Advice on starting jumping with young pony!

[Parsnip]

My daughter's little Welsh A has just turned 5. When we bought her she had not been off the lead but she and daughter are now more confident and going off the lead at walk and trot. Pony is forward going but never silly or unsafe - not great with leg aids as was ridden by a tiny tot lead rein and responds to voice!

She has walked over poles and had a go at trotting over them but pony comes back to walk.

I don't want to over-face a young pony or rush her but any advice on how to introduce jumping?

[xxxkristinaxxx]

Lots of nice small inviting cross poles. Oh and little and often, so that she learns something new everytime!

[puzzles]

You could loose school and lunge her without a rider first (I would definitely recommend this to help eliminate any blips and develop her confidence and sense of fun without the burden of a rider who could unbalance and hurt her). Start small and build up as her confidence and ability increase.
Then you could practise going over poles, (say, 4) adding a small cross pole where the last pole was, making it different types and shapes, adding more than 1 (gridwork).
You could also practise popping over the odd small log or so out hacking, which will make it more fun and help her to work out for herself how to do it.

Good luck, she sounds like a star!

[Parsnip]

She's a little poppet alright - and a really quick learner.

As daughter is novice I did think of starting with lunging pony without a rider.

Thanks for the responses!

[Parsnip]

....in a grid what sort of strides should we have? She's only 10.3! I've never done a grid for something so small!

[kismet]

Strides is a hard one. Put some out, and see what she thinks. I'd play it by ear, it depends on her and her strides, say if she's a short trot, or a more lengthy one.

Lead her over some jumps, ponies think that is the most amazing fun! Make a little course, you do it, and then let your daughter do it. Make something fun, and you'll all learn to enjoy jumping. Have a little competition or something from the ground! That's also a great way to teach bending et!

[helenc]

not really sure what the distances are for lil biddy ponies but you could just do a slightly shorter distance than usual pony strides & just have the poles on the floor to start with, you're aiming for the pole to be in the centre of her body when her feet land in a normal canter stride, once you've got it right then you can make little cross poles.

I'd agree with lunging or free-schooling over jumps first although there is no hard & fast rules about which way is best, it will depend on the pony. Have you tried going back on the lead rein to go over trot poles?

[EmilyShowjumper]

definatly lungeing :)

when i broke in my lil pony i got him jumping on lunge and hes was very wobbly at first but now he LOVES it :p

as for grids etc for a little pony like that id probably do 1 human stride for take off and 1 stride for landing and 2 strides for 1 of her strides if that makes sense

id just say keep everything very simple and whatever happens make sure shes going forwards and that the fences are small enought so that if she does look or stop you can get her over from standstill as this will help make sure she doesnt start stopping :)

good luck she sounds lovely :)