advice on jumping after a break...

[MandyMoo]

Well...i havent jumped Monty over ANYTHING since the last time i showjumped him at the end of November after i retired him from BSJA...

But i want to do some HT and possibly one on 28th March...so obviously need to pop some fences on him (eeek! i BET i wont be able to ride him

haha he is so different to bugs and dani, i'll end up trying to set him up too much when i should just leave him

oh well) but anyhoo...do you think i need to like...start with poles and small crosses for a bit, or just go into the school, say tomorrow, and jump whatever upto say 1m/1m10? or take it easy? but i know some of you lot have reports saying you havent jumped in months and then take them straight out and jump 1m10 bsja courses...so will he actually be perfectly fine? or do i need to build him up again a bit?

he is 20yrs old if that makes a difference? but he is very fit at the moment (been hunting all season, although not been jumping as my mum doesnt jump) if that makes a difference?

i havent really had a break from jumping on my horses (except dani after his injury...so obviously i started from scratch then...but unsure what to do RE: Monty)

xxx

 

[Mickeymoo]

You could build him up at home with a couple of sessions of pole work etc due to his age and see how he goes. But to be honest our oldie (23) just knows his job, so the only reason to build him up slowly is due to old bones etc.

I jumped Mick over xmas at home over 85cm and 1m. Not jumped since then until yesterday on my lesson - then fell off over a xpole.. mmm.. maybe I shouldn't be giving advice!!

 

[Fanatical]

My horse saw poles for the first time today since his last event in October. I kept the session reasonably short but did a fair amount. Started with a few cross poles with a placing pole and then went down a basic grid and onto a 3 stride double, just adding a couple of fillers at the end of the session. So it was all in a controlled fashion, so that it was confidence giving and he enjoyed himself...which he most certainly did!

I will do a little more next time. Always feel I should start with a short-ish session as I feel that like us, if you suddenly do something you've not done for a while, you usually feel the effects the next day.

Everyone is different though.

 

[MandyMoo]

thanks guys

okey dokey...

i'll probably do normal stuff, but on a short session

he most certainly knows what he was doing...i was just thinking muscle/joint wise so to take it easy...

xx

 

[claire_p2001]

My mums horse is 19 and he is kept at a farm with no school so in the winter he can do no jumping or schooling practice. His last show was mid nov and i took him out saturday with no practice he loved it. To be fair i only jump him round 80cms/90cms but he knows his job so well he doesn't need to practice between events. I just jumped him in one class to get him back in to the swing of things but i'm out again in two weeks and will jump 2 classes fine. Good luck in the croos country it sounds like fun

 

[MandyMoo]

thanks claire

i jumped him today upto 90cm/1m, just a short session. he was VERY keen

haha. took off with me down the arena, and tanked at the fences...tok a lot of hauling to steady him up

haha bless him. it was all very exciting! xxx