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Teaching a Gaited Horse to Jump

8K views 59 replies 19 participants last post by  Guilherme 
#1 ·
Now, I know - everybody's thinking DUH, the same way you teach a non-gaited horse to jump! But wait... I have an explanation to clear things up!

My mare is 21, she's been a "professional" trail horse for 18 years, and she is magnificently trained for that. Her training included never canter with a rider (she will now, but it's been a work in progress), and to not jump over things while ridden, but to walk over if necessary or through if possible.

The only time I tried to get her to pop over a little jump in an obstacle class she gaited *through* it and somehow tangled it through ALL 4 legs. It was not a good thing.

So, basically, not only do I need to train her to go over with a rider (she will jump at liberty over obstacles in the pasture), but I have to untrain what is currently hard-wired into her - DON'T JUMP with a rider ever ever ever!

Any suggestions?
 
#2 ·
This is a 21 year old gaited horse. At her age, I am having a hard time understanding why you would want to do this to her.

She is not young, and old bones hurt.

And considering the prior time you wrote about? I would not do this to her.

Get another, younger horse to do this to, but don't do this to this mare.
 
#3 ·
This is a 21 year old gaited horse. At her age, I am having a hard time understanding why you would want to do this to her.

She is not young, and old bones hurt.

And considering the prior time you wrote about? I would not do this to her.

Get another, younger horse to do this to, but don't do this to this mare.
I second this...she's done well at what she was trained to do and she's a senior now.
 
#4 ·
Seems everybody has misunderstood and I was unclear. I am NOT trying to turn my mare into a jumper. But I enjoy popping over a log or occasional x-bar and thought I might add this layer too. I am in NO WAY trying to change her, ungait her, make her into a hunter/jumper. Just a new thing we can occasionally do. It's just a new thing to learn.
 
#5 ·
Still probably a bad idea with an older mare (with the accompanying physical issues) and one well trained to not do what you want to do (and the accompanying training issues).

The rule of Horses for Courses applies to gaited horses, too. What you want to do is not going to be done easily and the risk of injury to both horse and rider is high. If you want to "pop over occasional logs" get a horse more suited to the task.

G.
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
I fail to see going over 1' max as a risk to the horse, or myself if done properly. I have taught her to canter after she was trained not to ever canter under saddle. She enjoys it very much. At 21 she has more go and spunk than most 5 year olds. Her favorite things are go and go fast. There are career jumpers still jumping at 20, she's had trailriding but nothing hock squashing or damaging like jumping or WP. I fail to see how this is such a horrible thing. My personal feeling is she would enjoy it as she enjoys jumping over stuff in the pasture. It's just the idea of getting her to know it's OK to do under saddle - just like I got her to know cantering is now OK under saddle.
 
#8 ·
I agree that a senior horse can be jumped safely if trained well, and taken care of properly. No doubt about it. A 20 year old lesson horse at my barn is still showing 4' easily. He's happy, and healthy, and still going strong.
Really it all depends on the horse, I'm sure if your mare is healthy than one foot here and there won't hurt her. But I'd check to make sure there's no arthritis or anything like that.
Also, I think what people are saying is that they just don't see the point in training this mare from scratch how to jump at 21 years old.
I don't really see the point in it either, but I guess start by having her trot over poles and build your way up I guess.
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#9 ·
Actually, I disagree with most of the posters.

While this mare, yes, should not be rigorously trained to be a jumper, I don't see a reason as to why she couldn't jump things occasionally just for fun if she has no soundness issues. 21 isn't even considered old anymore. I know plenty of horses jumping in their twenties. Just because a horse is older doesn't mean you can't add some more training. Training is a lifetime process, not something that simply stops.

I understand that most people would think this is silly for an older mare, but I think that sometimes we get so caught up in training horses for a specific discipline that we don't have that one horse that we want to teach fun things. So why not?

I think I would try trotting her over some trot poles and then make a small x that can go down if she knocks it. Really squeeze and encourage her over the jump.

As an addition, I have a 20 year old Arab that had no jumping training. I pop him over jumps just for fun. He'll never be a great jumper or anything, but it's fun to just put them in different situations for once or to teach them something new.
 
#10 ·
I was looking at buying a 3 year old TWH at one point, and worked with her for a month before deciding she wasn't for me.

I've never seen a horse be so terrible at jumping. LOL

(hopefully you can see it. I've got it on public.)
VIDEO

Now, she did eventually learn to pick up her feet. i ended up doing this exercise with the poles set farther apart (think 2-3 strides) and it worked.

now keep in mind the horse is not supposed to jump it. LOL.



You see how they're raised on one end? I did that, and every second pole was just flat on the ground. Again, i put 2-3 strides in between.

So it went like this:
Crossrail raised on the left side
2-3 strides
pole on the ground
2-3 strides
crossrail raised on the right side
2-3 strides
pole on the ground
2-3 strides

Repeat.

I started with 2 raised poles, and gradually added more. When she got to 5 raised poles and no pole on the ground, I put the 3rd pole in (Middle pole) up on both sides. Only about 8 inches off the ground.

