How high can a 14 year old horse jump?

[Random stranger here]

Hi everyone, just a question, I know it depends on the horse alot. Roughly 16/16.1 14 year old sports horse. Lots of experience jumping, and so far jumps a meter nicely. Just wondering where is too high? When do I stop putting it higher? I know to listen to him, but I don't want to put a 1.40 jump up and have him say omg no way and crash his confidence. Only thing holding us back is not knowing what's too high. With his height and breed he is capable of jumping high, but what about his age?
Obviously my confidence does also hold us back, but he is so amazing my confidence just comes as we jump. TIA

 

[Random stranger here]

...

 

[motherof2beasts!]

No one will be able to say it varies horse to horse. 1.4m is pretty big tracks but that’s not to say he can’t do it , depends what your doing now, scope, Health, fitness etc.

I’ve not known many top track jumpers that have stayed sound for long though but again then I’m sure many do.

 

[Jenko109]

Perhaps have some lessons with him and see what the instructor thinks you are capable of as a combination.

 

[Bellaboo18]

It's not how high he can jump one fence, it's what height he's comfortable jumping a course. There's a big difference. If you're not yet experienced enough to know by feel, I'd get an instructor to help.

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

1.40 is a huge increase when you've been jumping 1m

When I was a teenager I used to think it was about the height you jumped but I mostly did it over singles as soon as I had an instructor who set up proper 80-100cm tracks I realised I wasn't actually that good and my bottle wouldn't cope (especially with spooky horse)

I think he could have jumped higher, but I didn't have the guts as he was a spooky Welsh D who you were never quite sure if he was going to want to go to the other side

It's good you want to consider his confidence, but don't feel you need to jump massive jumps - 1.40 is a lot higher than most of us will have done

 

[Bellaboo18]

1.40 is a huge increase when you've been jumping 1m

When I was a teenager I used to think it was about the height you jumped but I mostly did it over singles as soon as I had an instructor who set up proper 80-100cm tracks I realised I wasn't actually that good and my bottle wouldn't cope (especially with spooky horse)

I think he could have jumped higher, but I didn't have the guts as he was a spooky Welsh D who you were never quite sure if he was going to want to go to the other side

It's good you want to consider his confidence, but don't feel you need to jump massive jumps - 1.40 is a lot higher than most of us will have done

Agree 1m and 1.40 is a world apart

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

Agree 1m and 1.40 is a world apart

I think 1.10 was the most I did and that was just as an upright and usually as part of a grid, possibly once as an oxer.

As someone who no longer rides and completely lost their bottle jumping a while before I gave up, I now realise it's not all about how high you jump.

Also the higher you go the more accuracy you require and the more spectacular a miss can be. I couldn't see strides for toffee, hence why I generally stuck to grids when I wanted to do higher. Even when my instructor put up the 80-1m courses a miss was more amplified. I wouldn't want to be missing regularly at anything higher

 

[Abacus]

In answer just to your question relating to age: a 14 year old horse is capable of jumping any height that he could jump as a 10 year old, assuming he is still as sound. Some high level horses (esp in eventing) are still competing aged in their late teens, although most will have peaked by say 15. Of course as others have said it’s about more than that, and if you want to test him further then put up the jumps slowly (maybe 2cm, no more) and judge by feel whether he is comfortable and still happy. It’s easiest to do this as the second part of a grid where you know the striding will be ok, rather than as a single fence. And better if you do it with an instructor or knowledgeable person to help who can also assess how he is coping.

 

[Random stranger here]

No one will be able to say it varies horse to horse. 1.4m is pretty big tracks but that’s not to say he can’t do it , depends what your doing now, scope, Health, fitness etc.

I’ve not known many top track jumpers that have stayed sound for long though but again then I’m sure many do.

I will never jump 1.40, just kinda an example. Maybe one day I'd go up to 1m30, but not on a regular bases. I just don't want to be jumping him higher than he should if you know what I mean. He clears 1 meter nicely, and has jumped upto 1.10, he did knock it but it was bad striding, his front cleared it, but his hind legs didn't have enough time to come up fully. My fault

 

[Random stranger here]

1.40 is a huge increase when you've been jumping 1m

When I was a teenager I used to think it was about the height you jumped but I mostly did it over singles as soon as I had an instructor who set up proper 80-100cm tracks I realised I wasn't actually that good and my bottle wouldn't cope (especially with spooky horse)

I think he could have jumped higher, but I didn't have the guts as he was a spooky Welsh D who you were never quite sure if he was going to want to go to the other side

It's good you want to consider his confidence, but don't feel you need to jump massive jumps - 1.40 is a lot higher than most of us will have done

I'll never jump 1.40, it was just an example. I feel uncomfortable jumping 1-1.10 thinking he's too old. But he is happy to do it. My goal is 1.20, but that's a long way away. I need to improve alot. I guess I just wanted to know if 14 is old in terms of jumping. I'd love to jump 1 meter courses one day, but at the minute I've only jumped 1.10 once, and about an 80cm course. I'm by no means ready to go higher, but if I know he can safely jump 1.30 for example, I'd feel much more comfortable doing bigger courses

 

[Bellaboo18]

I think you're looking at this all wrong! If you can jump a course of 50cm, in a balanced canter, hitting every fence on a perfect stride, you'd jump a 1.20 pretty much the same.
Jumping one jump and making it higher and higher is imo a pointless exercise, you're learning very little. The majority of horses can scrape over one jump however badly they're presented to it.

 

[lauragreen85]

Hi everyone, just a question, I know it depends on the horse alot. Roughly 16/16.1 14 year old sports horse. Lots of experience jumping, and so far jumps a meter nicely. Just wondering where is too high? When do I stop putting it higher? I know to listen to him, but I don't want to put a 1.40 jump up and have him say omg no way and crash his confidence. Only thing holding us back is not knowing what's too high. With his height and breed he is capable of jumping high, but what about his age?
Obviously my confidence does also hold us back, but he is so amazing my confidence just comes as we jump. TIA

Ive seen 22 year old horses compete at Badminton etc, whatever you are both happy doing

 

[ycbm]

Horton Point winning Badminton at 16
.

 

[Random stranger here]

Ive seen 22 year old horses compete at Badminton etc, whatever you are both happy doing

Thanks, we are happy with our little courses at the minute btt when we are ready to go higher and compete If he's happy I'm happy. We have big goals, both jumping and dressage. Haven't found out what he likes most, but I'm working towards jumping a meter course and also teaching him collected trot and passage. In hand obviously. I'm still learning, but it's my dream to do it, so at least i can say I tried

 

[Random stranger here]

View attachment 132358


Horton Point winning Badminton at 16
.

Wow, that's pretty epic, I always thought 14 was old. He is still active and happy, and loves to go out Xc etc so I won't hold him back if he's happy to do it. Whenever he says no, I say OK. He's having a jumping break at the minute because he said he's had enough, after a competition went badly. So he's just doing pokes and schooling for a few weeks to build his confidence. But when out Xc or hacking, he loves to jump. Just gets a bit bored in the arena