Anyone a jumping expert? Why has dd's pony stopped jumping :-(

[Nonomento]

We've had vet, back person (three times!), new saddle, teeth all done. No sign of lameness. He's just stopped wanting to jump :-( dd's trainer says he may have lost confidence - god knows why as dd is a good rider and we've kept him in his comfort zone. We bought him as he'd jumped round 1m tracks and qualified for many championships. Dd was eliminated from a 70cm at the weekend :-(

I could get my more experienced dd to ride him but obviously don't want to push him if he's in pain - but he shows no sign of pain other than the stopping. If anyone has any advice I'd be really grateful.

There's always a reason and it's always pain or the rider causing the issue (or both)

I agree with this and firmer riding may just mask a pain issue for a while, but not get to the root of the problem. Have you used the same back person each time? They're not always that good. And even the best saddle fitters can miss things. It may be worth getting other people out.

I'd give the pony a couple of weeks off from jumping, at least. Then loose school or lunge over poles, then put up a small jump and see if he will loose or lunge over them. Some horses seem to like the security of a rider when they jump, in which case lunging, where they have some support but not the pressure of a rider, may make it easier to gauge what's going on.

If the pony is fine lunged over jumps then you're back to tack or rider, or possibly a pain issue that's worse with rider weight. My horse is in his late teens. He used to absolutely love jumping. These days he gets excited about popping a small fence but after two or three will get distinctly less enthusiastic. If he's on the lunge he stops, if ridden he's too polite to stop but may well knock it. I think he has age related changes that mean that after a while jumping is uncomfortable for him (so we don't do it, but then I'm happy with that option, appreciate you may well not be!)

What does he do when you’re hunting, go the long way round or jump?

Another though - have back xrays been done. Sometimes KS is the last thing that is investigated and one of the most painful things for a horse. A set of xrays isn't all that much in the grand scheme of things.

I would second looking into it a bit further, how old is the pony?
Feet can be very problematic, when he lands over a jump I think they land with a force of about 3 times their body weight on one leg, I THINK, don’t quite me on exact figures!
However my point being he may be sound on the flat but it might be painful to jump, like a person being able to walk or jog fine but jumping down off a table hurting them.

X rays on the feet would tell you if they are unbalanced, it’s not a ridiculous amount of money to get them done, saying that it isn’t cheap but incredibly informative.

Trainer rode him yesterday. Said he seemed unhappy in his mouth and very reluctant to work in the right rein, was stiff through neck and back. Physio out again plus dentist!

I'm going to say ulcers again - for some reason right rein stiffness seems to correlate with ulcers...

I sent a video of his jumping to a new physio and she said he can't turn right properly and has a particulaely stiff neck she also said what a good pony he was to carry on jumping so now I feel terrible. She can't come for a couple of weeks so I'll turn him out as much as possible until then.

Well done for getting to the bottom of it OP, hopefully you will have a diagnosis and treatment too.

90% of these cases are down to pain imo. A good way of confirming this is to do a painkiller trial, 2-3 weeks on painkillers to see if there is improvement in the behaviour. If there is improvement it points to a,physical issue an de it is easier then to spend more money on more technical diagnostic exams. (If there is no improvement it could still be a physical issue but leaves the door open for a behaviour an problem).

Thanks booboos. I did do a bute trial a couple of months ago, stupidly I timed it at the same time as he got a new saddle. We assumed that the improvement was down to the saddle. My vet is very much not into investigation without obvious problems hopefully the physio will recommend a course of treatment which may involve further physical investigation

I suspect vets can end up being damned if they do and damned if they don't in these situations. If there isn't an obvious problem they could recommend a whole battery of tests and examinations which might find out what's wrong, or might not. Many owners probably do opt for stronger riding, or selling on, or something other than getting to the root of the problem.

Fingers crossed OP that the new physio sees something the others have missed.

For what it's worth I was not criticizing the OP's vet. Absent an obvious problem, veterinary diagnostics can easily run into the thousands of pounds, so it's understandable that vets wouldn't go straight to this option. Some physical issues sort themselves out with time and or rest, which makes this a much more sensible course of action.

The longest it has taken me to diagnose a horse was 5 years but I don't blame either the many vets I saw or myself. The horse was clear on every blood test, scope, scan, x-ray, exercise test and bute trial. No one could find anything until coincidentally I tried a sugar free diet and stumbled on EPSM.

Just to give you another avenue, it could still be pain. My horse showed zero pain to us for over a year, but would sometimes have issues getting his saddle put on, sometimes would have issues riding him, then he refused a small jump. He's never ever refused a jump, he loves it and I knew something was wrong, but still no pain showed. Vets, farriers, physios, saddlers, all found nothing.

Then one day a switch flipped I guess and suddenly his back was in agony. You only had to lightly touch his back, and it would dip. He had kissing spine. All sorted now but it took FOREVER to diagnose. The vet was shocked because he had shown no signs before, no lameness, the vet even leant heavily on his back all along it and nothing. No even a twitch until that one day. And two days before hand, I had ridden him and he'd been a gentleman, perfectly behaved, lazy in fact.

So you never know still with pain. Animals can hide it very well.

Did the vet nerve block him & check for lameness? Did he take x-rays? To really assess unsoundness all these tools are needed and are not cheap. I would bet my money on a physical problem.