Great question.

As we all know, ever foal follows their mother. It did not matter where my mares went, if their mothers went over an obstacle that they could not walk over, they jumped it. Of their own free will. Of course it wasn't anything over 18" or so, but they did a great job...: ) No one got hurt.

Unfortunately, as with all things horse related, controversy abounds and conflicting ideas, theories and training recommendations included. I have jumped horses as a younger man and was so frustrated at the teachers, almost all having different ideas and criticisms that I gave up on them and "did my own thing" and did well.

I am far from an expert in this area, I hasten to add, so my advice to you, which I have applied for myself for all of my life is to conduct very thorough research of the work of those individuals who present themselves with common sense and go with them. A very good sight is this one here: http://stablemade.com/index.htm.

Mind you, you have to ignore his criticisms and very outspoken manner, Simply pay attention to what his message is and not the way in which he conveys his messages....he knows whereof he speaks and is a very kind soul at heart.

The other site, I have recommended before, that being Theresa's site: http://www.sustainabledressage.net/

In training myself (for all intents and purposes), I watched and learned from the horses free jumping huge heights all by themselves and doing so beautifully. I simply built on that and simply emphasized helping them/me to "collect" and jump while carrying a rider.

No one will recommend this to anyone of coure..lmao...but you know what?...it worked and works very well for me. It is absolutely amazing, the subtle yet very obvious differences in a free jumping horse compared to GP Level jumpers....and if you watch and watch again the videos of refusals or jumps gone wrong you will note that almost 98% of the time it is the rider's fault. And a lot if not most of them could really use some remedial work/advice. I pity some of their horses.

This probably didn't do a darn thing to help you, but thanks for listening anyway.... : )

Cheers,

Paul

great help you are full of knowledge
good to have you in uni :)
thanks

Ebrahim;

I erred greatly in not mentioning that notwithstanding the fact the the foals will follow and jump with their mothers, this was a rare occurrence, (a few times a month?), my point being that foals, not all, but most will jump within weeks of age. So its nothing to worry you is what I was trying to convey.

You sure don't want to have them jumping as part of a training regimen before 3 years of age or so. This depends on the breed as well.

I am starting mine without a rider and VERY SLOWLY and GENTLY at 2 for the first year or later then with a "light" rider. Most people disagree strongly, but there ya go. Nothing would be over 10 inches or so in reality for that time.

I will wager that the horse you just turned down was worked hard and often and might have been started too young and way too much demanded of him/her.

I have done a lot of work with navicular and deep flexor problems of jumpers at the GP level. Do yourself a favor and you tube some videos of 2 1/2 and 3 year old thorobreds racing and as well, high jumping horses. Slow down the viedo or stop-frame the landings of the front feet. Every single one, depending on the height of the jump, the age and strength of the horse will land wall first (of course), then EXTREMELY HEAVILY on the fetlock and the sesamoid and cannon take one hell of a beating and virtually all of the weight...not all of the initial impact at first, but as you will see, it is very impressive and kinda scary when you see this. Another reason why it is so IMPORTANT to rest them for at least 3 or 4 days after a strenuous jumping workout and keep the heights down for a week of two as well.

Mind you, I do not train jumpers for the circuit, but I look after their problems from same, and they are not getting enough rest. (Sorry to harp)

The most common (deadly) injury, to call it that for thorobred racing and to some degree as well for jumpers is cannon bone fracture, because (usually) the epiphysial plate is not yet hardened as they are still growing of course.

For jumpers, what you mostly end up with is lower leg problems of many types and descriptions and (as you know) navicular and so on being mostly prevalent. I only say this to make you aware of how careful one must be when training your new young jumper and these videos do a great job to make one aware. Be careful, because some of these videos are so cruel and painful to watch. Poor horses, literally laying on their sides on the track with a compound fracture of the front leg still doing their best to still run....brings tears to your eyes.

Good luck...Paul

There is certainly a correlation between free jumping and the talent of a good show-jumping with a rider. But even experienced horsemen have to observe the development of the horse. Working with young horses I start them in Monty's way. After a while you try to find more interesting things to do for them: putting very small and gradually bigger obstacles, there is no problem under 50 cm of height without a rider. The training that follows is much dipendent on the experience of the rider.
Rudi

thanks
great help