Starting to jump

[Sarah]

hello!

Now that Tango is back on full work, i have started to jump her again. So far i have done that by walking then trotting her over a pole on the ground, the raising one side and trotting over it then raising the other side to make a straight bar and jumping that. the height of this 'jump' is maybe 1ft if it is that high!

Last summer we did a lot of jumping adn were happily doing 2ft9 courses (nad up to 3ft 9 as an individual jump). As she has had a very long time off work and she is only 8, i am treating jumping her again as if she were a youngster. So far she has been a total star and not been at all worried about any of the jumps and has not run out, stopped or charged at (or after) the jump.

So, my question is, how should i progress from here? Should i set up another few 1ft jumps and work at doing a few jumps, or should i build up the height of one jump (and turn it into a spread) before doing that?

What have you all done that works and doesn't worry the horse (or much more to the point, the rider!).

bye!

[Showjumper]

I'd go really slowly - monitor the horse's reactions carefully, and see what happens at each stage. If you find the horse starts to balk at anything, go back a stage and continue at this stage until you and the horse are completely confident, then move on again.

Try jumping natural obstacles on hacks, these are fun and will help you get re-used to the horse's jump before you start asking for jumps in the arena.

Good Luck, and Happy Landings! :D