Jumping, what should i do?

[Winters100]

Whilst I do shoot arrows over fences, I don't recommend it on something that isn't 100% reliable to jump. Too much commitment required!

I'm talking really childish games - carrying cups of water / egg and spoon / mug shuffle / flag race / bouncing and catching a poloX ball / tilting down tiny grids, popping balloons while jumping - probably not what you want to do if you're trying to avoid a creative and unusual injury!

You may laugh, but YO and I have, for the last 6 months, been regularly doing a variety of gymkhana games. The children on the yard have long since decided that they are childish, but we love them (me mid 50s, him 59). Flag race, bending, sack race and tag are our favourites. I am a bit disadvantaged at the moment, as I have given my schoolmistress to a younger (child) rider, and she is so nippy and unafraid that she wins everything, but I can definitely recommend these for making you feel as if you are about 10 years old again!

ETA hang on, I am aging myself, I am not yet 'mid' 50s, I still qualify for early 50s!!!

 

[ycbm]

Do you ever feel he is going to do it? Or is it by surprise? Good that you stayed on ?

He has two stops. One from further out, just baby insecurity, and he will go if he asked to, and one from nowhere. So far, he's only ever done the one from nowhere over a fence he hasn't seen before.
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[ycbm]

You may laugh, but YO and I have, for the last 6 months, been regularly doing a variety of gymkhana games. The children on the yard have long since decided that they are childish, but we love them (me mid 50s, him 59). Flag race, bending, sack race and tag are our favourites. I am a bit disadvantaged at the moment, as I have given my schoolmistress to a younger (child) rider, and she is so nippy and unafraid that she wins everything, but I can definitely recommend these for making you feel as if you are about 10 years old again!

ETA hang on, I am aging myself, I am not yet 'mid' 50s, I still qualify for early 50s!!!

Sounds wonderful.
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[Fire sign]

Grid work not for the faint hearted though !

 

[ycbm]

Grid work not for the faint hearted though !

I love it. No striding worries. I could jump the moon as the last element of a grid ?

 

[Boulty]

I'd say do what you both enjoy. If it's not fun, the risk of injury to you is not worth it & it might shorten his working life then don't feel obliged to do it. It doesn't mean you can't play around doing silly things over small fences from time to time if you fancy/ pop the odd log out hacking. Will admit I did very little "proper" jumping with the Welsh D I used to have as he also had a dirty stop on him & it just wasn't enjoyable. It's something we probably could have fixed with a lot of jumping lessons and a lot of effort but was never a massive priority. Did used to pop things from time to time out hacking / on fun rides & occasionally out hunting although typically around the 60cm and below height (aka anything that could be more of less stepped over from a standstill)

 

[Jellymoon]

There is nothing more confidence-sapping that travelling down towards a fence not knowing if this will be one where you will get the ‘dirty stop’. I wouldn’t put myself through it now at my age (50) when there’s no need, you have nothing to prove.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

The main thing you need to do is send your horse to a quality professional show jumper, explain that your horse puts in a dirty stop on occasions. He/she will understand & you will probably need to leave your horse for a week. When you go to collect your horse you will have a horse which will not stop again. You will probably find that the horse also feels confident in jumping with you o its back. To the horse it doesn't matter if he's jumping 90cm or 1m20cm, he will just enjoy jumping so set the jumps at a height you are happy with. Most of all enjoy your riding & jumping. My wife is 66 years old, she does dressage & also jumps. The horse eats the jumps, he's got so much ability the jumps my wife wants to jump give him no issues at all. He just enjoys doing some jumping, doesn't care about height. He does dressage, he's long reined, he's lunged, he's hacked out alone & in company. His eyes always light up when being ridden. We are so pleased we have him. He's around 25 years old now, we rarely compete him but when we do he bounces up the ramp of the lorry, he so loves life.

 

[Barton Bounty]

He has two stops. One from further out, just baby insecurity, and he will go if he asked to, and one from nowhere. So far, he's only ever done the one from nowhere over a fence he hasn't seen before.
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Why not try regular jumping? Then he can get the proper hang of it ?

 

[ycbm]

Why not try regular jumping? Then he can get the proper hang of it ?

