Loose jumping... any tips???

_jetset_

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I am hoping to get an eventer to come over and jump Grace a bit through the summer to get her back on track with that... She has lost so much confidence jumping it is unbelievable, whereas before she would literally jump anything she now feels a bit wary and wobbly about it. I know that it does not help that I am not experienced enough with jumping to get her right at the jump and help her out. I jump for fun and only do the smaller ones.

So, I have been trying to loose jump her but I cannot say this has been wholly successful either as I am usually on my own
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I have been putting up a jump lane with one cross pole at the bottom. I have been leading her in through trot, then encouraging her from the side once she gets into the jump lane...

Does anyone have any tips or advice on how I can improve this?

I am hoping to start doing some in the saddle once she has done this for a little bit, but at the moment I do not feel I will help the situation being on board... she was a really good jumper before, very brave, so I would like to get her back to that stage.

This is a video of her jumping in the summer of 2007 before the injury with the eventer who I am hoping will come up again this summer... I know the jump is not constructed great, I made a bit of a hash about it and have since seen where I went wrong
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Have you ever seen a video of them loose jumping at an auction or professional stud?
Make your jumping lane and send her down it with a lunge whip staying behind her- if you get alongside or in front then she's most likely to stop and turn around.
 
Bossanova... that is what I have been trying to do, but I do need to lead her into it initially which I then find hard getting out of the way
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it does help to have a friend helping if there not keen, so one person lead them to the start, then the other can push them forwards. I know thats easier said than done though. I have seen people make a track all the way round the out side of the school! but thats not very practical, and they can jump out the lane if there good enough!
 
Thanks... I keep trying to get my husband to come down but he works pretty long hours and we don't really get the chance
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I think I will give it another go tomorrow and see how we get on...
 
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Will she jump on the lunge?

[/ QUOTE ]

Jumping on the lunge is pointless, you are likely to make a mistake and ruin anything good produced by freejumping.

You need to set up a lane, I generally use jumpstands and losts of baler twine (loose tied in case of accidents) to create a complete circuit or two long sides.

Then you can prepare various exercises, including using poles to create the correct tempo.

The book "Training Show Jumpers" by Anthony Paalman has some really good exercises in it
 
Thanks... will try to make my jumping lane longer and so that I can duck under it and encourage her from behind.

This is something I really want to do successfully with her as we cannot hack out where we are (60mph road and very worried horse do not mix well) and I really want to keep her life varied. She goes out every morning in the round pen (which is in the field so lots to watch) and hopefully soon they will start getting some turnout too
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Well I cannot recommend that book enough - very good for this sort of stuff.

I don't duck under, I jog along behind and barely have to wave a whip at them as they read my body language and know the ropes (hopefully they enjoy it too!)
 
Once she gets the hang of it it will be easier.
When we first loose jumped our 5 year old, we ran alongside him and cracked the lunge whip behind him.
Now, we take him into the school and run him up once and he runs round and round the school and jumps himself three or four times before slowing up and coming over for polos.
We start low and gradually put the jump up and then drop the jump back again for the last jump. He loves jumping and loves his polos though!
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Will she jump on the lunge?

[/ QUOTE ]

Jumping on the lunge is pointless, you are likely to make a mistake and ruin anything good produced by freejumping.

You need to set up a lane, I generally use jumpstands and losts of baler twine (loose tied in case of accidents) to create a complete circuit or two long sides.

Then you can prepare various exercises, including using poles to create the correct tempo.

The book "Training Show Jumpers" by Anthony Paalman has some really good exercises in it

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh I love that book, its brilliant! But I've lost my copy
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Yes she will loose school around me, but just avoids the jump lane when we do it this way
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She needs to gain her confidence again, and this is why I want her to do it without a rider interfering
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Once we have got her over a few times, it is a lot easier...
 
another thumbs up for Anthony Paalman, for the flat work too. He really understands how a young horse needs to be developed correctly.

I would definatly say you need two people until she understands the process. One to present her to the entrance to the lane and another to provide the forwards momentum with the lunge whip. We loose jump all our youngsters and they love it
 
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