Question for the Jumpers?

Question

What were you like when you FIRST started jumping?

Like, was it scary to jump your first few rails and did you have to train your horse hard to make it jump?

Answer 1

Hmm well I am not a jumper, and i really dont want to be, but i did train my horse to jump just for his conditioning exercise.

I personally never jumped before, and only have had dressage lessons. I just set up one jump in the middle of the arena that was about 6 inches tall, then i trotted around the entire arena, and my 21 year old horse jumped over the jump with ease. (in his whole life he had never been taught before)

I was so busy shouting and patting his neck for being a good boy, that i didnt even notice the jump part LOL. 6 inches isnt even hardly a jump, but it was and it wasnt scary at all,( considering i had no triainer there, and i still dont know anything about jumping.)

In conclusion i jump just for my horse and his exercise, we are never going to compete, and probably will only move to 2 feet, but jumping is fun and good luck to you!!

~2htoohorse~

Answer 2

Training my first horse to jump, and me learning to jump were two totally different things! Training a horse to jump, I usually lunged him over an "x" or very low laying poles that he could trot over, but would eventually begin to jump them as they got taller.  

Learning to jump, I did much of the same, but on an already trained animal. I was probably 8 when I started jumping.  And it was exhilarating more than scary! But, I was also young and not afraid of getting hurt! :)

Answer 3

ah.. around five or six, I can't remember. I jumped to the girls locker room.

You must have seen the movie jumper

Answer 4

When I first started jumping, I thought it was the greatest thing in the world. Since i started jumping AFTER i had been riding english and Western flat for 5 years, i had a very easy time adjusting my seat and position to go over the jumps. People who have just started riding less than 6 months ago SHOULD NOT JUMP!!! they do not have the confidence of their seat, their hands, and they easily can get themselves or the horse hurt. I have trained my own horse for 4 yrs now. We have basically been learning together, and unless you have an very experienced jumper horse, it takes a while for you to adjust to each other. With my mare, its very hard to make her jump, because even though we trust each other completely, she has very strong is instincts, and if i hesitate even the slightest bit, she stops or swerves, thinking, if i hesitate it must be unsafe. that's how programmed we are to each other. it will be hard to jump an uneperienced or very little experience, becuase they must trust their rider. in riding schools, they move the students up in levels WAY to early, as soon as they can demonstrate they can hang on and their horses are so unresponsive, considering they have totally inexperienced riders just pounding and yanking on them all the time the go on autopilot and take the lead. the girls at big riding schools learn how to sit nd look pretty, not how to ride. if your training your horse to jump, do it slowly, start with cavaleties for a few weeks, then smaller crossrails for a few weeks, don't try to move the jump up every week, thats how horses get overwhelmed and get hurt I jump because it makes me feel like i'm flying. and for 4H

Answer 5

when I first started jumping i was a little scared, my horse had never jumped before in her life, so I was a little scared, all you gott to do is keep the horse straight with momentom, and get your horse to enjoy it, so rewards after each  jump. I only jump for fun and thats like once a year, so im still not that great, when I first started jumping i took some lessons, then stopped coz they got a bit boreing and annoying, but I still jump for fun. I started getting used to the jumps after a while, and now, im not nearly as scared as I was back then!!

but I think if you want to jump, don't let fear hold you back!! Its a great experiance!!

Answer 6

Ahh the feeling of flying and what you can accomplish when jumping is amazing. You feel like your so free. Okay so this is my story of how I came to be a hunter. Well I started riding when I was 8 and jumping when I was 9, I remember I was really nerves and it was just a little x. But it felt good afterwards. Then I started getting more into it and jumping verticles when I was a little older. Then one day the pony I was riding who was an x-eventer decided she wanted to jump some trot poles, there was 3 trot poles then an x the three trot poles so she troted threw threw the trot poles nicley then jumped the x big and then got a little excited and jumped the trot poles. So I quit jumping and went back to just doing some simple dressage. Then when I got my first pony he loved to jump and dragged me to a jump while I was lungung him one day so I decided I might want to get back into jumping. So I started training my horse, I Spy to jump and then taking jumping lessons. By the end of the summer I had him jumping 3 foot. It was amamzing what that pony could do. This was the only time he was not bad. When we did flat he would buck and rear and just pretty much go crazy. So we switched barns, then I sold that bratty pony and bought a nicley trained horse:) I love him. I started to do hunters this year and it was my first year of an actual jumping show so I showed 2'3-2'6. Next year I am moving up to a higher level and showing 2'9. I dont really now what I want to do in the future, I dont really want to be a famous jumper because im into hunters. I just dont really have a plan. Im only 14 so I still do have a little while before I go to collage. But I really want to do something in the horse feild for a future job. And I want to take my horse to collage:) What would I do without horses:D

This is my new horse, Sheldon. We are not jumping very high in this

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=_YSxUgIs_A...

Im just making one of I Spy.

Sorry to make this a life story but I always love remebering this and how I became what I am today. Jumping is the most amazing feeling. Its my anti drug:P

Answer 7

I jumped for the first time this summer...on a horse that i had only been training for a month (not training to jump, but just training in general).......it was interesting. And i was jumping in a dressage saddle, which sorta added confusion. But, i did it! And I am still jumping!

Here are 2  vid. of what it looked like when i first jumped....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyHl2A2uk...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wai7ys19b...

(i do have a better seat, but, jumping in a dressage saddle, without knee rolls, in sneakers, and my sturrips where to long, so it looks horrible.)

Answer 8

I jump because i enjoy it and my first time was when i was 11 years old and i was on a trail riding lesson and my teacher was like ok where going to go through the jumping course. The course was made from fallen logs in a dried up creek so i couldn't really see what was coming so i just held on and enjoyed.

Answer 9

when i first started jumping i was a little scared but going over a cross rail is not hard verticals are more fun!

Answer 10

I think I just grinned and got overr with it. wehat else could i do? i was about to fly!

and i jump becasue...i can't really answer that one, actually!