Teddy showjumping

[Ali_fewins]

http://bebo.com/watch/5126395070

Thats him at home today.. critique..etcc welcome.

If link doesnt work i will sort it out! let me no :p:cool:

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[x.fat-pony.x]

Lovely vid :)
No critique from me, those fences are bloomin hooooge! :D

x

[StormyJ]

Lovely :)

Is that your youngster? He looks really confident and has a brilliant rhythm. He gives them so much room! He's going to be a very careful jumper! :D

[Palomino Mare]

hi, what a lovely horse!

really nice rythum too. only thing i could critique is that when your landing your are a bit unbalanced - throwing your body backwards a bit. is he heavy on your hands when you land?

[Nik-n-Kia]

I like your horse and he has a lovely jumpon him. I agree with the nice rythm.

Keep posting as I love watching the vids and seeing the pics!!

Nikki xxx :D

[Ali_fewins]

Thanks for the comments!

Ye this is a 4 yr old.

Hes not at all heavy in my hand- very light- but he has recently engaged his backend the way hes meant to and this has resulted in a major change in jumping style- he was taking off with one hindleg- but now is jumping how he should do, and theres a lot of power in the tank. I get thrown up so much. Its worse on him than it ever was jumping 1.40's with my other.
Hes a big horse and rides big too now hes growing up. :rolleyes:

[*-crazy-chaz-*]

a 4yo?? :eek: wow! he's doing REALLY well for his age! honestly, he looks at home when he's jumping. + he's quick to respond to u asking 4 transititons. mind if i add u if u've got bebo? lol :p

[horsey1992devon]

Ooh he's lovely, has a big pop in him!! :D

Only critique is that maybe you could stay forward a little longer so you don't get jerked forward so violently when he lands, but on some jumps that didn't look like it was happening anyway, only a few of them and you said he's really powerful now so that won't help at all!!
All the best :)

[Kate F.]

Thanks for the comments!

Ye this is a 4 yr old.

Hes not at all heavy in my hand- very light- but he has recently engaged his backend the way hes meant to and this has resulted in a major change in jumping style- he was taking off with one hindleg- but now is jumping how he should do, and theres a lot of power in the tank. I get thrown up so much. Its worse on him than it ever was jumping 1.40's with my other.
Hes a big horse and rides big too now hes growing up. :rolleyes:

He's obviously very big and powerful, but he is still a baby. At 4 his skeleton isn't set - and it won't be for at least another 3 years or so. If he were mine, I'd pull right back on the size of fences at this stage (obviously he can do big fences, and he'll be able to do it later) and put lots of work into gymnastic exercises - poles, cavaletti, grids etc. and flatwork to give him confidence in his balance and adjusting his strides.

When a horse lands from a 1 metre fence, it's something like 4 times the weight of horse + rider that impacts on the feet, and has to be take up by the bones and tendons. That's a whole lot of stress on the legs and feet - and even though the horse may be willing and able at this age, it's very easy to do damage you'll regret later.

I think you'll find that with gymnastic work he starts judging the fences better and jumping more smoothly - then it will be easier to stay with the movement. I had this trouble when teaching my 17.2 boy to jump - and while he had all the power in the world, it was the training over cavaletti and grids of about 2 foot to 2 foot 6 that paid off in the long run. Yours seems to be a bit the same and is using his strength to get over the fences rather than technique - and that's why you're getting thrown around. There's lots of power, but it's not really controlled yet.

Put that low level basis in now, and mix it up with lots of other activities to keep him sweet and fresh, and I reckon you'll have a really top jumper in a few years time.

[sonnet]

You know my opinions on jumping such a young horse at all let alone at that height.

He looks very green and unbalanced, he looks very behind the leg and looks like he's shuffling along. This is all evident in the fact that he has to put in an emormous jump to clear the fences as the approach is all wrong and he's not correct into the fence. You can also see this when you turned very sharply around the jump at the end of the school, it's almost as if you expected him to change his leg (as your other horses do) and he just couldn't as he's not balanced enough.

You are also landed very heavily and being pulled forward very sharply, therefore you need to sit up more on the landing.

All of these things would point to the fact that he is not ready to be jumping that height. Taking into account what Kate F. said, that would make sense as his body is not ready either.

[Ali_fewins]

Thank you for the comments and opinions.

He does gridwork every time I jump him. His technique has come on so much- but theres still a lot of improvement to do.
He doesnt feel behind my leg, I have been told to keep him very together because of his size. As soon as I did this he started jumping off both hind legs instead of being lazy and only using 1.
He was very unbalanced, but I have been doing a lot of dressage on him, and his transformation is amazing- he feels very smooth, supple, responsive and together now..his lowest score out is 67.9%.
I def understand the fact i need to sit up more- n shall work on that.

Just to put in that- I no a few of you think its wrong jumping so young- but that is the height of age classes. Theres a 5 yr old class in jan- start height is 1.10m, jumpoff is 1.15. So I'm just keeping up with the bsja- I have by no means pushed him- he loves doing it. My other horse wasnt ready to compete untill 5 nearly 6- we had her nearly a year untill she did anything- started jumping 1.10 and 1.20 at 7. shes was way behind in terms of age classes- but she needed extra time- even though we left her etc..she still picked up a coffin joint injury in August and hasnt jumped since. She did that over a 1.05. So injuries happen no matter what.

[Poppet25]

Nice horse but I agree with Kate F and sonnet you need to do more groundwork with him.

I noticed you landed quite heavily on his back, possibly cos he's a baby and unbalanced which will make that happen, which further backs up the need for more basic groundwork.

My immediate impression was that there was no impulsion "no ummph" for want of a better word. He clears the fences ok but it's a bit untidy.