Watching a rather hectic show ring warm up yesterday and a young rider was attempting to circle their horse but left their outside aids open so was drifting a bit which led to their horse being pointed towards a jump but almost perpendicular to it. Pony just popped over it and on they went. It got me thinking about how valuable it is to have a horse that goes over the jump 100% of the time no matter the approach or fill or type of jump (talking tiny little 2ft nothing jumps, not jumps of substance/ height). I’m sure some is innate but certainly it can be trained right? How does one train that quality?
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By jumping from all approaches, all fillers, all types of jumps. Rather than striving for a monotonous perfection, straight on and off the perfect stride, mix things up and just have fun.
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I am not a professional but have brought along several horses of different types from no jumping experience to showing over jumps and all of them turned into confident “always jumps” types. For me they all got started over low jumps of all types including logs in the field, colored poles etc not just hunter jumps. All low enough they could jump from a standstill to build confidence–keep the jumps low for months. Sometimes baby horses will go through a questioning period when they realize it may be easier to go around or not jump even after they have been jumping a bit and when they did this I firmly explained that the job was always to jump. Keeping the jumps low and the horse always forward but relaxed when they are learning gives confidence and they understand the job. After that one can raise the jumps and refine the canter (trotting at first also helpful so they get to a good takeoff point and learn not to rush) and work on lead changes. The horse must first understand the job is to jump. Don’t catch them in the mouth, stay in balance and let them work out the awkward distance or jump. Praise when they get to the other side. Keeping the jumps low and easy for them to gain confidence and figure it out as well as not stress out young bodies is key. Also cross training by trail riding over terrain with water crossings, bridges etc also builds confidence to go forward over whatever is asked. The horse will do anything for you if you don’t violate the trust by asking them to do something that overfaces them. Small steps, take the time to build mental confidence and physical strength (longer than you would think) and always reward the try. Don’t drill or hurt them. This may not be the only way but it worked well for all of mine with an amateur ride.
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Good advice above. We always started our young horses over standard gymnatics….using a placing pole to trot in to create a predictable take off point. As the horses gained confidence, jumps would get higher, then wider….never high and wide at the same time. There are several really great books by great horseman with distances, etc. Jim Wofford. Anne Kursinski, Ingrid Klimke and 101 Jumping Exercises come to mind. Always release (and grab mane) over the trot in pole to be sure a great jumping effort isn’t punished. When introducing new fences, we use a trot in placing pole to start with. Again, never catch the mouth. Our horses have great style, are brave, and very confident and reliable.
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I own the 100% NEVER stops horse. I’m talking owned for 7 years by an amateur & has been in training and competing for a majority of that time (more of less, there have been a couple injuries).
I think it’s the old nature vs nurture. I’m sure a lot has to do with training, but it’s also just the horse. I credit my mare’s breeders with her clearly incredible upbringing, but I wouldn’t discount the heart of the horse.
I agree with the first reply - exposure to all types of jumps (at tiny, attainable heights) and all distances. Getting a horse to think for themselves is so critical. I also think if you can make jumping fun for them and not a drill, that is key.
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My horse is in training and has never stopped (that I know of). He enjoys jumping, so he is going over it with or without you. He doesn’t overjump but has the mental smarts and athleticism to do some fancy footwork to put himself in a good spot no matter how you ride him in. I do baby stuff with him, but his trainer takes him over decent-sized stuff, considering he’s only been jumping for a little over a year.
His trainer has built up his confidence and done a great job with him. He goes over ditches, flappy tarps, through water, and jumps in water, banks, hunter courses, jumper courses, etc…
He’s not a typical breed for jumping so I was surprised how well he took to it.
I’ve had years of eventing then I was at the volunteer stage. I started back in the 70’s at Training bc it was only a backyard venue that offered Pre-Training.
So imagine my reaction to Beginner Novice 
THEN I saw an experienced rider come thru on a big baby horse at a strong road trot - justa stringing those fences together! Horse never even saw the fence judges with that railroad track trot.
