training fears

Question
I'm only sixteen and live in central Africa and I am bearing the responsability of training my six year old gelding. He scares me. I admit, I love him loads but when it comes to teaching him to jump I just cannot do it. He goes up, down, left, right, all ways, except over and I burst into tears. I have tried trotting poles, small jumps, even my teacher has tried to do it. I love to jump really but just dont have the confidence to teach him, I've taught him many other things. what can I do to help build confidence and start off the jumping programme?

Answer
My suggestion would be to keep working on a line over poles on the ground until he gets used to the idea that they are not going to hurt him, then move to small cross rails.

Some horses are just not the right mindset to jump, you know your horse better then I do, so that is something to take into consideration and keep in mind.

There is not going to be a quick fix, just a LOT of patience and hard work. Good luck!