I'm being dramatic aren't I...(moan)

[Casey76]

Does he knock the poles with front or back feet?

If he jumps well to begin with then starts knocking them down, perhaps he isn't yet fit enough/has the correct muscles to jump the courses at height and speed yet?

 

[TarrSteps]

Sorry, didn't see your response before you posted.

If the horse is jumping well sometimes, I'm sure no one is going to tell you it's a lost cause! If he's not a 'traditional' sj horse you might find yourself best served by someone with eventing knowledge and/or experience working with amateur horses, rather than a super high powered sj trainer, although that's a gross generalisation!

 

[RCP Equestrian]

I agree with most that a good instructor would be worth a try and have someone assess him from the floor.

As he is still young it is difficult to "write him off" as a jumper. It might be the case that jumping just isn't his thing, or he could just be an ugly duckling that will be a swan in a couple of years

All horses progress at different paces, 4 yr old classes these days are 1m. My horse certainly had the talent to be jumping them but is very backward thinking so he didn't jump the age classes and from a BS point of view he is behind. But he's only just grown in to himself over the past year or so so I would have been silly to push him beyond his level, even though the ability was there.

However some horses can be put in the deep end as a youngster and progress quickly from it. So it all depends on the individual horse.

Good luck with him though, its your decision whether you want to give him more time and potentially have a nice horse, or whether to cut your losses and find something with a bit more respect for the poles

 

[Goldenstar]

Please don't try to make a clumsy horse careful by jumping fixed fences it does not work and is potentially very dangerous .
The best thing is to get some experianced eyes on the ground to see what's happening .
But always the more you improve the canter the better horses jump.

 

[Welshie Squisher]

My daughter had a horse who was very clumsy. We actually found he was lazy and lacked respect on the small jumps.
When we put them up, he had to actually jump them (after ploughing through them and clanking his legs).
He very quickly realised life was easier if he picked his front feet up, it just clicked one day and he was a fab careful jumper thereafter.
Don't give up, get a good instructor and things will get better.
But please don't put him over solid fences yet, I get the idea that it teaches them respect and to lift their legs, but you can do this will heavy poles that collapse.

We took boots off also, he couldn't feel the poles when hitting them - but he was a chunky boy with good bone so he was fine. I'm not so sure I would do this with a horse who is lightly built.

 

[Equilibrium Ireland]

Second Goldenstar. There is a huge difference between not careful and clumsy. Jumping 65-90cm is not a huge ask for a 5-6yo. Have an instructor asses and go from there. Especially before jumping solids.

Terri

 

[MoonRiver]

Agree with getting an instructor to help you out, and to work on his fitness. Can you loose jump him and assess his technique from the ground, you can see what he is doing with his feet then?

We had a point to pointer once that was the most horrible clumsy jumper over any type of fence, was a huge releif if he was still on his feet at the end of the race, he was soon retired as was just not a natural jumper