last time. Saddly, often she is same or worse. She's a great pony, but she has a few problems but I love her anyway!

Do you have any balancing exercises I could use to make her canter better? She doesn't always like to go round in the canter. In the trot and walk she is a beautiful dressage pony, but not always in the canter. She comes from behind usally walk, trot and canter, so I just need to make her always go an the bit and work on our transitions. There a little abrupt and unblanced. Any suggestions?

 Thanks sooooo much for the ideas. Chlo's not to crazy about all my new ideas to make her work harder, but she enjoys the attention!

(1)  Trailer stress:  who drives your trailer?  Is it possible that she's getting a bit of a rough ride (abrupt stops starts, some fast corners?  Or, if your trailer is enclosed, is she getting too hot?

(2)  Bucking:  sometimes, sending a horse forward when they try to buck can stop the bucking by giving them a place to focus the energy.

(3)  Are you sure that she is not feeling any discomfort from saddle/bit/riding/moving in her back or neck that would cause bucking or trouble rounding up?

(4)  Canter:  counter canter exercises can help strengthen the canter by building muscle.  Anything you do to build back and butt muscles (bending, lateral work, trot poles, hills) will help with balance at the canter.

 I don't think that she's having a rough ride because once she tried to get out of the trailer while it was parked and she was tied. Her butt went under the butt bar and she cut her self(very, very minor), but she scarred the heck out of me and everyone else! The little devil.

OK, my trainer always told me a foward horse can't buck, and I try to send her foward when she's bucking. The problem is that she bucks when I use the whip, and in canter tranistions. She's no afraid of the whip, I've worked on having her be brave about stuff like that (Parelli Natural Horsemanship, friendly Game. You rub her all over with the Carrot Stick [whip] and then swing it around them. Chloe lets me crack the carrot stick behind her and she doesn't mave from that realxed, one leg resting, chewing mode)

Her bit fits her, but I'll have my trainer look at her saddle next time I see her. I think it fits, but I'm not sure. She'll waste no time telling her saddle doesn't fit, she'll buck non stop. Right now her bucking is only when tappd or if feeling like its too boring(just being a mare,don't cha love 'em)

I'll try to work on her lateral work, Not very good. I have trot poles set up, so I'll go through them. In my lessons we would use them. She's my trusty little trail pony. No matter were we go, Chlo's not afraid of it, with some exceptions(shows) Through streams, up and down hills, feilds and woods, Chlo's done it all, bareback or with a saddle. Which is better, walk, trot canter or gallop up hills(I HATE troting/ cantering down hill)?

Also, I think that the rounding problem is a training problem, not a comfort problem, but still not postive.

Thanks for the advice!

Slow rhythmic trot is up and down hills is best for building muscle.  Long gradual hills are better than short steep ones. 

http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/gg59/Gracep/

Pictures!!!!! Chloe is the grey pony. She's a little fat and out of shape.

I rode Chloe and she was good. She jumped everything, but since she is so out of shape I didn't do much. I just troted her around and she jumped what was in front of her. She wasn't very fast or didn't seem to thrilled about jumping, unlike Lila, who thinks jumping is the best and runs twards the jump as fast as she can and is hard to control after jumps. Chloe just likes being slow, shows make her really slow, so slow she tends to stop! When I say she didn't seem to thrilled about jumping I just ment that she wasn't going 10,000,000,000 miles a hour, unlike Lila. She is all to happy to trot around and step over the tiny jumps I had set up. When things get bigger she tends to pep up, but still not too fast, untill we get into our feilds, them we get fast. She din't buck, but that means nothing. She like to buck when I'm riding her without a saddle and a halter and a leadrope on her head. She bucks pretty big then.