Quick Question - loose jumping a 2 year old

Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa

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Hi all.

Ok I haven't loose jumped my rising 2 year old, however when I take her for in-hand walks she jumps over branches, small ditch tire tracks, tufts of grass etc.
She also will jump any thing if I say 'hup'.

I know my filly, she really enjoys it :D

Someone at a yard near mine suggested I loose jump her a little when the weather sorts its self out. Nothing I would force her to do of course. Only set up a few small jumps and see how she reacts to them / me calling her from the other side.

So here is my quick question.

What do the H&H folk think about this?
Not that I want to start a debate, just advice and polite opinions please :)

Would you?
If yes/no why?
How high would you start?
etc

My filly is 12.2/3. Loves jumping random field stuff. I know her, I know her body language. If she didn't like it I would know.

Thanks All :cool:

Tabula Rasa x
 
I havent loose jumped mine , until they where 3.

Mine have all looked quite immature at 2, plus i dont actually see the point at that age.
 
Asha said:
I havent loose jumped mine , until they where 3.

Mine have all looked quite immature at 2, plus i dont actually see the point at that age.
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Like I say it was suggested by someone else.
This is my first youngster and it was only suggested as she honestly loves to jump anything. :cool:

I swear she tried to jump a horse laid down in the field last summer :eek:
(until it got up and she swerved and jumped thin air haha)

Tabula Rasa x
 
I probably wouldn't until 3 as I don't like them to jump under saddle until at least 4, but it is cute that she responds to your command :-)

I have a rising two year old wee pony and I guess if I saw a branch on the track when walking out I might see what happened but nothing like 'schooling' :-)
 
2 of mine that are now rising 4 have both jumped anything and everything in the field. In fact my boy at weeks old would jump out of his paddock and back in again ! Causing his mum serious stress, bless.

At 12months old he jumped out out of the arena (1.45m) just because he could.

They have done it on their own. I just figured that one day id be asking them to jump regularly, so thought id leave them be.

Im sure plenty of people do loose jump 2 year olds. Just not me.
 
If they are loose jumping, they are surely deciding for themselves whether they want to jump or not? Youngsters will do far worse things just playing in the field.

Horses don't seem very good at judging scale. I'll feed mine inside a small enclosure with a rail across the gateway. They hop over the rail and get their feed.

One yearling banged his shins on the rail when it was at about 6 inches high. That convinced him that six inches was far too high to jump. It was quite funny watching him trying to find a way around the obstacle. He did learn to jump eventually, though.

The only problem you might get is them jumping out of their field. Sometimes it pays to keep them ignorant!
 
My two 12.2 youngsters will be two this time, and love to play around in the field and have great fun with each other, they do all sorts to amuse themselves, but I would not feel comfortable doing anything with them that was other than their own natural play.

We have had a number of young horses/ponies over the years, and always left them to be a bit more mature at 3 when loose jumping can be a good way to start using poles in a lane.

Asha, very impressed with your young jumper !
 
Tbh I think it would be good to keep her occupied and get her thinking - I wouldn't be jumping her big, if at all though as she is still young but you could use the opportunity to get her used to ground poles and going between wings etc. all things she will most likely encounter when she is older and backed. :)
 
Leave her til 3. She will still 'love jumping' then and you won't be risking damaging the joints she needs for the next 20 years.
 
SusieT said:
Leave her til 3. She will still 'love jumping' then and you won't be risking damaging the joints she needs for the next 20 years.
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Excuse me. But I asked for polite opinions.

I will repeat myself.
First off - this was suggested by SOMEONE ELSE, I wanted to ask peoples different opinions.
Second - She does love jumping, she will go out of her way to jump something in the field. When I take her for walks she makes a big deal about a tiny twig and jumps over. I know her, I know the look on her face and body language when she is enjoying herself.
Third - I wouldn't actual train a horse to jump until he/she was pretty much 5, then jumping under the saddle after 5 years.
Finally - What was suggested to me was to loose jump her - to see if she would - not forcing her - over no more than a ft (which I think for a baby seems a lot)

This filly flies over branches and logs and other sleeping horses for the fun of it. It is only something she does naturally 15 times a day when playing in the field.
If she had never naturally jumped anything this would not even be considered!


