how often do you jump your horse? Especialy if 16-17yrs old

[Nicki85]

The older horse i ride, Maggie, is going to be 17 soon. She is on a half working livery status were staff are allowed to ride her an hour a day.

I rode her last night and was due for a jumping lesson. Instructor was a bit late so i started schooling her on the flat and she was quite forward, cantering when i started doing warm up ttransitions etc.

We went down to the sand school with some small x-country jumps and let her have a good canter round etc. Then we jumped one of the small log piles (2ft3) and she just kept taking off so close and twisting to get over it. We put out a ground pole and she took off at a better distance and we left it at that.

She just didn't seem her usual excited self about jumping

Now i know that day she had already had an hour of jumping on a good surface but that normally doesn't bother her. Instructor said that she was similar in the lesson as well.

I've told her owner she was unhappy jumping and that we should only jump her twice a week.

Maggie is very upright through the shoulder and has done alot of jumping in the past. Do you think it's just old age catching up with her?
How often do you jump your semi-oldies a week?

 

[Bruised]

I think it's horses for courses. However, it seems quite a lot to expect her to jump if she'd already jumped for an hour that day. I stopped jumping my boy when he was 17 as he just didn't enjoy it any more. I think you have to take your cue from the horse.

 

[PippiPantoPony]

I still jumped my old girl & at 18 we did the Milton Keynes Unaff 3 day event. But i only jumped once or twice a week tops. She was ID cross & very upright & straight in the shoulder. But she never did a huge amount of jumping in her younger days.
It could be your oldie is starting to feel it a bit.

 

[ester]

Frank is 16, I don't jump him at home unless we are very out of pracitce. We compete anything from once a month to once a week in summer and do a bit of everything else in between. No point in doing more than necessary at his age, he doesn't need the practice!

I think it is better for any horse not to be jumped more than twice a week anyway as they get a bit sour but obviously it is more difficult when they are on working livery.

 

[jcberry]

mine is only 10 but..
i never jump more than twice a week. most of the time it is once and that is at a show.
I dont like to jump too much, he doesnt jump that well at home anyways

 

[Ambypamby]

mine is 14 and i never really jump at home i feel like he will get sick of it if he jumps too much in our arena. we do as many comps as possible though away from home.

 

[stencilface]

TBH, I think twice a week is possibly too much if the horse is a been there done that type and seems to be going stale.

My sisters horse is 18, and still gets very excited about jumping at home (on grass) if he is feeling fit. But prob only jumps a maximum of once a fortnight, and then it will literally be less than 10 jumping efforts from start to finish.

But if she has suddenly gone off colour, I would suggest getting her back checked? Maybe she is a little uncomfortable and doesn't really feel like it. Or maybe she is just feeling a bit lack lustre since the grass has lost its power?

 

[JosieSmith]

Mine is 20 and we jump once a week. She is just learning so we just do teeny jumps and courses in the hope of doing local shows, but not very many.

I say once a week for mine.

 

[Spotsrock]

I never jump any of mine more than twice a week and never on consecutive days, unless competition schedule demands it, If I'm competing at the weekend I wouldn't jump after tues or wed.

 

[christine48]

At that age she knows her job and if she was still going to competitions I would only jump just before that. If she is being used for lessons no more than once a week. An hours jumping is a lot for any horse let alone an oldie.

 

[Eventer96]

I jump my 19 year old mare at 3'0 at compeitions and I only ever jump her once every 2/3 weeks at home. She will tell me when she has had enough as she did this year (xc) she said thats enough for me thank you very much. But she will still jump 3'0-3'3 showjumping on a sandy surface

as soon as she says shes had enough I will stop jumping her. If I didn't jump her she'd jump out of the field and would never be seen again

 

[FigJam]

My mare is 17 and has been there, done that when it comes to jumping, so we only really jump at competitions (couple of times a month) or lessons (once every two months). My sharer will often pop a wee fence during a schooling session as she is building her confidence up, but it's never a full jumping session.

I'll occasionally have a short jumping session at home if feeling out of the loop before a competition (ie it's a while since we were last out) but this tends to be no more than 30mins. I agree the less the better and if she wasn't her usual enthusiatic self, she is maybe trying to tell you something.