Teaching a young horse to jump

[Lesley_78]

Just wondered if anyone has any tips for Jumping a young horse.

Luna has just turned 5 and we have only owned her for about 6 weeks and as she has settled down while ridden we decided to try popping a small fence, her front end is fine and pops over but her back end just cant get it and she crashes through 99% of the time.

She isnt being naughty and is quite willing, Has anyone else had these problems or have any tips I'm grateful for any.

Thanks guys :D

[chaz666]

i work for a show jumper and we are allways teaching young horses to jump.. i find the best way is to loose jump them or lunge them over poles to start with and then build the jump higher untill the horse is more confident with jumping. that will let her find her own feet without having to worry about the weight of the rider or what the rider is doing over the fence. and when jumping with rider.. try trotting poles and poles dotted around the school untill she's confident with that.. then put a small jump at the end of the trotting poles so she gets her paces right into the fence.

[gallopinggelding]

Does she realise shes knocked them?If the fence is quite light sometimes a bit of work over heavy poles might help ?

[Cyprushorses]

My youngster used to be such a clumsy oaf with his back legs. Now he jumps up to Novice XC and is doing pretty nicely! I'd recommend working with cavaletti to make sure you get her picking up her back feet. Also, lunge over jumps or free school. When riding, make sure you don't drop your contact before the fence, as she will lose her impulsion and her back legs might trail. Take it slowly and she'll be jumping fine in no time at all!