I immediately came home = dragged all my standards and poles out into a level field. tacked up our 4 yr old and told my daughter to start somewhere and trot over the fences, turn and circle and just keep going. Wow that horse relaxed and they both had fun.
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I agree. Jumpers can be bred for talent and conformation, but not all are mentally capable of figuring out how to jump by themselves without assistance from a very experienced trainer/ rider.
Then again, some horses really enjoy the game even when jumping very low fences and are very happy campers.
I tend to land on the side of the horse’s good brain and enthusiasm, with good basic training being a close second.
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Idk I think it’s a mix of everything. Personality, training, soundness, overall health.
Yes training horses over different types of jumps helps a lot, but I’ve had really seasoned horses with great training that peek or stop at fillers and backyard horses that never jumped a day in their life jump all my Dalman jumps first day at the barn fine with zero cares in the world.
I’ve had horses that are super spooky that don’t peek at any jumps and horses that never spook except at jump fillers lol. My one horse did the 1.50s well for a long time at big venues and she’s 20 and sound and fabulous and EVERY time she jumps the Liverpool she peeks and over jumps horribly 
I swear you could jump it every single day and she’d do the same thing. And again my backyard draft cross that barely steered when I got him will jump it like nothing. I would love to take credit for it but I really just think it’s his personality. But he’s WAY spookier to go on a walk with than the other horse. And supposedly he was a great trail horse lol. He’s a much better show jumper.
So idk I don’t think there’s really a right or wrong answer to this.
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I am somewhat confused. “Perpendicular” (at right angles) to the jump is the way we normally do it.
Did you mean “almost parallel” to the jump?
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Good basics
Gymnastics
Foxhunting
Add competent riding to that list. Rider that supports the horse from any spot at any angle so the stop is never an option the horse considers…unless it stops to survive a bad ride to a bad spot at an impossible angle. And they need to be able to know when it is time to stop to live. That is a skill set that can put another zero on the sale price.
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I meant parallel- words are hard after 12+ hours in the sun 
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Practicing jumping weird things, in weird ways. One of my horses would jump sideways over a jump if required. It’s because at home I don’t always set him up well; at a show I need to know I can do a rollback with one stride to the fence.
I also am a big fan of walking jumps. Have the horse walk up to a fence and learn to jump it from a walk or standstill. It instills a lot of confidence in them and they learn that the answer is go, even if you’re going slow.
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Thanks for the clarification.
In terms of the original qestion, while there are many things that training can do, I think a lot of it can still depend on the individual horse. Some horse love to jump, while others are doing it primarily to please the rider.
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I think this is the start. My mare jumped her first cross rail, no lead, no hesitation, just popped over it like no big deal. I have sat on other horses that do NOT understand why we can’t just go around the jump and it take some work to get them over. A friend’s horse knocked down every 18" jump she put infront of him until she took him out cross country one day and the log didn’t move when he tried to brush through it - he finally learned to pickup his feet.
So, with a horse that is good to the jumps, I always do some work with jumping them at angles so they aren’t just straight on. No ground poles, no trot poles, we just pop over low jumps at odd angles and put little courses together and make it no big deal. So then the jumps go up, the horse is already used to jumping at angles and can assess.
Personally, mostly because I am horrible at distances (eyesight issues), I do not use trot poles or placing poles anyway and my horses figure out that they need to figure out the distance because the pilot will not. They also seem to be better and jumping from odd distances due to pilot inadequacies.
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A lot of this depends on some of the innate qualities of the horse. A very careful horse will be more cautious and your somewhat spooky Horse will also be more cautious. Of course you want your good hunters to be very careful and a little spooky.
Also depends on how much scope that Horse has in general. A horse with a lot of ability is more likely to jump from an awkward spot because it is not difficult for it, but not if that horse is also very careful, which is the combination of what you want for a good jumper.
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