[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;8406485]
A 5 year old? While I wouldn’t over train or show…mine arr jumping a couple times a week, lots of hacking. And some eventing. I don’t believe in jumping lots of small jumps or running around a ton of events at a low level. At 5 most have done/will do a few training level events over the course of the year. If those were easy, they might run one or two Prelims during the year. But it really depends on the horse. I had one who was just mentally immature and he did one novice toward the end of the year.
Honestly…doing lots of circles and drilling flat work is harder on them then jumping. And for an athletic horse, jumping 3’6" is not a big jump. Most important is doing a lot of long slow work out of the ring slowly building a good base on them.[/QUOTE]
This. my last jumper was jumping around 3’6 courses at 5, no problem. But – at five shows a year, and at home maybe another three or four times. and a few gymnastics. The rest of the time, littler stuff. In October I took him to a bigger show and he had to do 4’ in the jumpoff; he’d never jumped that big in his life. But we just went in and did it. Clear. He didn’t jump that big again he was 6. Five or six jumps didn’t hurt him.
He did 4’6 regularly for about a decade, 3’6 until his late teens and despite a few maintenance issues over the years and a bout with laminitis this spring, I think he’s about ready to be ridden lightly again. He’s in his twenties. Pretty good run of it for a heavy-built Appendix QH on little feet who has some conformational problems that do not bode well for soundness. And Navicular problems. Would he be sound if I hadn’t jumped him at five? not if he’d started all the rest of his career at six. And I doubt he’d be sounder if he’d done nothing at all because most of his issues come from his darn navicular and that seems to go bad regularly on horses without much of a job at all.
Doesn’t really hurt anything to go slow but no jumping at 5 is a bit overcautious, IME. Kashmere’s schedule is appropriate for any horse, jumping once a week is pretty standard. And in the winter I do much less, very small stuff at most, give them a break. Lots of poles and adjustability in between. Changes of pace within the gait, straightness…so much to learn that will improve their jumping without actually jumping. And not too many circles is my standard for keeping horses sound, I learned that one working with AQHA horses as a kid. After watching too many horses ground down to nubs working on small circles it didn’t take long to realize how bad that is for them. I do few circles each way when riding, of course but my horses don’t live on a 20m like too many dressage horses seem to. And I don’t longe unless I feel unsafe getting on. When people longe for an hour then ride another hour on nothing but a small circle – those hocks are going to go, it’s a matter of time.
And walking, wherever you’ve got to do it!
