I have a lovely 6 year old - great mover - super super temperament. VERY game to jump and rhythmical. He just started jumping - a bit free jumping and over tiny x’s in a gymnastic. He jumps like a pogo stick - straight up - knees to the floor. He does this consistently free jumping and under saddle. I would love some exercises - particularly free jumping in the round pen to help him use himself better…I’m hoping this is fixable…he seems to really enjoy it, but we can’t go around jumping like a deer forever. Also any work on the flat to improve the over fences would be fabulous.
I would start on the flat with caveletti. Get the Ingrid Klimke book, and start conservatively. Once your horse figures out how to use their body well over raised poles, they will have a glimmer of some other options over fences.
people seem to get obsessed with number of caveletti, instead of the quality of how the horse works over them, so pay attention to that!
This is not a one or two session fix. This is setting movement patterns for the future, so be patient.
Three raised (low) caveletti with a gap to an X with a slightly rolled out groundline is simple and a good place to start when he’s doing the caveletti alone calmly, with bascule and joint flexion.
Then gymnastics are your friend.
I have seen some very good horses start with some “unconventional” form. Just develop him carefully.
5 Likes
I don’t know how recently he started jumping, but sometimes I think it can just take a little while for them to really sort out how they need to move their body nicely over fences. I’ve seen several young horses with some, shall we say, questionable jumping styles and they ultimately grew into some pretty nice horses with some consistent work. Personally, I wouldn’t start with free-jumping in a round pen since having to balance himself through a turn AND over a fence is adding unnecessary difficulty imo. When riders are learning to jump they don’t start with bending lines - and the same applies to horses. There’s a reason they use straight chutes.
If you have access to an arena you can build a chute in, you could begin with some simple gymnastics to encourage him to explore different ways of jumping without interference of a rider. https://practicalhorsemanmag.com/training/video-freejumping-fun-53302 This seems like a pretty good article to get you started on it.
Otherwise, if you’re stuck only working under saddle, there are plenty of resources out there for starting a youngster over fences. Again, I’d avoid the round pen, and as he grows in confidence, you can start adding simple gymnastics to encourage him to use his body efficiently and really hone his jumping style. Bounces are great for teaching them to snap their knees up and ground rails can serve as placeholder fences for a young horse, and also to help set him up properly coming in and out of a fence. But my first priority with a horse just learning to jump is to make it enjoyable and build their confidence before focusing on their style. It very well could be that he’ll figure out the right way to jump when the fences get big enough that he can no longer “pogo” over them - but without confidence he’ll never make it over those fences in the first place.
1 Like
Agree on the round pen - would really benefit the horse if you worked with a straight chute in a paddock, footing permitting. I can’t really visualise the way he jumps, but I love using placing poles before and after jump to have them start figuring out where to put their legs. Back when I was exercise riding/grooming at a GP stable during warmup at home or competitions we’d always have at least one ground pole a canter/trot stride before so that the takeoff distance is optimal even if you are slightly off. Additionally a shorter distance between pole and jump would encourage bascule and is a great segue into more complicated gymnastics or cavaletti work. For those that liked to jump long (like many OTTBs) - we’d jump with a pole one stride before and a stride directly after. We’d frequently use these exercises even for GP level horses. While I haven’t witnessed this going badly in my almost 2 decades of riding, to be 100% safe that nothing catastrophic happens if the horse steps directly on the pole I prefer to use plastic rather than wood for placing poles if that’s an option.
1 Like
Years ago I was at an inspection, and of course, as a mare and foal were being presented, the foal jumped over one of the poles on the ground set for the triangle.
The inspector (a friend of mine) made a comment to me about the foal’s style of jumping, and that the way foals jump is unique to them, and is “like a fingerprint”. It will stay with the foal all its life.
You may be able to adjust your horse’s way of using his body over fences with correct flat work, which will take time. The more he jumps in his natural style, the more you will not be able to adjust him. If he were my horse, I’d stop jumping him - which will save the wear and tear on his legs - and focus on his ground game. Once he’s supple and round and has developed the correct top line, which will make him stronger and able to jump more efficiently, I’d start him over cavaletti’s and go from there.
3 Likes
Arlomine - question - should the 3 cavelletti’s be set as a trot distance or canter distance. I’m assuming trot but wanted to double check. Thanks everyone - this is all very very helpful. I’m for sure getting the Ingrid Klimke book.
