I saw a video of the Galway Downs 3* XC walk recently.

One of the commentators said the jumps are designed to scare the rider and not the horse.

What an interesting concept……..

However, there really are two brains involved in this partnership. And while I usually agree with the “it’s never the horse” mantra……………..

More than a couple of times I’ve been told that my horse is not the one with the jump phobia, that it’s……. her rider.

But this was those  %$*&  trakehners.

In most cases it probably is true that it’s a rider problem….. but……..I think there are some horses that really do take issue with certain types of jumps.

Did I mention Trakehners??

My former mount & I had a big problem with trakehners. I had the lovely experience of an MRI and a CT on 2 separate occasions both on account of a teensy tiny itty bitty trakehner.

I was told repeatedly by a variety of professionals that my horse wasn’t the one with the problem with trakehners……….. it was the rider.

This is when my “President-of-the-Debate-Team” background wants to surface.

“I am competing 2 different horses at the same shows. The second horse has no problems jumping trakehners with……um…….excuse me…….the SAME RIDER!”

How then can it be the rider?!

Even so, they all insisted it was a “rider problem”. 

I used to really LIKE trakehners. I actually thought they were fun, so I was slow to believe I was really the one at fault.

But after smashing into, under and over several of them, I let them convince me I really was the one with the phobia. And now that I was terrified…. I was unable to get my perfectly able horse over them.

I gave up. It must be me. I did it.

.

So I sent my not so trusty equine off to a pro to “straighten out”. The goal was to have the professional compete her and jump the trakehner successfully at a horse trial.

You know…… show me how it’s supposed to be done. I had actually jumped the trakehner in question on her (after 2 stops) at the event the time before.

Here’s what happened ………….

And just this once, Bad Eventer feels COMPLETELY vindicated.