You'll have to explain that one. We do cross country fences and show jumps.
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[Barton Bounty]

I

You'll have to explain that one. We do cross country fences and show jumps.
.

didnt know you already regularly jump ?

 

[ycbm]

The main thing you need to do is send your horse to a quality professional show jumper, explain that your horse puts in a dirty stop on occasions. He/she will understand & you will probably need to leave your horse for a week. When you go to collect your horse you will have a horse which will not stop again. You will probably find that the horse also feels confident in jumping with you o its back. To the horse it doesn't matter if he's jumping 90cm or 1m20cm, he will just enjoy jumping so set the jumps at a height you are happy with. Most of all enjoy your riding & jumping. My wife is 66 years old, she does dressage & also jumps. The horse eats the jumps, he's got so much ability the jumps my wife wants to jump give him no issues at all. He just enjoys doing some jumping, doesn't care about height. He does dressage, he's long reined, he's lunged, he's hacked out alone & in company. His eyes always light up when being ridden. We are so pleased we have him. He's around 25 years old now, we rarely compete him but when we do he bounces up the ramp of the lorry, he so loves life.

Thanks TZ, but I'm not looking for someone else to train him for me, especially not when there is doubt about his hocks.
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[ycbm]

I

didnt know you already regularly jump ?

I don't since we moved, it will need more effort to do it now and I'm just trying to work out if it's worth the effort.

 

[Trouper]

We can bat back and forward for ever all the pros and cons for your health and his about teaching him to jump but I wonder - do you think he really enjoys it? I know some people will say it is a confidence thing for him at this stage but, to me, horses who really like to jump will have a go at most jumps - however inelegantly they get to the other side.

Some of the other activities suggested sound like a lot of fun and would get him using his brain a bit too.

 

[ycbm]

We can bat back and forward for ever all the pros and cons for your health and his about teaching him to jump but I wonder - do you think he really enjoys it? I know some people will say it is a confidence thing for him at this stage but, to me, horses who really like to jump will have a go at most jumps - however inelegantly they get to the other side.

Some of the other activities suggested sound like a lot of fun and would get him using his brain a bit too.

Well you've hit another nail on the head there. I think he loves it! When he's familiar with the shape, he'll jump other fences of the same shape and I could be coming up to one planning to ride past it and he will look directly at it and ask if we're going to jump it.

He's got a terrific shape over a fence, too, real ability. I guess he doesn't know he's being "wasted".

I just wish someone could give me a definitive answer on the hocks and I'd be happy to never have him leave the floor again.
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[cauda equina]

ycbm - do you enjoy it?
When there's doubt at the back of your mind about what it might do to you if it goes wrong, and what it might do to him even if it's all seeming to go right?
If he develops hock problems x years down the line how would you feel?
Would it be
Well at least we carried on jumping
or
I wish we hadn't carried on jumping

 

[ycbm]

ycbm - do you enjoy it?
When there's doubt at the back of your mind about what it might do to you if it goes wrong, and what it might do to him even if it's all seeming to go right?

I'm finely balanced between fear and pleasure right now.

If he develops hock problems x years down the line how would you feel? Would it be
Well at least we carried on jumping
or
I wish we hadn't carried on jumping

What a great question. I know I'm waxing lyrical about him and biased but I've never owned a nicer horse. I can't imagine starting again with another after him. I'd be devastated if I thought jumping had shortened his working life. He's 8 this year, I'm 65. In my dreams we are pottering about as a couple of geriatrics at 28 and 85.

I think any idea of teaching him to do more than he does already is out. No courses of showjumping with turns and doubles. No jumping clinics. Maybe pop the odd log or roll top on the farm ride or a fun ride, if we feel up for it.

Isn't this thread showing the best of HHO, it's been so helpful.
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[vhf]

Looking for a discussion to help me decide what to do about jumping.
I'm coming up to 65 and the current NHS situation makes me very afraid to break any more bones. I just can't decide if the potential pleasure of jumping 80-90cm, when I've been there/ done that and have no desire to enter any competitions, is worth the potential risk to him or to me.
What do you think? .

