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teach a horse to jump on lead?

2K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  loosie 
#1 ·
Hi, so went for a trail ride today... only got about 1km before we found a tree down over the track, in a place we can't get around. About 1m high. No worries, my daughter had no hassle, jumped it. I got off, being on my green standy, bareback. Asked my horse I was pony in to hop over & he did.

then asked ms whinny. she was perplexed by me asking her to go forward into a solid barrier. Put her foot on it, stepped over it with one foot... but it was too high to get her other fore over. Backed her up & trotted towards it... to no avail.

Eventually I thought she was going to launch. She took both fores off the ground & I said good girl!! Only to have her rear & pull back - doh!! I just trained her to rear in hand! Great(not!). I tried twice more & she did a lovely rear in place, just as she thought I wanted! I made sure I kept the pressure on those times & didn't praise her, but 'uh-huh! '. I Quit then... before I got more behind! :LOL:

So I don't recall ever even having to train horses(that have already been well taught to lead & drive) to jump logs, they just do it. But this girl obviously needs some lessons with easier jumps!

And while we're at it, one of my kids & their brumby have been enjoying learning to jump together... but he kind of runs over them with his hind feet - in pics you can see that they're not together in a jump, but one foot leads, the other trails. He jumps beautifully with his front half, clears about 1m easily, just... lags in the hind.

So I'm confident a few lessons & whinny will be right, but wouldn't mind hearing others tips/experience. Jumping is Def not my Forte! And as such, I don't have any suggestions for kids pony. We're not in a position for them to have lessons in jumping atm... so fire away on that note too.
 
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#2 ·
Cavelletti will help teach them to pick up their feet and use them properly as a place to start. They can be ridden through or leadlined with you along side and not actually having to do them yourself. They can be easily built or you can use railroad ties or the like as they are large enough the horse has to lift.
 
#3 ·
Yes, a lot of horses will just follow others over a log and learn that way. I do like to teach them first on a lunge line or free jumping, because I like to see what they're going to do - some horses are poor jumpers naturally, and others will way over react. You'll have your horses that at first think it's best to make sure they are completely clear. Which tends to make me fall off. It's a real trick to jump the size the horse is jumping when it looks much smaller to you.


Also, we had a situation with a horse like Whinny where the horse didn't go right over and paused instead. It ended up traumatizing him for awhile, because he got his front legs up and over a pretty big log and then gave a hop but got high centered and stuck on his belly with only his hind legs barely touching the ground. He just froze like that, and we had to push his legs up to push off the log and get over. After that he was nervous to even step over a small branch on the ground, like he was going to get stuck again. It took awhile to get him willing to jump over stuff again.
So I'd say best to go to smaller things and get her confident before trying again over logs.
 
#5 ·
I always start them jumping on the lunge but rather than stand in the middle while they run around me I walk around a smaller circle because that allows them more room to be positioned for the jump. That then easily translates to them jumping while you lead them if you ever want to do that
A couple of my kids did lead rein jumping classes and that was how we taught their ponies
 
#7 ·
Another thought, I did a ground work clinic with Gibbs when I was still recovering from my fall, part of that was teaching them to drive through a gap. They had two barrels laid down with a space between, that we sent them through on a lead, and then kept making the gap smaller and smaller until they had to jump...


Wood Tree Plant



Apart from Mr Smarty pants, who stopped, weighed up the situation, then with his nose rolled one barrel forward enough that he could walk through the gap....he would always think first, then make an effort if there was no other choice..


Wood Plant
 
#8 ·
I taught Hamlet to jump in the arena - under trainer's instruction. You start with a height he can easily step over, like a cavaletti or cross rail, take it a few times at the walk. Then go at it faster - at the trot he'll figure out how to hop over. Then do it at a canter. Only when that goes smoothly, you start adding height slowly, so you're not outpacing their confidence.

I personally would find 1m already intimidating... :)
 
#13 ·
I personally would find 1m already intimidating... :)
Well it seems I'm really good at estimating heights... :| She's a leggy girl & it came to about 4" past her knees... it was 2' high, if that, not 1m!

Just been camping with horses for a few days, to Barmah NP - a redgum forest/swamp on the Murray River(awesome!). Redgums can get huge & are known for dropping limbs, so there were all manner of different sized logs to practice on. And while we did start smaller, it was as non-eventful with Whinny as with any other horse I've led over jumps! We quickly and easily got up to that 2' & past it! Haven't jumped her in the saddle though - I'll get more used to riding her in it first.

She does like to take a flying leap in & out of the stock crate though - wish she wouldn't do that!

My teen also did lots of jumping logs while away, and her horse never once touches the log with his feet, but even 2' high, he has one hind forward, one back. He steps up with his fronts into the stock crate & hops his hinds up together though...
 

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#10 ·
Haha Golden, that'd be my yellow boy with the drums! Too smart for his(or my) own good! Got woken at 6am by the dogs this morn, barking because he's got himself out AGAIN & was at the back door... & I cannot for the life of me work out how or where! Had a pally before him that was tricky & an escape artist too. Never buy a yellow horse - they're Houdini's!
 
#11 ·
I agree to starting small and building up.

I was riding doubled up. I was on Tom, a big strong hunter with as much mouth as a telegraph pole, leading a 13.2 pony. The weather had changed from overcast to torrential rain and hail so I wasn't hanging around. I came cantering down a steep track, faster than I intended, are around a corner to find a tree down across the track, Tom wasn't going to stop so I threw the rope across Copper's neck, we jumped it as a pair!

I went back days later to clear a way around and hat pony had cleared well over 4'
 
#12 ·
Sonny f i n a l l y jumped a barrel when I did very similar to what GoldenHorse posted. He actually just about had me convinced that he wasn't able to. He'd pop his front feet over and stand there looking at me as if to say 'see how close my belly is to the barrel, I can'tttttttt do it' and clumsily clamber over,around,,barrels rolling everywhere. Then someone told me about the technique of moving two barrels closer together, but with one addition....an upright barrel a distance in front of the two barrels with a treat on it.

First I sent him thru the roomy gap between two barrels, took him straight to the treat barrel and let him get it. Immediately back into position to go thru the 2 barrels, had a helper reloading the treat barrel for me....again thru the roomy gap to get the treat. Maybe did that another time, making sure he understood he would earn a treat if he got to the upright barrel. Then I started closing the gap between the two down barrels. Yep, the first time he could no longer get thru the gap he pushed one of the barrels out of the way instead of jumping. But, he didnt get to go to the treat barrel either, I put him right back into position in front of the down barrels and sent him toward them. He cleared them with room to spare and happily earned his treat. I was gobsmacked as they say accross the pond. He who had nearly convinced me that he was unable, cleared them with ease. I had him do it a couple of more times to make sure it 'took', and he's been a champ at jumping on lead ever since. He will even do it at Liberty.
One other tip that is helpful: it's much easier to get the jump if the barrel(s) are up against the fence,,,much harder to get a jump if they are out in the open,,,too easy to go around Vs jumping.
I think this method works because it gets them to thinking beyond the barrel(s) instead of just to the barrel(s)

Good luck.
Fay
 
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