Can a horse that is not a natural jumper, ever become good at it

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Charla

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I have a horse that clearly is not a natural jumper. Jumps are quite a big deal to him and when taken over a cross pole it is free for all, legs everywhere leap. If he touches one or knocks one down he freaks badly, very extreme reaction. Have been doing lots of pole work, grid work, tiny courses trying to build his confidence. Pole work is fine and not a problem. Grid work he finds a bit too much to cope with despite building it up and being very minimal. I'm wondering if he could ever be a decent jumper? He is 6 now and only started jumping this year. I have a friend who has a horse of the same age yet further behind in flat work, who has taken to jumping exceptionally well. You can see the difference between a natural jumper and a non jumper. Are some horses just not made to jump? Any success stories out there?
 
Charla said:
I have a horse that clearly is not a natural jumper. Jumps are quite a big deal to him and when taken over a cross pole it is free for all, legs everywhere leap. If he touches one or knocks one down he freaks badly, very extreme reaction. Have been doing lots of pole work, grid work, tiny courses trying to build his confidence. Pole work is fine and not a problem. Grid work he finds a bit too much to cope with despite building it up and being very minimal. I'm wondering if he could ever be a decent jumper? He is 6 now and only started jumping this year. I have a friend who has a horse of the same age yet further behind in flat work, who has taken to jumping exceptionally well. You can see the difference between a natural jumper and a non jumper. Are some horses just not made to jump? Any success stories out there?
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I think a horse has to always have some form of natural ability to be really good at jumping but for the lower levels defiantly! I had a similar issue with Nemo but he's got a natural bascule so I'm quite lucky. However only started jumping December last year so he was similar over jumping, freaking out if he refused or if you changed the jump. Your doing all the right things and don't be so cut up about his ages, all horses are different so just because your friends horse is 6 and jumping well now doesn't mean yours won't. Just means you need to carry on what your doing and stay patient. I've manage to for the past 8 months with Nemo and only now am I really starting to see the real potential of his jump and trust me last year I couldn't jump a 1ft X poles without napping,spooking etc. The best thing I ever did with him was always start from the floor and work up and over the months I gradually weened him out of this habit and he's now jumping nearly 2ft6 courses! Keep up the hard work and don't loose hope :) xx
 
To a certain extent, yes, a horse who isn't a natural jumper can become good - but only to a certain level. Once the fences get bigger and the courses get more technical I'd say a ''non natural jumper'' would struggle where a horse naturally bred/built for it wouldn't. To get round a big and technical course of fences (and be clear!) requires correct confirmation, muscle build/tone, technique and mentality/behaviour...not all horses have these.

But saying that, at lower levels (maybe up to 1m/1m10 ish) most horses could be trained/schooled to have a better technique and get some decent rounds in..they might not always be clear and consistent, but they would get round nicely enough :)

Just my opinion..I am no expert by any means haha. But stick at it, and just be patient - it takes longer for some horses..you can't expect them all to progress at the same rate. You'll get there - as taimargilbert says, just work from the bottom and have realistic goals
 
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After 20 years of "I don't jump" I have recently discovered that my 15 year old Arabian (retired endurance horse) loves to jump :D:D Does he have any natural talent - probably not and it would be wasted if he did, because I sure don't. Never mind a 1m 10 (OMG that's high), but we have a ball up to about 65 cm. :)
 
If the horse has no talent or enthusiasm for jumping, why annoy him with it? If you want to do it, get a horse who loves jumping, otherwise you will simply be asking the horse to do something he's not very good at. Yes, pretty much any horse can jump up to about a metre (so can cows.........), but if you want some success, and to be safe, I would look for a horse more suited to the discipline.
 
Well from your description it doesn't sound like there is much evidence that your horse has no natural ability, just that he doesn't seem to be getting the hang of it yet. My horse has really rather good sj breeding, and that along with his conformation and way of going means I would be seriously surprised if he couldn't jump at least a 1.10m track. However, when he was 2 he had a bit of an altercation jumping (only occasion to my knowledge that he jumped before I got him age 3), and probably due to this he had a near on nervous break down the first time I asked him to go over a trotting pole. After a while he would go over trotting poles without too much drama, but then the tinniest of x poles caused another melt down, then he progressed to a wild cat leap over it, then to crashing through it and eventually to jumping it properly giving it about 3ft of air.

