My spooky horse

Question
i have just started to lease jack and i dont think he should be a lesson horse either but that is not my choice he also loves to jump and is usually not as spooky while jumping as he has been the last weeks he also threw another rider at the same jump a week before which i forgot to mention. and yes i go wear a helmet if i didnt i probably would be asking you this haha i am not  responsible for his training but his real owner rides her other horse and i am the main one who rides his some people have been scared to ride him because of this i would just like to know if the spooking can be spotted or if he will always be like this some days he is worse than other and some days he can be to bad for beginners to ride him i am an adv. intermiadite or thats what they say im not sure. i feel comforatble riding him no matter what but it would be alot better if he didnt spook so my question is can this change or is it perminent
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

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Hi my name is kayla i am 14yrs old i have been riding since i was 2 and taking lessons for about 6 years. For the last 4years i have ridden a now 16 yr old qh named jack i fell in love with him from the start. hes only 15hh which was perfect for my size. He is very spooky he will spook at anything mainly plastic bags, wing, trees, noises, air. I moved to a new barn with him because he got sold he will not jump flowers and is more ground shy he never had to jump flowers before we thaught it was maybe because he had never seen them before but we tried everything he would always refuse. Recently i was riding him and he was being very spooky and forward we were going up to a small cross rail in the indoor ring he was very forward ears up and acting like he was going to jump the jump was right on a shadow from the lights above and he stopped and i did fall we didnt no if that was the reason or not. so i got back on and contuniued my lesson we jumped that jump a couple more times but it wasnt very smooth he crow hopped over it and we had to walk him over it alot but and least he went over it. Then we decided to jump another cross rail oposite to the one in the ring he had already jumped it about 3 times and was fine. he acted like he was going to stop at was very looky looky at the jump so i sat up right before the jump then he hesistaded and stopped for about 2sec then jumped it about 3ft i fell and him my shoulder and separated it but thats beside the point. The week before jack was perfect no spooking he was on the bit it was great. he only spooked 3 times because a bird flew out of the roof about and went across the ring several time. so that didnt bother me. the thing is the jumps we were jumping that week were at the same sides of the arena and at the same place and they were much higher he jumped them with no hesistation at all. i just read your insrtuctions about which i over look.
he is a 16yr old qh gelding he is a stall/pasture board and goes out in the day during the winter and is in at night in the summer it is oposite. he is pastured with about 7 other gelding. he had just gotten over an abcess 4wks before this he was lame for a month and a half and was sound and ridden for 4wks before this happend.
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Hi Kayla!

Thank you for putting so much information into your question.

I have to say two things...One, it appears to me that you are not the owner of this horse and that you are riding him in a lesson program.  I cannot give training advice to non-owners of the horse in question.

Two, this is not training advice but, merely an observation.  I feel that this horse is not a good choice for a lesson horse and certainly not as a jumping lesson horse.  Sometimes a square peg cannot be forced into a round hole.  The most important thing in any answer I give is "What is in the best interest of the horse?"

You are very young to have to be responsible for this horse's training and it is really up to the owner to address this issue.

Good luck and remember to always wear an ASTM/SEI approved helmet!

Solange

Answer
Hi Kayla!

Thank you for the follow-up.  This is just too big a job for you to fix and by not owning him, you legally cannot anyway.

Will he change or is this permanent?  From what you've told me and considering his age....I'd say he will not drastically change into a trusted jumping mount.  Any improvements would only come from removing him from leasing and lessons, putting him into full time training for a minimum of 6 months and then...you may see some improvements.  But, if stressed, he would revert immediately to his old habits.