Jumping and I am soo excited

[random2]

I am nine years old and just started jumping English on an Arabian named Candy. She is also part QUarterhorse. I am so excited. BUt CAndy is a schoolhorse and will not jump higher then 2 feet. My instructor says that I am a strong jumper and in my first jumping lesson, she raised it to as high as CAndy would jump. I knew that although she took all the other jumps, this may be hard for her because she rarely jumps. What could I do? I have only been riding 1 year. She took all the other fences for me, but I knew this was going to be hard. Like my instructor said to I assumed that she would not take the fence, but also be bold and command her to go over the fence. It was a good thing that my instructor told me that because she refused. We tried again, but she crashed through them. I was getting agitated. THis was my first lesson in juping only. I was not nerveous, I approached the fence with determination and I made sure the horse knew who was boss. I tried again. The horse refused. BUt too quickly. It had not registered in my head that she refused and I told her to go over. She did... FROM A STANDSTILL! I lost my stippup and almost fell off. What can I do besides what I am doing to change these refusals and stuff?

[Rebecca]

Hi. What a first jumping lesson! I used to ride when I was your age, and jump, and although I can't remember it very well now I think it's quite a different thing learning at your age than my age (I'm 24 and have just started jumping again). Nevertheless, this is what I would do; I would ask my instructor if I could take it more slowly, and build on your successful work over small jumps before moving on to higher ones. Although you say you weren't nervous about the higher jump, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Candy had picked up that you and your instructor weren't sure she'd jump it. I think that the size of the jump isn't important compared to how you jump it, so I would ask your instructor if you can really work on small jumps first. If the jump is little then it's one less thing to worry about whilst you concentrate on approaching on the right path in the right way, and on how you fold over the jump, and where you head off to afterwards, etc.

Isn't it odd how large a 2ft jump seems from a horse's back, and how small when you're on your own feet! 2ft is about the highest I've jumped since I started again. I hope you continue to enjoy jumping - isn't it fantastic? Let us know how you get on.

Rebecca