Sorting his brain out to the extent that he is able to think clearly enough to sort his own legs out is a slow and gradual process and using techniques such as lunging and free schooling was quickly ruled out because they just stressed him out too much. Luckily I have no particular jumping ambitions for him, so we'll just keep ding bits and pieces here and there and hopefully one day he will be able to jump a small course. I don't know if this is in any way relevant to your situation, but it is possible that it is his brain rather than his body letting him down at the moment.

Interestingly enough though, my boy will jump logs and ditches without any fuss at all out hacking - have you tried yours over any natural type fences?
 
My horse was a disaster jumping to start with. It took him time but he is pretty awesome now and his technique gets better and better. If you watched him 3 years ago you would be wondering why I bothered.
 
some people take longer and more teaching to ride a bike it does not mean they do not enjoy it once they get the hang of it

he is still new to it and learning, keep doing it but dont over-face him or make things to complicated

set him up to succeed and get him jumping in a group, out on a ride, just have fun jumping with him and with repetition he should get the knack
 
DD's story is very telling. Horses bred to sj at a high level can be very sensitive - that's what makes them want to leave the jumps up - and even minor confusion or error can upset them and require some serious work to overcome. This certainly does not denote lack of ability!

Otherwise, it's impossible to say without seeing. It's HOW the horse reacts/struggles that gives you clues. Have you had a lesson with an eventer/sj with green horse experience?
 
NZJenny said:
After 20 years of "I don't jump" I have recently discovered that my 15 year old Arabian (retired endurance horse) loves to jump :D:D Does he have any natural talent - probably not and it would be wasted if he did, because I sure don't. Never mind a 1m 10 (OMG that's high), but we have a ball up to about 65 cm. :)
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This has made me smile. My arab mare was an "I can't possibly jump" type for the first year or so I owned her. Would do trotting poles beautifully but would get very upset and make a right mess of it if the jump couldn't be high-step trotted over so I just decided it wasn't to be. Then earlier this year we were schooling in the jumping paddock but couldn't really agree on anything. So I got off and decided to just play at lead rein trotting poles...which she loved. Then I put a little fence up and she started actually jumping. I got on and popped one and to my amazement she loved it! Has a nice little technique too! We've since done 2 60cm beginners classes which she loved! We'll never be showjumpers but it makes bathing worth it to be able to do a fun jumping class as well as dressage at our local show.
I've not had to teach her anything though - something just clicked (she turned 10 this year so she's no baby).
In fact, we're on low-level work at the moment to recover from bruised sole but the little madam jumped a tuft of grass while we were supposed to be just walking in the paddock the other day.
 
FWIW my 'bred to jump' horse hasn't taken AGES to get it. In fact he still hasn't 'got it' :p He's not naturally careful, he didn't seem to enjoy it all that much, but he is getting there now....and he loves cross country (I'm not sure either of us will ever love showjumping).

As a 5/6 year old, I don't think grids were that helpful to be honest - they stressed him out as it meant more to do in a short space of time, and his little slow brain seemed to struggle with it. His confidence improved a lot more by getting him happy with single straightforward fences, and working on nailing the between the fences canter.
 
Horses find grids quite hard, I wouldn't write him off because he is struggling with them, let him get stronger, get some good to help you and see how he progresses.
 
Yes, they definatly can become good!
My horse was absolutely useless at jumping as a four year old, he knew he wanted to get to the other side of the fence, but he wasn't sure how and so just threw himself in the air, legs everywhere!
He dressaged until he was 6, but then we started playing around with the jumping again, he was still pretty useless, but with lots of practice he has turned into a superstar (well in my eyes ;) haha).
He is now jumping newcomers (1m10) and is definatly showing the talent to jump foxhunters. He is neat and extremely careful, I can be very deep or off and he still trys his very best to clear it! When out competing he always gets compliments and is super consistent! My instructor has been completely shocked as she was convinced he would be a bit of a four faulter.
So there is a success story for you, some just need time to work it out in their heads! I took it extremely slowly with mine and he hasn't been pushed too far too soon, and it's payed off!
The one thing I will say though is that he was always willing to try and get to the other side and enjoyed jumping, he just didn't really get how to do it!
 
A friend of mine has a theory about young horses and I do think he has a point. It is a well known fact that young humans who are growing very quickly ,are often extremely uncoordinated. \it is believed that this is due to a mismatch betwean perceived distances and the nervous system failing to accommodate for increased bone length. The muscle memory has failed to keep pace with the rate of growth. I see no reason why this should not apply to horses. So your clumsey ugly duckling (in the words of my vet when vetting |Bob the nota cob)could turn out to be a beautifull swan .....................or a big duck.
 
