Help on jumping?

Question

I'm starting to jump my 5 year old Paint gelding and I want to know if there are any pieces of advice you could give me? We've never jumped but when my trainer jumped over a little pole he didn't over jump or take off after the jump.

Answer 1

Be ready for work and progress! Listen to your trainer! I taught my paint horse to jump (he jumped a pole like it was a jump and was pulling the reins out of my hands. Later he started to refuse at freaky things. Now he jumps up to 2'9" and has the potential to go a lot higher.)

Just be ready for anything. Your horse will most likely over jump everything or jump crooked or have an awkward take off spot. It helps you to learn tons too.

Answer 2

do what your trainer says, they probably know whats best. good luck with your training tho! and have fun!

Answer 3

be sure to expose him to new and different things away from training so he is not so spooky about trying new jumps or in new surroundings when it comes time to get down to business.

Answer 4

A horse only over jumps because the rider is ahead of him. Make sure you do not go into 2-point until your horses front feet take off! Hope I helped!

Answer 5

yes start off with natural obstacles. Horses have been in the wild for centuries and before they were caught by men they would jump anything in there way all of it being natural obstacles. I recently trained my thoroughbred to jump and he wouldn't jump poles so i took him ova wood jumps and logs and he went well then introduced him to poles and he flew over them. :)

Goodluck

Answer 6

Your paint gelding is young to start jumping.

Nonetheless start with just some ground set out in your area.  Place them as trot poles (distance will be different on the size of horse).  Have him trot over those until he is quiet and comfortable. Let him look at it a few times before you take him over it.  Finally move the poles to a set distance for your horses canter.  Let him canter over the poles until he is not rushing and is quiet.  Gradually move up to a small cross rail.  Place 4-5 poles out in front first to let him trot through before taking  the jump.  If he is good at that make him halt after the line especially if he is rushing.  Try it at the canter and see how he is before you add another fence or make the cross rail higher.

Answer 7

I have a paint too!!! When I got mine, he was a big greenie, so the best thing to do was constantly work with him so that he became used to it. Also, if there are "scarier" jumps just let him sniff them so he can see that there's nothing to be afraid of. Another thing I did, was ride up and down hills/the pasture (basically any piece of non-level terrain) and did lots of work with transitions to build up  his stamina and coordination.

Answer 8

I trained my 5 year old to jump!

I first lunged her over fences up to about 2' so she could actually get the chance to try and jump over it to introduce her to it. I rode past the jumps and did poles in between standards so she got used to going over something between two jump standards and then made them 12" cavalettis that she usually just trotted over and then had about 5 ground poles about 2-3 trot steps or one canter stride after the 12" jump. If she went a little too quickly before the jump I also added 3-5 ground poles the same distance before the jump. I then set up two jumps about a canter stride between eachother and then 3-5 ground poles before and after about 5 steps from the first one and 5 steps from the last one.

I gradually used less poles, added small fillers like a small bough of leaves, stuffed animals, a piece of blue tarp, flowers, whatever to give the jump more interesting to go over. I did jumps about 18" and under - vertical jumps and crossrails - for about 5 months and did small courses. If he goes over them willingly at least 80% of the time, I would raise the bars about 3" and no more per jumping session. I varied the jumps and made us work on turns, lead changes, different angles, more complex jumps like a spread (two jump standards right next to eachother on both sides with poles that the horse jumps over with more width than a regular jump.

Don't ask a huge amount for him at once. Get him used to it, keep your hands up, body back, and eyes up, and he should be motivated to clear it each time.

good luck! :3

Answer 9

I would start at trot poles.

and then after a week if he does them ok. have trot poles in front of a small jump then build it up.