Introduction to jumping

Slave2Magic

Slave2Magic

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My arab mare is 7 years old and I introduced her to jumping earlier in the year. She loose jumps happily and jumps on the lunge. I have had her over trotting poles and she's fine with that. Problem is, when I ride her towards a small jump she slows down and walks over it. She doesn't duck out but I can't get an actual jump out of her. I don't want to give her a crack as I want her to enjoy jumping. Is it just that she does't know where to put her legs? How can I get her to go over in trot? Sorry its long.
 
Or put your small jump in directly after a line of trotting poles - she will have gained momentum by the time she gets to the jump and will hopefully be too busy thinking about the poles to back off the fence
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Put the jump immediately after about four/five poles. Get her going over the poles first, with the wings in place and the 'jump' on the floor, then get someone to put the fence up (ideally) and ride positively at the trotting poles.
 
Also maybe it is too small for her to bother at the moment? I'd suggest doing exactly as advised above, and make it a crosspole at about 1 foot tall to start with. If she is still slowing down but still stepping rather than jumping, maybe make it a bit bigger? Especially if she is happily jumping a bit bigger than that loose/on the lunge. As people often say to me when they see me jumping my arab, they are actually very scopey jumpers, just not brave, so I would imagine as long as she is still feeling comfident and hapily going over, you are on the right track!
Good luck!
 
have a tiny crosspole at the end of the trot poles, heading back towards the yard/other horses, ideally. she should trot through and get the idea of just popping over. she just sounds clueless, tbh!
when she gets the hang of that, i'd add a small crosspole or upright (about a foot high) a stride away (6-7 yards if you've approached the first in trot) and see if she gets the hang of doing one canter stride and popping the next one. if it's all laid out easily for her, she should!
 
see my post "24hrs and im back on and with GREAT NEWS".... I too am training my 7year old and within just a matter of weeks i got him over a clear course of 6 jumps tonight, pm me if you want to swap tips - i dont profess to know loads but ive brought him on leaps and bounds (pardon the pun) and we aim for our first jumping class on 16th. good luck and keep perservering, the advice on here is great.
 
I will be trying the trotting poles and small jump at the weekend and will let you know how we get on. It would have been sooner but my mare has lost a shoe for the first time ever! Farrier wont come out till saturday! If we can get a consistant trot and a proper small jump this weekend I will be very happy.
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