You don't want her to canter this. You want her to gait, or trot (the mare i worked with gaited and trotted.)

Good luck!!!
 
#13 ·
Indeed. Riders fall as far from refusing a one foot jump as they do from refusing a three foot jump.

My issue is that you're trying to teach a really mature horse to break training that has been 15+ years in the making. Sure, it can be done but that doesn't mean it ought to be done.

Buy the right horse for the job and life is much sweeter for both the horse and rider.

G.
 
#14 ·
I don't see any problem in gradually working a healthy older horse to being able to jump something that's only a foot high - if you spend all your time worrying about having accidents then riding is not for you - most head injuries occur when a horse is slopping along on a long rein and it trips up and goes down ejecting the rider over its shoulder.
A friend of mine re-trained a 12 year old gaited horse that had been raced in harness (what we call a pacer in the UK) to jump to quite a high standard and competed cross country and (fox) hunted him so starting your horse out on trotting poles and gradually working up to that low height isn't going to do him any harm if he's otherwise fit and healthy
 
#16 ·
I second this as pointless. I have kept many horses into their old age and death. The first time that your old horse shows you that he is arthritic is when he stumbles forward. If your old horse stumbles over a jump trying to please you, she could fall right on top of you. Even if not, it can be painful.
Enjoy her excellent training and don't try to retrain her to jump obstacles. Get a younger horse to play with jumping, please.
 
#17 ·
I agree, get a younger horse that is better suited for jumping.
I know a girl with a TWH that got the bright idea to teach it to jump. From just one time of jumping it ended up messing up its leg and was lame for a good while after that.
I also dont really understand why you dont want your horse to gait....thats what TWH are programed to do...they weren't bred specifically for jumping as far as I know.
 
#18 ·
People - jumping small logs or a 1 foot pole (which is all the OP wants to do)does not compare to showjumping - a horse could safely step over that at a walk - or trip over it stepping over at a walk
We often come across fallen trees that height on the trails and wouldn't dream of turning round and riding back to where we'd come from.
And even though this TWH has a stop at one fence he doesn't look too bad at the job
 
#21 ·
People - jumping small logs or a 1 foot pole (which is all the OP wants to do)does not compare to showjumping - a horse could safely step over that at a walk - or trip over it stepping over at a walk
We often come across fallen trees that height on the trails and wouldn't dream of turning round and riding back to where we'd come from.
And even though this TWH has a stop at one fence he doesn't look too bad at the job
Tennessee Walking Horse Over Fences - YouTube
This is awesome to me!! I never would have thought of the TWH being a jumping breed but the horse looked pretty good. Thank you for sharing that!! :D
 
#19 ·
Now I don't know the horse, and quite frankly I don't have a solid opinion either way, but I wanted to add a bit of perspective on pain vs willingness especially since this is an older horse.

I understand that she jumps things in pasture on her own, so in that case she is probably not in much pain if any. However, it is different with a rider and she may not have the choice or even show any obvious signs of pain if she is very willing. When my arthritis is acting up a little in my knees it doesn't hurt much if at all to walk, but if I were to have to climb stairs or step over something it would hurt like crazy until I went back to my normal stride. When that happens, though, I am often extra careful to stay balanced when straining myself as not to fall and injure myself further.

I'm not saying your mare's old bones actually feel old, just giving an example of how you might not see her acting obviously lame over jumps. I would tend to agree with not jumping an older horse who has never been trained to it, but at the same time I identify since I want my horses to be versatile as well. Food for thought, I guess!
 
#20 ·
I don't read this as the OP wants to start competitively jumping or anything crazy like that, I read it, as the OP wants to take her horse on trails and would like to be able to pop over the fallen log in the middle of the trail. I have no idea how to tell you to do this cause mine ALL naturally will pop over obstacles like ditches or downed trees unless I ask them to "walk" through whatever it is. I don't think your issue is a gaited horse issue as much as it is a retraining issue.

However it is your horse and if you would like for it to do something it doesn't (for what its worth) I support your decision to do so, and will follow this thread and see if any useful advice comes of it.

Jim
 
#22 ·
There is a world of difference between a horse that is built to jump and a breed of horse that is not. When you jump a TB designed for it, for instance, the horse effortlessly takes YOU with him. I have jumped horses who were not built to jump and you get thrown around, both before and after the jump. It is NOT enjoyable and I have fallen trying to do this, and I don't care to repeat it.
Every sound horse can jump a 3 ft. vertical if he has to, without a rider. I train my horses, whether jumping prospects or not, to step over obstacles so that they don't have to jump so that we don't meet one on the trail and my horse overjumps it.
I see no purpose is training either of my gaited horses--KMH and KMHSA to jump like a hunter. They were bred for comfort and understand how to negotiate obstacles on the trail, which is an adequate sufficiency.
 
