DHorse and indoor arenas

[Pleasedontdothat]

DD’s had her horse for a few months now and most things are going well - he’s a saint on the ground, loads and travels with no issues, is perfectly happy to hack out on his own or with other horses and is generally a sweetheart. However although he’s just turned 10 he’s not seen much of the world. He came over from Ireland when he was 5 and his owner took him out to a few hunter trials but not much else, then she got pregnant and dhorse spent the next few years in a field being ridden once a month or so. Dd’s been doing lots of schooling and hacking and teaching him tricks - he’s got a huge jump on him and at home they’re happily zipping round 1m+ courses but a few months ago she took him to a clear round held in an indoor arena and he refused to jump a single fence (after pinging over the warmup fences with no problems). We realised he had an issue with fillers so took him schooling to places with lots of scary fillers and he got much better with them ... roll on a couple of months back and she tried the clear round again and although he jumped this time it looked awful - at home he makes a lovely shape over fences but he barely got over the 60-70 course. We’ve taken him back there for schooling with her instructor and although he’s a bit better, dd still doesn’t feel confident that he’d manage the course on a clear round evening and she’s feeling despondent.

Does anyone have any confidence-boosting tales about horses who learned to love indoor arenas? Is it just a matter of going back again and again? Btw he’s fine in outdoor arenas - he looks like a different horse

It can be very noisy indoors, might be worth trying either ear plugs or a bonnet.

I’d had my horse (8yo) a year when I took him to dressage which had an indoor and outdoor arena, we had one test outdoor, good as gold, and one indoor, didn’t want to go in, spooked at mirrors/corners etc.. I took him again and also to jumping indoor and has got better. Hard to make progress when only going for shows and we don’t have access to indoor to train, but he definitely did improve with more exposure! I suppose it depends on the horse, good luck!

As you said, he hasn't seen much of the world and sounds very green. I would treat him as you would any youngster - start from scratch.
It sounds like your DDs confidence has (understandably) been knocked a little by this particular arena.
I would continue to hire the school on an evening, perhaps once a week, just for flatwork, until she feels better. Positive walk, trot, canter and some circles.
Once she feels relaxed, hire again with jumps but spend time schooling around the fences before you pop him over them. Keep them really small... ensure she is riding forward and positively.
All being well, then try the clear round evening there again. I would enter a lower class (60/70) just for confidence.
Good luck!

Thanks - we will keep persevering with schooling indoors and hope he gets used to the environment. Good tip about a bonnet or ear plugs as it is incredibly noisy inside. He is so good in so many situations that we forget that in many respects he’s like a baby!

PS The arena is relatively easy to get to and has an enormous number of events so being able to crack this would be great

@Pleasedontdothat it's so common for horses to go green in a new environment. If there's plenty on there I would sign them up for dressage/clinics, anything they can do to diminish sensitivity in there.

See if you can hire the arena for an hour once a week and see if they allow "free schooling" take him a couple of times without riding and just let him wander about, snort and sniff at all the monsters then do a bit of lunge work at the end. Next time ride but lots of basic schooling that he can do in his sleep, just work on his focus on the rider. Essentially start again at the beginning and let him understand that the rules are all just the same as anywhere else. Worked really well with an ex racer that wouldn't even go through the doors at first bless him. Taking away the added stress of a rider and tack meant he felt like he could look after himself if he really needed to so gave him that little edge if confidence to work with.

My old horse was a saint when jumping outdoors. I took him to an indoor event and it was like riding a different horse. Very unwilling and nervy of everything. He cat leapt the first jump so high I had cobwebs on my hat!

He did get better as time went on, so regular training indoors is key. Having said that, he always jumped much better outdoors.

Good luck!

I'm another here who used to have a horse who was a brilliant, brave jumper outside or XC (super bold, would go on any stride) who totally lost his nerve jumping inside and could barely scrape round a little clear round, was uber spooky, cat leaping, stopping etc. With him I think it was probably that indoors are darker than outdoors and he found it hard to see the jumps - but as others have said it could be the noise/echos or the surface or the decoration/banners that you get on a showday. Has he ever been to a different indoor arena - is he the same/worse/better?

I think the advice above is great, you probably just need lots of short sessions to build his confidence , ideally if you can hire the arena on a quiet day so no show pressure, make sure it is a positive experience for him. Then perhaps try a small low key clear round session, don't worry about jumping clear or even the whole course, just do 2 or 3 of the easiest ones if that's what you need to do. Sadly my old boy was never the same horse indoors as he was outdoors, he would be better if you could ride him around in the indoor school for 5-10 minutes before jumping as I think his eyes adjusted and he settled after that time, but that was obviously no good in a competition atmosphere. It was a good life lesson for me in how to deal with disappointment at any rate!

Bufferingkisses fantastic advice that I'll be following in the future.

The bit about free schooling, I mean. I never would have thought of that, but now I've read it, it seems such an obvious & sensible thing to do.

Can you try some different indoors too? Some are much less scary than others and it might help you work out what it is that he doesn't like.

It is also worth going at a time when it is dark out and light in the school too as that can be easier for them to adjust to than going from bright sun into a gloomy indoor.

It may not even be the fact it is indoors though. Mine doesn't jump nicely in our indoor at home, it is the surface she doesn't like. She jumps fine at indoor schools elsewhere.

There’s a big indoor arena where they’re going for PC camp so he’ll get used to that one but they only do outdoor jumping at that venue, the indoor arena is flatwork only. He has jumped in another indoor arena at one of dd’s friend’s yards and he was fine there but that one was much smaller and quieter so fewer things to spook at

We’ve got some acoustic ears coming plus we’re going to go schooling there as much as we can and I’m booking them into some clinics there over the summer holidays.

And if he still doesn’t like it, then dd can just stick to outdoor events and xc, which is really what he’s made for

How big is this indoor and how big is the horse. I find bigger horses go stuffy indoors as they feel they have less space?

It’s huge and he’s not quite 16hh so it’s probably not that