How long do most people have to ride before they can jump?

Question

I'm mostly wondering about English because that's what I do. Any Western riders are welcome to answer this question too though. ^.^ Thanks!!!

Answer 1

It depends on where you start riding and who is teaching you.  The woman in charge of the lesson program where I teach in the summers... she is absolutely safety crazy.  People don't even get on the horses until their second lesson and then they have to walk for their first 5 lessons before learning to start trotting.  And then they don't get to canter for almost a year... they have to learn to sit, post, 2 point, and no stirrups the horse all the way around the ring at a controlled trot before they're allowed to learn to canter... and then they have to spend another half a year cantering on the lunge line before they ever get to canter around the ring.  I taught one girl to jump during the summer but I'm certain that the woman in charge would not have approved.  So there, it would be at least years before people would be allowed to jump.

At the barn where I lesson during the school year...  they start jumping almost right away.  They learn to walk and trot and after a couple months they're allowed to start cantering and jumping.

Other places start jumping right away.  My cousin is 5 years old and started riding last year and could barely control the horse, but they have her "jumping" already at her new barn (I taught her last year, but they moved to Oklahoma and that's where they have her jumping)...  I put jumping in quotes because it's not really jumping... they have a pole on the ground that the horse goes over... but it is the first step towards jumping.

So it all depends on where you're riding and who is teaching you.  Some people don't believe in teaching jumping until the rider is really really good at absolutely everything else.  Some people believe in letting the rider learn jumping at the same time as they learn everything else.

Answer 2

It varies from person to person - it all depends on how well you cope with learning the basics.  Some people are naturals and pick it up very quickly, others take longer.  There is no hard and fast rule.

You should not even contemplate jumping until you have mastered walk, trot and canter and worked in your jump position over poles on the ground.  It is vital that your balance is perfect before you start jumping, otherwise things can go very wrong very quickly.

As a general rule of thumb, I'd say that if you are starting to learn from scratch and having lessons once a week, I would not expect you to start jumping for at least 6 months, maybe longer.  

Too many people start riding wanting to just jump and gallop, they do not realise that it takes a lot of hard work and learning to get to that level.