DO horses like to jump

[random2]

I am nine years old and have been riding for a year. Do horse like to jump? Why?

[Peace]

I don't know about all horses, but I think my lesson horse likes it. During my last lesson she offered to teach me how to jump by tugging gently on the reins each time we passed an elevated ground pole set up in the ring. Since I'm very new to riding, I politely, but firmly, refused. Why would she do that? I don't know, but I'll bet beginner lessons are pretty boring for her. Maybe she just wanted to do something different.

[Wally]

Some horses love to jump, others can't see the point.

We have one fat cob who loves to jump, he comes alive when he sees a jump. He's very polite and wouldn't dream of rushing or being over excited. But he does love it. Havn't a clue why!!

Another of our horses can't see the point, instead of over she goes through, every time, CRASH. We've tried to train her to jump but she ain't interested. So we simply don't push the point. There's lots she can do without going over jumps. Don't know why she hates jumping!!

[random2]

THe horse tugged ont eh rains because you are probably not giving him enough rain. When you jump really hjigh ( not there yet) you will be almost flat on the horses neck and need to give him tons of rain.

[Peace]

Sorry I was unclear - we were just trotting around the ring when the mare tugged at the reins. She was suggesting we change our direction so that we could approach the jump. Since I am only a very new beginner, I thanked her for her confidence in me but declined the opportunity. I'm not ready for even tiny jumps like that one yet!

[Rebecca]

A horse I often ride definitely likes jumping; whether or not I've got him going OK during the flatwork he always goes forward well when we are going to jump. If it's more than the tiniest little cross-pole he tends to feel it's a matter too important to be left to an amateur like me, and does it all beautifully but rather off his own bat. I don't mind this; when we jumped about two feet the other day, which is high to me, he picked up canter at just the right spot, flowed down to the jump, met it just right, and it felt fantastic, like flying!

Rebecca

[Sarah Jane]

One horse I ride hates jumping and just walks over the pole and then there are the other two who get over excited and go over a small fence at about six foot. I am new to jumping and quite nervous so they are both far too keen for my liking!

[Allie]

My mare Calypso loves to jump (mainly logs on trails, as we don't have a proper arena). When she sees the logs, she speeds up (normally if is like pulling teeth to get her to walk faster than a mosey), and wants to trot so she can jump it. We set up a jump course out of fallen logs, and she absolutely loves to canter around it and jump the logs. My other mare Champagne will only jump if you make her, usually just a bunny hop at the last minute rather than a proper jump. She doesn't see the point, when there is that nice trail that loops around the log.

Allie

[Jess]

Some horses LOVE to jump. And you can tell when they do it. They look pretty over the fences. Some horses just naturally like jumping. They're athletic and energetic. Other horses would be content working on the flat for the rest of their lives...
Jess

[Sarah]

hmm, just to be contentious, I am not at all sure that horses like to jump.

If you leave your horse in a field with a few logs that he could jump over, how many horses do you know that would then spend the afternoon running round jumping over the logs? Surely if they loved jumping they would - or that is what Richard Maxwell says and I am inclined to agree.

A horse can be made to enjoy jumping by being praised when it jumps - the horse jumps nicely and gets a rub on teh neck. I am still not sure that this horse would jump jumps entirely by itself though if left in the field.

A horse will often move quicklly to a jump if it is actually worried about the jump, in a sort of 'lets get this thing out of the way' manner. The horse knows (or thinks) he will be asked to jump it so just tries to get it done as quickly as possible.

I am sure there ARE horses out there that genuinely do love jumpming and will jump over obstacles in the field for fun, but these are very few and far between. Having a horse that is willing to go through the effort of jumping is yet another proof of how giving and forgiving horses are.

bye!

[Allie]

My mare Calypso will jump the logs by herself when we are running up the herd. The other horses go around the logs, and she always takes the path over them and jumps them, so there definitely are some horses that like to jump. That said, there are about 30 horses in the herd, and she is the only one who does this, so I'm going to have to agree with Sarah in that there are not many who will jump when left to their own devices.

Allie

[Rebecca]

I love long country walks with my dogs, but find that walking without a dog seems futile. I rarely go to see films alone, but enjoy going with my friends. Couldn't it be the same with horses and jumping? Couldn't the partnership and company be part of the fun?

It would be nice to think so, wouldn't it! Maybe I'm being overly sentimental.

Rebecca

[Laya]

My horse Justin doesn't mind jumping. I don't know if he's too thrilled about having a jumping fanatic riding him, but he still does jump whenever I ask.

Now I knwo this horse Dude who loves to jump. He free jumps all the time for the heck of it.

So it depends on the horse.