Refusals / Fear of Boxes

[Haley]

My 18-year old gelding is, well, I guess the best adjective would be a wussy. His first trainer trained him to refuse jumps so that his owner would buy a new horse (what a waste of a $50,000 hunter!), and that's how he ended up with his previous owner. He improved with her, especially over time and with trust, but he's not completely cured. He'll usually refuse the first few, and both of us have to readjust. As long as I keep my body straight and my hands up, he'll usually jump - I can't two-point until I feel him jumping, if I jump ahead he'll refuse. Does anyone have any suggestions? As of right now, it just seems that time and patience will help.

Also, he has a fear of box jumps. I'm not sure what he went through, but there seems to be some trauma. He jumped them for my trainer, but we haven't attempted them yet. When going around the ring, he'll take a few sidesteps the first time we pass one, and gets better as we keep going around. However, he's still a bit skittish with them. Overall, he's skittish with most new things. He never really spooks, however, he'll just take a few sidesteps or occasionally break into a canter if something gives him a real scare.

Any suggestions? :o

[silverleprichuan]

for a horse that makes a big deal out of things I try to expose them to those things as much as possible. Take him out of his stall and place a very small box at the front of his stall and then place his grain in his bucket. Usually the desire to eat will over ride his fear of the box very quickly. You can also put his grain next to a box inside of his stall (if you have a small and short one). On flatting days let him trot over random cross rails, poles, 6 inch verticals, etc. It'll keep him engaged and listening and will help to teach him that jumping is nothing to get nervous or worried about.