Horse doesn't look at the jump...only horsey people please?

Question

The horse I ride is about 14yrs old and only started jumping in June. She is now jumping 65cm confidently except she doesn't always look at the smaller jumps and then either runs into them or jumps too late and knocks them down. I'm worried that she's going to hurt herself. Any ideas on how to get her to see and look at the jumps?

I've ridden this horse since June and as far as I know she was a racehorse and then a broodmare in the past but never really did any jumping until June. She is 16hh so is definately able to jump over these smaller jumps. I also allow her to go over the jumps at the pace she wants (but obviously not too fast) as she is still new to jumping and i also only allow her to jump heights she is comfortable with.

Answer 1

Make your jumps a much brighter color. I have seen this problem before and what we did was paint our poles neon green and the standards orange. maybe her eyesight isn't so great for low lying objects. She sould probably see the higher jumps becaseu she doesn't have to squint and look down for them. So when she approaches these jumps she has to put her head down to see that they are actually there. I can't really see her being scared of the low jumps because she jumps higher ones fine.

How long have you had her? Do you think she has jumped before with a previous owner? Maybe she is just nervous. does she over jump it? How fast do you approach the jumps?




Hope some of your answers to those questions will help you find a solution. Also definitely try painting the poles AND standards.

Answer 2

What ever people tell you about a 14 year old being too 'old' to jump...DON"T TRUST THEM!! A horse can learn at any age, even 25. 14 is just an early teenager and is really only about 40 years old in human years.
My Holsteiner stallion is 17.2 and gets extremely LAZY jumping anything under 3 feet. He will just run right through them. However, once you raise the jump to 3'6" he will clear them EVERY time. Maybe your mare is asking for more of a challenge? Perhaps raise the jump up to 2'6" or so and she'll jump better. Also, if you are worried about her legs, purchase some boots for them. All but open-fronts work great.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

If she wants to jump, she will figure out that she keeps running into the jumps. Free lunging, or lunging her over cavaletti and trot poles may help her figure out how to pick her feet up. Are you an experienced jumper? If you aren't, you may want to enlist a experiences jumper to see if they can't help her figure it out. She may also just be a horse whose bred for better things and doesn't feel she needs to pick her feet up for the little jumps. One of the programs that I work with has a 16.3 hh QH who refuses to actually jump unless he's looking at a 3 foot or higher jump. He trips around in baby green classes making a fool of himself and his rider, however if you put him in a class with decent sized jumps he jump beautifully. He too has only been jumping for about a year, so she could just be a similar type that has figured out she likes the higher jumps. Best of luck with her.

Answer 4

14 is fairly old for a horse to be jumping. It may be more difficult to teach an older horse to jump. Good luck!

Answer 5

maybe you should lead her to the jump and show it to here. you could also spray paint the jump a neon color so she would see it. if you don't have a fence that you can paint, just make a artificial one about the same height and then paint that one. well i hope i could be of help !

Answer 6

when you warm her up take her by the jumps your gonna use that day so she sees them then. it will help her to see them before hand make her do lead changes by them, circle her around them and let her look at them for a minute. i have had the same problem before but that should help you some

Answer 7

Here is what I would do, put her saddle on, put a halter on her and the jog her over the jumps. Lead her, then after she starts doing what you want but the bridle on and ride her over them.