The horse who would not jump the water

(Case Study)

The horse had the scope to fly over a Grand Prix jumping course but had also developed an “attitude” toward water jumps. In fact the behavior was categorical. The horse refused purely and simply to jump the water.

Now, the horse does fly effortlessly over the water. The behavior was in fact due to muscle pain. Strong back muscle imbalance was inducing pain upon landing of long and low jumps such as the river. Addressing the back muscle imbalance, and consequently suppressing the feeling of pain associated with the landing of the water jump was enough to change the horse’s mind about jumping the water.

The video was the first attempt over the water after reeducation