Jumping Questions?

Words fail me here......


How exactly did you decide it might even remotely be a good idea to take a horse that has never jumped and expect him to jump 2 feet?

You're really lucky he plowed through the jump instead of dumping your sorry rear.

Randomly jumping a fence is NOT the same as being trained to properly jump over a jump. Any horse can jump. One of the pastures where I board has an irrigation ditch in it, Every single horse has at some point jumped over that ditch to get to the grass on the other side. 8 horses and I would only consider pointing ONE of them at a jump and that's because he's a hunter/jumper pony and trained to jump! The rest give that ditch the evil eye and haul ass over it. Even the Warmblood who was bred to be a jumper! The breeding is there, the capability is there (holy crap can this horse move) but the knowledge is not as she is still to young to be jumping.

You say he will trot the faster you post and I am picturing yall rushing into a jump at a choppy trot. You need to think collected. With what DrumRunner is saying, I guess I made the mistake of assuming that this horse has jumped in the past, either trained, or with you. Have you? Anyways a small X jump is a good place to start. If you have done little with this horse. There is a lot involved in proper jumping, but little involved with backyard jumping. This is why 12hh ponies can jump stacked bales bareback. No, it isn't often instinctual for them to jump, but its often not easy to pick up if they need to get over 18 inches or 2 ft. So, my apologies Shaggy for assuming your horse has done this before. Do you know how to collect your horse? Have you worked poles with him? If he has never done any jumping in his past, get him used to the depth perception that consistent jumping requires.

You're kidding right? There is a lot involved in ALL jumping.. That's just common sense. If she AND her horse don't know what they're doing they both can be seriously injured.. and telling her that hitting her horse with a whip will make him do it..Come on.. If he doesn't know how to jump correctly, he's already unsure about jumping, and then she hits him with a whip?? That's asking for disaster.. You don't know her or her horse.. Let her find a trainer and someone who knows what they are doing and knows her and her horse to help her..

Uh yeah.... proper jumping requires effort, work, training while a backyard jump? Just someone to call 911 after your horse gives you a flying lesson!

Yes Drum runner, I agree that hitting if the Morgan is confused is bad, running it into jumps carelessly! I took ' I ride english and know a lot about it ' as she has a schooled horse and literally rides english hunter/jumper often, in which case a schooled horse should assumingly do this. I made the distinction that this horse was not jumping because it didn't want to.
Thanks for reminding my that this is a worldwide forum and people are of all levels and confidence! If a horse and rider have a strong relationship, jumping is not a big deal, in my opinion. Neither is coming off a steep hill, crossing the creek, riding bareback, etc. When jumping gets high enough consistently, it is important to know how to ride it to hinder your horse as little as possible!

Aww Delfina, where were you at 12 galloping your horse along the trail bareback in a halter? Flying lesson! Yea, my Lexington helped me through some falls! I'm older now and wouldn't dare, and wouldn't want anyone else to, but I wouldn't fathom the thought that you need to have proper this, proper that, enjoy your horse when you are the backyard rider. Safety is important, but this is a horse riding forum, isn't it?

I bought my first horse when I was over 30. I think I'd had maybe a half-dozen trail rides on mostly dead horses prior.

I ride English too and gee, I know a lot about it too! Guess what, I've NEVER jumped (intentionally that is..... darn spooky Morgans). Jumping IS done while riding English but there are many other things one can do while riding English that do not involve jumping. A generic statement of "I ride English" doesn't mean that the person has ever even seen a jump!

Hi;
What you can do to start out with is lay some rails on the ground. Do about 3 or 4 of them spaced apart as large as the stride of your horse is. You will have to make adjustments. Try trotting over them and work at it until you don't clip any of them. Start out with that. You don't want to start with a 2 foot jump as I am sure you have now figured out. You really need a good instructer to get you jumping, but in the mean time the rails on the ground can help. If you aren't using jump rails make sure you are using something visable and light weight. I have used large pvc tubing from home depot before. It is hollow light weight and has holes in it so it doesn't hurt if you clip it. Don't be to hard on your horse either, he doesn't get it yet. You may have to lead him over the rails on the ground first, Good luck.

ok first off he has jumped just out the trails not the ring with actual jumps.

Look sorry I gave the impression that I'm one of those lucky riders who get to keep there horses at nice barns and have trainers.My trainer ditched me, left me at her ex in laws farm, and moved to new york and told me I would have to find somewhere else to go. Luckily her "ex in laws" are super nice and allowed me to stay there. I don't like someone said I'm a back yard rider. I built the jumps because I was bored after being able to jump my cousin's 16hh eventer quarter horse while we were visiting them in florida. It was a lot of fun and since my horse has jumped before I thought a 2ft jump would be more of challenge then the logs we normally jump over when we trail ride.