Not a barn owner but have been around the block a few times.
None of the lesson programs in my part of the world offer 3’6" lesson horses. Heck, being allowed to jump 3’ is pretty rare.
Like everyone said above, to keep the lesson horses sound and happy their limit is typically 2’6". If a rider wants to do larger fences (and is capable of more) then they have to lease or buy.
Just to echo what everyone else is saying, in my area, there are fewer and fewer lesson barns, period. Most barns have one or two lesson horses (usually TBH, not very fun horses to ride) for dead beginners, or for skill assessment for people’s first few riding lessons. Then there is strong encouragement to lease a horse. My last lease at a small private barn ended, and I wasn’t able to find a new, suitable lease within my price point. I’m at one of the few lesson barns I know of (just to keep riding) with multiple lesson horses and I’d say the highest I’ve seen horses jump in any lesson is 2’9".
From the barn’s perspective, it’s not economically sound (or ethical) to have a horse that does multiple lessons a week to earn his keep to jump courses at 3’6".
I’ve heard of lesson barns in years past (like, in old horse books) having horses that jumped that height. Even assuming hazy memories and pony books are accurate, that was in an era with fewer concerns about lawsuits, less of an eye on horse welfare, and a more horsey culture than exists today in most suburbs.
It’s also worth pointing out that jumping one vertical of 3’6", one time, doesn’t mean that the horse is a 3’6" horse capable of jumping a course of that height.
[QUOTE
It’s also worth pointing out that jumping one vertical of 3’6", one time, doesn’t mean that the horse is a 3’6" horse capable of jumping a course of that height.[/QUOTE]
Oh truer words have never been spoken and I so wish that people knew that!!!
We have a very large school string, and none of ours do 3ft6…anymore! Most did when they were owned horses, in their heyday, before we got them as school horses. But now, they do 2ft6 (with the odd one going to 3ft with a very advanced rider). When and if a student is ready to go bigger, they have to step up to our lease program or buy their own horse. We maintain our school horses very well, and do not need them to get hurt from going above what they are now capable of. We have them for a reason, they have stepped down from the bigger shows and are now worth their weight in gold being schoolies and we love them. I’d be awfully surprised if a schoolhorse was doing 3ft6 as those kind of horses are usually very expensive…more expensive than a schoolhorse!
I once had a trainer bring her junior client to try a horse I had for sale who was schooling 3’ and shown 2’6’’ hunter. Trainer said junior jumped 2’9’’ in her lesson just the night before. Junior almost fell off my easy, straightforward, point and shoot gelding - at the trot.
Many people are clueless.
A local trainer moved to the area who was “shortlisted” for his country’s olympic team. He reached out to my BO, asking if he could come demo his grand prix stallion and a few of his up and coming future grand prix horses. She didn’t know he was cray and dishonest so she said ok.
We got to work cleaning up the ring and setting up all the jumps really nicely. We set them to 3’6, figuring he’d want to start there before moving up.
He showed up, adjusted the jumps down to CROSSRAILS. Jumped them a couple times on his stallion and left. BO was scared his “working student” was going to fall off and wouldn’t let her jump anything.
:lol::lol::lol:
Such special
vxf111 - You always have the best stories!
And there’s a famous picture out there on the interwebs of the dude jumping a horse over a car. So… I dunno… whatevs. I am glad he didn’t let the barn door hit him on the way out of our place.
THIS ^^
A good lesson horse or pony is worth their weight in gold, and most barns are extremely protective of them. Quite frankly, the ones in our program don’t really get jumped at all. Our general rule of thumb is that by the time a client is ready to learn to course around they need to lease or buy something - and that’s coursing around in the short stirrups!
There are cases where we may have a client lesson on a 3’6 horse that they don’t own (sales horses, short term loans/leases, another one that happens to be in-barn etc). However, in all these cases, the client would already be jumping 3’6+ on their own horses.