I'm a little younger, but another been there done that person who can't afford to get (more) injured and knows they no longer bounce.
Someone said to me recently, 'If you keep comparing yourself to how you rode when you were 20, you will always be frustrated and you will never enjoy it. Be the rider you are at 52." It resonated, because I was having similar conversations with myself "Is it worth doing this when it is so much less than I have done". So, my aim for this year is to accept that the old (young!!) me was a different person and has no bearing on the current me. I am missing my jumping. But if I want to jump 30cm, or 1.30, it is a decision to be taken about this me only. I hope it takes some of the pressure off, and removes the disappointment element of being somehow 'less'. For this me, and this horse, anything will be an achievement. I don't need to recreate the old (young) me to enjoy my hobby.
It's a work in progress I will admit as I'd love to zoom round a decent course again but the body says otherwise...

 

[ycbm]

I'm a little younger, but another been there done that person who can't afford to get (more) injured and knows they no longer bounce.
Someone said to me recently, 'If you keep comparing yourself to how you rode when you were 20, you will always be frustrated and you will never enjoy it. Be the rider you are at 52." It resonated, because I was having similar conversations with myself "Is it worth doing this when it is so much less than I have done". So, my aim for this year is to accept that the old (young!!) me was a different person and has no bearing on the current me. I am missing my jumping. But if I want to jump 30cm, or 1.30, it is a decision to be taken about this me only. I hope it takes some of the pressure off, and removes the disappointment element of being somehow 'less'. For this me, and this horse, anything will be an achievement. I don't need to recreate the old (young) me to enjoy my hobby.
It's a work in progress I will admit as I'd love to zoom round a decent course again but the body says otherwise...

Excellent, thank you, I'm not the person in my avatar, she was a recklessly fearless 40 year old.
.

 

[Tarragon]

You said that you didn't want to send the horse away to be trained, but you could perhaps consider training a fearless young talented person on him? So you are sort of training him by proxy with ultimate control. That way he gets to add jumping to his CV (because he likes it), you get to enjoy seeing him jump, and young person benefits from all your years of wisdom.

 

[vhf]

Excellent, thank you, I'm not the person in my avatar, she was a recklessly fearless 40 year old.
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I miss being that person so I need to work on that!
'Sponsoring' a competent young person by giving them lessons on your pride and joy might be worth considering if you can find the right one. From the ground you could see exactly how he was using his hocks, how much he appeared to be enjoying it; you'd be living vicariously and have a horse in enough regular jumping practice to hop on and have fun yourself without doing the prep work. It might be very rewarding all round and answer some questions about what exactly it is that you get the most pleasure from.

 

[sakura]

My horse developed hip issues at 16 from previous years of jumping. She absolutely loves it, but I have retired her fully from it (and heavy schooling) now. She can't make that decision for herself as she'd just keep going until she was on her knees! It was easier for me mentally as she is older and I don't have any passion for jumping/schooling etc anymore, but my main reason was to prevent any further damage. I want her to be able to gallop and buck around a field and have a long future of light work to keep her happy and moving. I would probably allow her to pop a small log out hacking if fit enough. I don't know if this helps you at all, but I hope so!

 

[sbloom]

To me everything you say makes it a no, I suspect the hocks are part of his slight issues with jumping, but of course there's probably no way to be sure at this point.

 

[Tracking_up]

I don't jump (hardly ride at present through nerves after a couple of falls last year) so hardly qualified to comment, but re the hock concerns, I suppose I'd wonder how different/hard is the work is for the hocks in comparison with general cantering, and perhaps cantering with more weight behind in a collected manner? At least with jumping, the weight load is shared, with a pair of hind legs pushing off? Especially, if the jumping is kept sensible? At his height, I'd assume 80cm should be 'easy/sensible'?

Also the benefits to Ludo of jumping re working with a free-er back/basculing, might counter hock concerns?

 

[TRECtastic]

Interesting thread
I'm contemplating entering a very teeny tiny arena eventing comp , but not sure I can be bothered. I'm easily talking myself out of it
I stopped jumping my previous horse when he was diagnosed with hock arthritis ( not that we did much jumping )
It sounds like you're not that bothered about jumping besides the occasional log , if I was you I don't think I'd invest a lot of time and effort into jumping when you have so much else to enjoy with your horse ?