#25 ·
I agree with this to an extent. It is much more pleasant to jump a horse that is bred for jumping, but, my paso mare is a fun little horse to jump with and will jump 1-2ft happily. my RMHA gelding will also jump if given the opportunity and on a couple occasions in pursuit of an errant dog I have jumped partially downed fences with him. Like I said I see no issue with casually allowing you horse to pop over a trail obstacle. No one said anything about graceful beautiful jumps, no one said they wanted the most comfortable jumping horse. the OP wants to be able to pop over trail obstacles and enjoy THEIR horse...... The OP asked for advice, not opinions.

Jim
 
#23 ·
As an old guy, and 100% pure trail rider, the last thing I want my TWH mare to do is jump. While I'm riding in a wilderness area 45 minutes off the black top and 3 hours off the forest service road, I want all four feet to stay on the ground.
 
#24 ·
I would put in my personal vote for 'no' as well.

The reason for this is that after being trained for her entire life to move a certain way, ie, to gait, she will have developed certain muscles and ways of going to facilitate this. It's definitely not a bad thing, but often those muscles are not conducive to jumping.

If the horse were younger, and you had time to condition the horse to trot well, and eventually to engage and strengthen the hindquarters, I think you could definitely jump well, at least well enough to prevent lasting damage to your horse.
 
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#27 ·
"The OP asked for advice, not opinions"

Your right. Advice, don't do it. Not with a 21 yr old horse. Next thing we'll hear is horse is lame, and they'll be asking, what happened?

Nothing wrong with teaching a young one to make low jumps. In fact, there are times when they need to be able to jump. But a 21 yr old is no place to start.

We need to use some common sense.
 
#28 ·
Trotting poles and poles or logs below one foot high do not constitute 'jumping'
And as long as a horse is fit and healthy enough to trail ride that sort of height isn't going to do it any harm at all even at the age of 21
It's the OP's choice to do this - her horse, her decision - so giving her advice on how she could start the horse off at such a low level isn't forcing her to do anything.
If the trotting poles - no different really to just trotting a horse without them - seem to affect the horses well being in any way she can stop at that stage.
She isn't asking 'Should I do this?' she's asking 'How could I do this?'
 
#29 ·
She isn't asking 'Should I do this?' she's asking 'How could I do this?'
You're correct. But the first part of "how do I do something?" is always "should I do this?" A number of very knowledgeable people say, "no." Their opinions/advice are based upon what she presented. Why is silencing this knowledgeable body of opinion/advice a Good Thing?

As I've noted at least once this is her horse and her decision. That does not mean that anybody must only answer the question asked.

G.
 
#30 ·
I might be tempted to suggest she didn't do it if the horse was on its last legs and unsound but there isn't any evidence of that or if she wanted to get it over a course of 2ft 6 plus show jumps by the end of the month but she doesn't.
21 isn't old if the horse is sound and been well cared for - I know someone who's still eventing a horse at top level that's 20 this year. We had a pony that was still doing a full days hunting in his late 20's and enjoying every minute of it. He got the summer off every year - just hacking out quietly - so essentially was starting out new each season
Quite honestly a thread full of 'don't do this' based on no information to support that opinion is of no interest to anyone and no use to anyone
 
#31 ·
I know someone who's still eventing a horse at top level that's 20 this year. We had a pony that was still doing a full days hunting in his late 20's and enjoying every minute of it. He got the summer off every year - just hacking out quietly - so essentially was starting out new each season
You just supported my advice. Those are both horses who have been doing their job for many years; the pony who got the summer off was not starting out new each season, he was experienced and just needed a refresher.

Jumping is difficult and dangerous, and the OP hasn't said how much experience she has. To someone inexperienced 1 foot doesn't seem like a big deal. It's still easy for a horse to hang a leg and fall, or the rider to miss her spot and crash or have a refusal. I've seen too many jumping accidents from kids just fooling around in their backyard thinking a low jump was safe.
 
#34 ·
The OP also says:

"My mare is 21, she's been a "professional" trail horse for 18 years, and she is magnificently trained for that. Her training included never canter with a rider (she will now, but it's been a work in progress), and to not jump over things while ridden, but to walk over if necessary or through if possible."

So we have two issues:

First, the normal physical issues one finds in a 21 year old horse.

Second, the training that will have to "broken and replaced" in a 21 year old horse.

Can this be done? Probably; does it fit into the category of "putting a square peg into a round hole?" Absolutely.

Riding carries with it a certain element of risk that is not zero. Riders accept that risk because of the pleasure the activity brings. Since we cannot eliminate risk we manage it. IMO what the OP wants to do is not wise risk management. As with all things, YMMV.

Here's a good article on equine related risk:

Equine-Related Human Injuries | TheHorse.com

G.
 
#35 ·
"21 isn't old if the horse is sound and been well cared for"

Your right, if the horse had been accustomed to the attributes associated with jumping. This horse has not. At 21 there are many a muscle, joint, etc that would have to be reconditioned for jumping. The chances of doing this successfully are slim to none. If you want to keep the horse sound, this is nothing to start at this age.

I've had 32 plus year old stallions that were still breeding. BUT would I breed a 32 year for the first time. And breeding is a natural behavior. The answer is not no, it's HELLLLLLLLL NO.

IMO, in the blunt vernaculer, trying this with a 21 year old, borders on ANIMAL CRUELTY.
 
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