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Jumping gaited?

3K views 14 replies 14 participants last post by  Sunny06 
#1 ·
Has anyone ever jumped a gaited horse, either for training or for fun?

Red seems to take to jumping naturally (though, it'll be another two years before I can even think about it) by the way he bounces over the rope during feed time. I'm still mulling over possible careers for him, thinking maybe barrels or poles.

If you have jumped a gaited, was it difficult to teach them? Did they take to it naturally or act like the jump had teeth and a hacksaw?


Thoughts on this? I'd only be jumping for fun and for muscle building if needed. Curious on the matter, though.
 
#2 ·
My friend owns a TWH mare who she started jumping for fun at my grandpa's place with me and she was great at it! She was already older the first time she was ever asked to jump, but didn't even bat an eyelash. However, she was also exclusively a trail horse, so they HAD jumped little logs and stuff before just going down the trail.

I don't know if her form would have been show worthy, but she was athletic and clean about it, didn't hang her knees or rush or be clutzy about it. She just had a very nice little jump on her.

I will mention though that at that time, she didn't do a running walk. Sonja didn't know much about it when she bought her as a 3 year old, so she ended up growing up doing "normal" gaits and if you tried to get a running walk, she'd just pace. So I don't know if that made any difference because trot and canter were so normal to her?
 
#3 ·
Two Geldings,
I have a TWH that I used for trail rides and hunter paces. We didn't school jumps in the arena, we trained on the trail. I only pointed him at jumps less than 2', mostly logs or brush. He saw them just as an obstacle to go over, not something scary. Drifter is mostly blind and retired now, but we had 12 years of fun with him.

Use the horse's curiosity to help introduce him to the materials - barrels or jump stands - before trying any work with them. In other words, get the spook proofing down before you try to make him go over these items. Make sure the horse's legs are warmed up well before starting. Work from the ground by free jumping or lunging in a straight line. Let him learn where to place his feet, and how to balance before you add a rider.

It's not very different than training a non-gaited horse. The approach to the jump would be slightly different, and jumping multiple jumps would be a little trickier for him. He may want to break into a canter after the jumps, since the gaits move the horse in a horizontal position, and you are introducing a vertical element. The horse's gaited movements won't set him up well to use his hind end for propulsion over large jumps.

EPMhorse
 
#5 ·
Today I was riding, and there was another woman in the ring warming up her jumping horse and I thought to myself "that horse has a very strange trot" until I realized he was GAITED and was pacing *headdesk*.
Yes it can be done! The horse jumped beauifully and looked good while doing it. I think as long as they can canter and jump w/o pain or discomfort (this goes for ANY horse) then jumping probably does them some good.
Have fun and good luck!
 
#15 ·
^^yeah, my horse is extremely uncoordinating...*rolls eyes*, but depending if the horse likes it or not, I don't see why not..
 
#7 ·
I used to own a RMH who LOVED to jump! He was AWESOME at it, I often jumped him bareback :) Here are some photos, bad quality due to cheap camera back then, but...

He would run around jumping when I turned him out if there were jumps set up!



Bareback, no hands, eyes closed



And I showed him O/F too... may not have the best form, but he never refused or knocked a bar :)

 
#8 ·
I've seen a lot of SBs jump..
What breed is Red?
Gonzo is a moutain pony // MFT mix, and he does a little fox trot but not on command. He's still green but I've trotted him over crossrails and he jumps cavaletties and small verticles very nicely. He's also tried a little cross country. His approaches aren't the best but he loves to jump! He's moving up slowly, and I'm sure he could go pretty high once he's trained. =]
 
#9 ·
Check out youtube, there are tons of video of gaited horses jumping. I actually learned to jump on a cranky ole saddlebred (he really taught the kids to use their leg and keep their heels down since he was well known for running out or stopping).

Nothing says that a gaited horse can't jump, some will have more talent than others just like non-gaited horses.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Crow jumps, just small logs in the woods, but he's good at it :) Surprised my trainer when she saw us, she was sure we'd fall and kill ourselves x) (he was very green at the moment, and I'm not exactly a jumper either). Since then we've jumped several small logs when we're out, and obstacles once (also small, the height of a small bale of straw) which was very scary :P Horse-eating obstacles.

He either gaits or canters before the jump, and normally comes down in a canter. Both works just as well. And he loves it.

I might add that when I had shattered my wrist and didn't dare to ride him (he wasn't started under saddlm then, I injured myef when we tried that) i walked him a lot in the halter and had him jump all kinds of weird logs on weird ground :)

He's a gaited standardbred.
 
#12 ·
I have a 6 year old Tennessee Walking Horse who broke his leg when he was little, and can't do the high jumps. He's never jumped before I got him (western horse at a ranch) and we practiced little logs in the pasture after I got him, but never anything formal in the arena. One day, we did (lowest possible crossrail), and he was great! Took to it just fine! Cantering to the jump was much easier than racking to the jump.

Heres the only pics I have (bareback, I didn't wanna jump him in the heavy western saddle)
 

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