what type of personality?

[ExcaliburRider]

what is the ideal personality for a jumper? see how my horse adds up. please be completely honest; he hasn't started jumping yet, but i'd like to see if he's got the personality for it.

Cal's personality:

completely willing: will do almost anything for you, even when he's dead tired
barely ever spooks at anything
extremely quick learner: learned to go over cavaletti in one half-hour session
curious, but very very calm
very loving and lives to please

[Jay.o]

any horse can jump really but if he is willing to learn and a quick learner it sounds like a great thing for you two to do together !
i think that he will be a good jumper !

[Wally]

Not every horse can jump! Some very lateral Icelandics cannot get the idea of jumping front end then back end, they try left pair of legs then right pair! Their brain is so hard wired to pace they find it impossible to jump.


He will make a jumper if he likes jumping, willing to do everything so far does not mean he'll like to jump, he may want to be a dresage horse, you never can tell until you start to train them. My horse LOVED driving, get him in harness and he'd shine in the showring, ride him and he was any old nag in the ring.

[andi42]

For low jumps, most horses can and will jump if they've been intoduced porperly. As the jumps get higher, the horses need to be willing, honest, careful... and most importantly for bigger jumps... scope and bravery! Those monsters that live under jumps are VERY scary!

[Kylie Chamberlain]

My horse is a clydieXtb and he's been so great for me.
The only time he runs out or refuses is if he is scared of the jump and won't go near it.

His personality is gentle, slow to learn, but very willing.

I would never part with him as we are jumping a metre+ and i doubt that i could ever be confident enough to jump another horse that high:)

[Cochise]

Sounds lovely! If you continue to give him the right start, you will soon learn if he continues to have a nice aptitude for it

[$@R@H]

lol, someone once told me, "to make a good jumper, your horse can't be to smart! If he is, he will figue out if he jumps clear, he will more than likely have to jump again(in a jumpoff)"

lol, I didn't think there was much truth in what they said:)

[galadriel]

I think the most important part of a jumper is the desire to jump. That obviously isn't all that's involved; my Duchess occasionally takes people over jumps if she wants to go (whether or not they direct her to...she just veers off the rail and takes a handy one). But I don't know if she will ever jump higher than about 2'9"; we've been working on it, but she just likes the lower jumps.

But if they don't have the desire to jump, horses will be unhappy as jumpers and eventually just start to perform poorly. I've ridden a couple like that; very, very happy to do dressage, but just too worked up/nervous when offered a jump to be happy about it.