My trainer had a lesson horse that I rode and than leased that was a 3’9" stadium horse BUT it wasn’t a packer at that height and when I wasn’t riding he mostly took around beginners. I’m a capable AA who would put up with his grabbing the bit and taking the reins before fences or his other favorite was to see an open field and run like the OTTB he is. This horse was a novice eventer packer though and would happily cart anyone through the cross country course. Sadly he had to be retired this year.
She also has a prelim packer (3’7") who took a 14 year old through her first season at that level. He is only ridden by gifted riders partly due to his age and partly due to wear and tear on his body.
Needless to say, most riders claim to be a much more accomplished than they really are.
My horse used to be in a barn that had a thriving lesson program with several very nice horses that could jump 3’3 - 3’6. Most of the horses that jumped bigger were leased or half-leased, but it seemed like occasionally some of the more talented kids that had been in the program a while (or that owned horse at the barn) would be able to take lessons on these horses even without a half lease. I understand this isn’t the norm, though.
20 or so year ago, I’d say yeah there are lesson barns with 3’6" horses but these days it’s the 2’-2’6" classes that are filling and the 3’ classes barely fill, let alone 3’6" I’d say it’s going to be tough to find a lesson barn. I rode at a barn where the lesson horses competed regularly at 3’ but that lesson barn had a “show team” and only a few riders on a few horses competed at 3’.
@skyy 2 Words:
Majikal Unikorn
Try keeping a straight face while telling Speshul Pookie’s parent that is not policy at your barn.
Kudos for caring more for your schoolies’ welfare than pleasing idjits.
That said, Back in the Day - early 60s - I recall trainers yelling at us in my pre-teen group lessons to suck it up cuz “That’s just a 4’ fence!”
We also did group trail lessons that included jumping picnic tables :uhoh:
And getting “run away” with so we could gallop.
Aah! To live in a non-litiginous society again…
The next time a parent tells you their kid has been jumping 3’6", you could tell them that you need to speak to the prior trainer before you will consider letting them do that at your barn. Chances are that parent wont give you the number if they know their kid wasn’t doing that, or, if they erroneously thought their kid was doing that, you can inform them that the prior trainer confirmed their kid was jumping 2’, not 3’6".
The coach my daughter rides with has a few lesson horses that are able to do so. Very small program & most of the non-ponies technically started out as her or her husband’s personal horses. It’s unusual. Even for this area. The eventing barn I used to board at also had one horse that did. He functioned as a schooling horse but was more of an extended loaner/free lease, though.
How many people would actually be looking for such a thing? 3’6" is not something a casual, once a week rider can do.
There was a horse around here like that. CCI**** level eventer that had mellowed into a schoolmaster par extraordinaire and was very carefully shepherding an older AA who was finally fulfilling her dream of riding now that the kids were grown around the puddle jumpers. It was a horse that was well-known enough to the eventing crowd that people on the sidelines would nudge each other and say, “wow, that’s [x]!” Some people will argue that horses can’t reason and don’t have emotions. But dang it. This horse seemed to genuinely have concern for his rider and like he wanted her to have fun and feel safe.
I’ve been in several lesson programs, and all of them have capped their school horses out at 2’6 courses (if doing individual fence work, they may go up to 2’9). That said, I’ve had the opportunity to do 3’3-3’6 in lessons without my own horse, but that is because I had the relationship with both other owners & the instructors that I could take lessons on privately owned horses. It was a win/win for all involved - I could work on some more advanced and technical components at height, and horses that might be giving their owners some issues or needing a different type of rider to reinforce something, could get a positive ride.
I know of a couple barns that have these horses, but mostly they are bopping around at 18 inches like the rest of us, interested in approach, line, planning for turns, changes, etc. The rails go up to 2ft6 for the last course, and thats usually it, until we are in the middle of the show season, where the rider needs to proove they can do a full course at height. The other trainer, who junps his students 3 to 3ft6 regularly often has small classes, cause the horses go lame.
Most barns I’ve been around cap their schoolies at 3’. They’ll occasionally let the kids jump 3’6 in a gymnastic or line but that certainly doesn’t make them 3’6 lesson horses. If kiddo is competently jumping around 3’ courses then it’s time to lease or buy.
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