Teaching green horse to jump

[bigbird31]

Ok I would love you guys to put your heads together and give me some advice as to schooling and tips for bringing a green horse on who hasn't jumped with his previous owner (bar a couple of lunged ones). I've had him nearly 4 weeks now and we have popped over some logs out hacking and done some little cross poles in the field, but he has never refused and seems to get a bit excited at them but considering he has never done anything before he is very good. What do I need to be doing with him and how often, I want to do jumping when we get going and want to expose him to as much as possible but wondered if there was some kind of schedule I could use to give me an idea of the things I should be including in his training. Any tips gratefully received, taa. x

[iluvakila]

I started my girl out with poles (trot and canter ect) and gymnastics is good too. I hav a book 101 jump exercises... (I think thats the title!) xD But it's really good, it starts out with loads of poles exercises then it slowly gets harder. It's good that your horse hasn't refused, but one thing I've learned is that when they do tell them its ok and don't get mad. My pony doesn't refuse much but when she does and I give her a calming pat and tell her it's ok she goes straight over the jump the next time.
gGood luck and keep us posted on your progress!

[tasha]

Definately start with poles, building up from walking over a single pole, to a line of poles, then trotting a single pole, then a line. Once this is done in consistent balance and rhythm you can raise the end pole to a little jump and build it up from there. Whatever you do, make sure you start very easy and gradually build up as and when the horse is ready. Once a week should be fine, perhaps twice but not any more than that. Its got to be fun but not overexciting :D

Its really worth reading up on starting them jumping or even better having lessons as getting the basics right now is so very important to their abilities and attitudes later on in life. Im reschooling my girlie at age 19 right from polework and alng the way have discovered that it is unlikely she was taught this as a baby, hence her attitude to jumping was to run as fast as she can, lift her legs up a bit and then carry on running once she got to the other side.

Finally, pics are compulsory :D :D

[mu0ljk]

When I first got Dylan he hadn't jumped for years and so I went right back to basics. Galadriel on here has a great website with lots of ideas on how to train your horse to jump.

http://lorienstable.com/articles/jumping/

I went right back to basics but then when I first tried it with Dylan he cat leapt over a tiny cross pole giving it about 4ft clearance, so you may not have to.

It's a good site though - see if it'll help. :)

[bigbird31]

Wow that's an interesting site thank you, I will certainly be going back to that one. I will get some piccies as soon as I can, haven't had much opportunity to be honest. But once things get going then I will do. Thanks again for the advice. Wish me luck. x

[speedsaddle]

Link about horse jump talk http://www.ehow.com/tips_10957.html :)