So I’m leasing a 12 yr old QH/Haflinger that used to be a trail horse. He is pretty good in walk/trot. We are teaching him to canter under saddle and the aid for it. He’s a good sport and is willing. The reason he is only learning this stuff late in life is because he was bought from a trail place where he basically just sat in tack and then walked around all day following other horses. What I’m practicing now with him is to jump. Just small cross rails and a few verticals(trotting them). He has jumped them a few times, but for the most part he just trots over it or knocks the poles and goes through it. Anyone have good exercises to encourage lifting? Or exercises that will set him up for a good jump?
Try it on the lunge first or a jump chute, and make the jump pretty significant height with filler.
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He’s probably used to keeping himself from making any big movements to avoid having beginner riders on the trail yank him in the mouth and slam down on his back.
I agree with trying a jumping chute to let him figure it out without a rider on his back, and I suspect that you might have better luck once your canter is better, since it’s much easier to get that jump in the air from a canter because it carries the same rhythm, especially if he’s unsure whether he wants to jolt his rider out of the trot based on his trail string experience.
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How fit is he? how long has he been in training and how long working on canter?
I agree that it may be easier from the canter, but if he’s not really in good fitness I wouldn’t push too fast on getting him to jump. He may not really be able to do it well, even if he tries hard.
I boarded a horse like this and he really was like a tank. Through was much easier than over.
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Would help him to start to become more aware where his feet are.
You may be already doing it, if not, cavalletti are your friend, on hand, longing and ridden.
Figure a good distance to place some, a few first, then more and grids and such.
Make it fun and short, don’t drill or overdo it.
Will also helps his fitness and learning better balance and rhythm in all gaits:
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Not all horses make good jumpers. If a horse has innate jumping talent, they find it a lot easier to learn to jump. If they don’t have some innate talent, they may be better suited to non-jumping work.
However, if you are hoping to be able to do some jumping with this horse, like all horses in training, the best idea is to follow the classic training scale… at least the first steps of this well known, “tried and true” method of training horses. Step One: Free Forward Relaxed Motion. At all gaits. If this horse doesn’t know how to canter correctly, or fluidly, you would need to work on this first… understanding and responding to cues from the rider, and some level of basic performance in this respect. He can’t be expected to jump until he learns this stuff. He must also get some semblance of the next few steps of the training scale too, he must be balanced and soft, his carriage must be adequate. If he doesn’t have some idea of this stuff, he really can’t be asked to jump, as to jump at all well, he needs these steps first. This is the simple, first steps of dressage training, which is really just “basic training for all ridden horses”. All horses benefit from learning how to carry themselves, and their riders, adequately, without necessarily becoming “dressage specialists”.
As a “rent horse” or “dude horse”, these things are often skipped in the basic “training” he has had so far. All that was required of him was similar to a “pack horse”… just walk down the trail carrying a load, and ignore everything, respond to nothing. So, even though he will accept a rider as a “load”, he lacks this basic training. This is where you have to start, to patch these holes in his training. When he can do walk, trot, canter as asked by his rider, softly, responsively, with some idea of bending his body when required, staying straight when required, using his body, engaging his hind end, in a relaxed but forward manner, then he may be able to be asked to try jumping, and at that point, you will see if he has enough basic jumping talent to be able to successfully negotiate small jumps adequately. Until then, you are putting the cart before the horse- so to speak.
Good luck, and welcome to horse training!
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Also, Haflingers often have “draft horse” mentality. They will often push through things once they realize their strength, esp if they’ve learned this makes their lives easier. We have a Haflinger breeder not too far from us. While some make great eventers, dressage horses or are broke to cart, several of them have a reputation for bolting off with their riders or carts 
As the others posters have suggested, make sure your guy is getting fit and understanding the new jobs you’re putting before him. Take your time and you’ll find out if he’s cut out to jump.
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Trying small, safe solid fences can help (a 2’ log for example).
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Once you have the basics under control, I second the suggestion to use something solid, like a small log or a tiny coop, that won’t easily knock over.
I have had two horses that I trained from scratch that were very disrespectful of rails-that-fall-down when they started jumping. But after working over tiny solid jumps for a couple of months, they both figured out that it was easier to go over than through.
ETA that the horse in the picture literally fell down on his knees landing, the first time I asked him to jump. But he figured it out, though he never had a lot of scope.
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