It depends why the horse is struggling I bred one very beauifully bred to event and when we started it jumping I was suicidal it was terrible ,we turned her away six months later she was fab .
If they are weak and growing they need time sometimes to develop.
 
Dominobrown mentioned loose schooling. I'm a fan of that. Make sure you have plenty of helpers - esp. first few times. Good to let the horse work it out without a rider getting in the way.

I do think if the horse isn't enjoying it then stop and approach it in another way - it takes most horses (as with us) ages to forget a bad experience and you don't want him to associate jumping with anything unpleasant.

My 4 yr old seems v. unimpressed by a jump in the school so I'm going to loose school him and see how he takes to that. Will only jump him ridden outside of the school for now. I don't want him to find jumping miserable.
 
Mike007 said:
A friend of mine has a theory about young horses and I do think he has a point. It is a well known fact that young humans who are growing very quickly ,are often extremely uncoordinated. \it is believed that this is due to a mismatch betwean perceived distances and the nervous system failing to accommodate for increased bone length. The muscle memory has failed to keep pace with the rate of growth. I see no reason why this should not apply to horses. So your clumsey ugly duckling (in the words of my vet when vetting |Bob the nota cob)could turn out to be a beautifull swan .....................or a big duck.
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haha, yes I often think that a lot of young horses go through a phase of looking like teenage boys - A lot of teenage boys seem to go through a period of wondering round with a really dopey expression on their face and clumsy limbs because their body has grown faster than their brain has learnt to control it and that makes everything a massive effort for a bit.

The op's horse is 6 though so he would have to be a pretty late developer........
 
There are horses that struggle for physical reasons - weakness, the wrong conformation for the job, discomfort - and others for mental reasons - tension, bad experiences - but I've never seen one that can't be improved with the right work.

This will be an unpopular thing to say, but the rider can have a significant impact on a horse's jumping, especially at the beginning, both in the actual riding and how the horse is introduced to the job. Sometimes it's not about finding the right exercise for the horse, it's about finding the exercises that let the rider ride well. It's much easier to make a good jumping horse if you're experienced riding good jumping horses!

Having someone good on the ground helps a lot. Sometimes just rolling a distance in or having someone to change the fence while you keep coming makes all the difference at first.
 
TarrSteps I think you are 100% right in what you say. Jumping well is about confidence for both horse and rider and as the horse takes the lead from the rider ........
 
I've posted a lot on this before, mine is, in theory, a good showjumper but he's not careful in the slightest. To be honest I just thought he was a bit dim lol, but my instructor thinks the complete opposite! At home he knows exactly which poles he can hit and will jump at a funny angle to give himself more room for his dangly legs!

This time last year we were knocking everything down in a 2ft class and a couple of weeks ago we did our first british novice. Mine lad is 6 but mentally and physically he's 4 so he's just taking a bit longer to 'get it'

When I first started with my instructor, I loose jumped him and he maxed out at 1m05, he'd jump it but tip it with his back feet every time. After 8 weeks and LOADS of mind numbing flatwork, he's now loose jumping 1m10 easily with room to spare, so its obviously paying off. He's never going to be super careful but I don't think a BN double clear is beyond our capabilities.
 
Definitely, confidence plays a big part, and a rider who can ride forward in a rhythm but relaxed will give the horse the best chance to use itself well. Using poles and well built courses helps the rider ride confidently as well a educating the horse.

It is also about how the rider expects the horse to feel. If you've mostly ridden horses that feel a particular way - good or bad - you're naturally going to want other horses to feel similar, even if that's not the best way for that horse. A common example of this is a horse that naturally wants to jump from a deeper distance, up and around, as bred for the job sj'ers often do, being taught to jump faster and flatter because the rider wants the feeling of being 'taken' and confuses speed with 'enjoying the job'.

Horses have to learn to accommodate us, of course. But, as in all things, some are more relaxed and resilient than others in this area.
 
TarrSteps said:
It is also about how the rider expects the horse to feel. If you've mostly ridden horses that feel a particular way - good or bad - you're naturally going to want other horses to feel similar, even if that's not the best way for that horse. A common example of this is a horse that naturally wants to jump from a deeper distance, up and around, as bred for the job sj'ers often do, being taught to jump faster and flatter because the rider wants the feeling of being 'taken' and confuses speed with 'enjoying the job'.
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Totally agree with this, after coming back to competing 12 months ago after a long break and spending my teenage years riding stereotypical BSJA ponies, actually having to 'ride' something was somewhat of a shock!
 
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