 

[Annagain]

He has two stops. One from further out, just baby insecurity, and he will go if he asked to, and one from nowhere. So far, he's only ever done the one from nowhere over a fence he hasn't seen before.
.

I was about to say in my experience, insecure stops you tend to know are coming. The 'dirty' last minute out of nowhere stops are due to pain somewhere. This was Archie all over - we started off with the 'silly stops'. We got through those as his confidence built and as the jumping got bigger and we did more of it, then came the 'dirty stops'. Then came the foot problems and he never really jumped again in the subsequent 12 years he was ridden. The Vet said he could jump but it would shorten his career but he never gave the impression that he loved jumping (unlike Monty who clearly loved it which is why we kept going with him when he was diagnosed with an athritic elbow at the age of 20. He got quite depressed without a bit of jumping now and again) you always had to ride him strongly and I couldn't bring myself to do that knowing it could be hurting him. He was always better XC (more time between fences to get over the previous jump I think) so I'd allow myself 5 jumps (big enough to be worth it, not so big as to cause a problem) on a fun ride if the ground was good so he'd maybe do about 30 jumps a year. He eventually retired due to the coffin joint arthritis at 26 but is still happy in the field on no drugs at 29.

I'm guessing Ludo is likely to be your last horse? If that's the case, I'd opt for longevity for both of you.

 

[ycbm]

You said that you didn't want to send the horse away to be trained, but you could perhaps consider training a fearless young talented person on him? So you are sort of training him by proxy with ultimate control. That way he gets to add jumping to his CV (because he likes it), you get to enjoy seeing him jump, and young person benefits from all your years of wisdom.

I miss being that person so I need to work on that!
'Sponsoring' a competent young person by giving them lessons on your pride and joy might be worth considering if you can find the right one. From the ground you could see exactly how he was using his hocks, how much he appeared to be enjoying it; you'd be living vicariously and have a horse in enough regular jumping practice to hop on and have fun yourself without doing the prep work. It might be very rewarding all round and answer some questions about what exactly it is that you get the most pleasure from.

I wouldn't be prepared not to be able to feel what was going on for myself. Also, I backed him and he's been ridden by one other person on two occasions for a total of less than an hour and a half in 5 years. He is extremely tuned to me and I want to keep it that way, it's a very special feeling.
.

 

[ycbm]

I was about to say in my experience, insecure stops you tend to know are coming. The 'dirty' last minute out of nowhere stops are due to pain somewhere. This was Archie all over - we started off with the 'silly stops'. We got through those as his confidence built and as the jumping got bigger and we did more of it, then came the 'dirty stops'. Then came the foot problems and he never really jumped again in the subsequent 12 years he was ridden. The Vet said he could jump but it would shorten his career but he never gave the impression that he loved jumping (unlike Monty who clearly loved it which is why we kept going with him when he was diagnosed with an athritic elbow at the age of 20. He got quite depressed without a bit of jumping now and again) you always had to ride him strongly and I couldn't bring myself to do that knowing it could be hurting him. He was always better XC (more time between fences to get over the previous jump I think) so I'd allow myself 5 jumps (big enough to be worth it, not so big as to cause a problem) on a fun ride if the ground was good so he'd maybe do about 30 jumps a year. He eventually retired due to the coffin joint arthritis at 26 but is still happy in the field on no drugs at 29.

I'm guessing Ludo is likely to be your last horse? If that's the case, I'd opt for longevity for both of you.

Very useful insight, thank you.
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[ownedbyaconnie]

My pony had a last min stop just like you describe. Literally about to take off then shoulder dip and spin.

Now I’m wondering if it was the hocks, ks etc. I’m going to pop her over some tiny ones soon so I guess time will tell if the dirty stop was pain related or if it is her go to reaction if she’s not sure/knows I'm not sure. But if he's only done it the once then hopefully it was just unsure about a new type of fence?

I personally would take it really easy and keep it fun and let the jumps organically grow/get more technical. I'm of the view that like anything, moderation and variety are key to a long and happy life!

 

[littleshetland]

I haven't jumped anything for about 10 years now-and I mean anything! I never had an accident or bad fall when I did jump, but I was 51 then and just felt it was a good time to quit while I was ahead. I find the dressage and hacking gives me plenty to think about.