Also to add. I am not a teenager who knows nothing and just wants to go fast jumping everything.
I don't particularly care for jumping myself.
My filly will be backed no earlier than 42 months (3 1/2 years)
Turned away.
Brought on no earlier than 4, depending on the spring 4 1/2
She will not be doing any actual serious jumping training before she is 5


Tabula Rasa
 
As you said you know your filly but personally I wouldn't be loose jumping my filly whom I have who is also rising two until at least next year depending how she is maturing. However from your previous response I don't think you want to hear opinions that go against your own as I don't think SusieT needed a reply quite so aggressive! Each to their own 😊
 
mturnbull said:
As you said you know your filly but personally I wouldn't be loose jumping my filly whom I have who is also rising two until at least next year depending how she is maturing. However from your previous response I don't think you want to hear opinions that go against your own as I don't think SusieT needed a reply quite so aggressive! Each to their own 😊
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Forgive me if it seemed aggressive. However that particular post offended me. The assumption was made that I just wanted to jump her and run her into the ground.
I was very offended by the remark that I was planning on damaging my filly's joints and well being.

As for your post, I am welcome to any opinion. None of these post go against mine because my opinion is no.

Personally I believe at 2 she can walk and trot though wings and over a few poles (not raised). Nothing more.

Like I explained in my original post, this suggestion was made to me by someone else. Someone who has had many youngsters and bred her own foals.
This is my first youngster and after how eager this other lady seemed to be to get me to loose jump her I thought it was best to turn to the H&H folk for diverse opinions and advice.

I stand by my opinion that this would be a bad idea and jumping should be left until after 5 years of age when their whole body has matured and very little if no damage can be done.
However I needed to be sure I was no over protecting my filly and that loose jumping a youngster was a done thing.

Tabula Rasa x
 
Well it seems we are of the same opinion in regards to how we treat our youngsters and I am glad you are considering all ports of advice before making a decision.
 
Bit of an extreme repsonse to Susie T OP? I didn't think she was rude at all.

I don't think it's a good idea to loose jump a 2 yr old. They will also gallop round the field and make quick changes of direction at that age, but I wouldn't introduce barrel racing yet either. LOL!

Hang on a year and then introduce it as a good exercise before backing. But I wouldn't overdo it. My 3 yr old had 3 sessions before her Futurity assessment last year and we had good success the first time, it all went a bit pear shaped the second time and I worried that we'd mucked it all up so got a more experienced friend to help the 3rd time which went a little better (but not amazing) so was nervous for her Futurity, but she went on to get a 9 for her jumping so all was good in the end. We then stopped completely. So, as a 3 yr old she was loose jumped on 4 occasions in total with between 3 and 9 passes down the lane each time. I think that's more than enough and I wouldn't go down that route with a 2 yr old because of the strain on their growing joints and because if anything goes wrong and they refuse or have a bad jump you have to know what you're doing to put it right or risk them losing their enthusiasm/confidence. There's plenty of time, so I would leave her to her own devices in a herd environment in the field for the vast majority of this year.

Hope that's OK and you don't think I've been rude at all..... :)
 
Thank you all for the advice.

I am pleased to know I am not over protecting her.
I would also like to thank you all for such in depth opinions so I can explain my reasoning not to go ahead with any loose jumping if this other lady brings it up again.

Finally I would like to again apologise.
It was simply the way I read the post that offended me.
Also I believe if I had added a more in depth explanation and my personal opinion on the matter in the original question there would be no need for any quotation marks and remarks about the possibility of damaging joints that offended me.

:( I do apologise sincerely, I have also private message the member I seemed rather short with.

Tabula Rasa x
 
It's great that she likes to jump silly things when you take her for walks, that replicates what she has been doing following her dam since a foal.

But loose jumping is very different.
What happens if she doesn't like it and stops?
Every time at the same coloured pole for instance?
And it becomes a habit.
At 2 you can't force her, so what have you taught her?

I'd just carry on having fun on the walks, plenty of time to do more things later on.
 
My 2yo loves playing around and like yours will hop over anything given the chance, he has jumped over the top of a sleeping field mate! While I don't do jumping with him I do pole work for a bit of mental stimulation, walking over them, round them, between them both forwards and backwards. As he's a colt it's been great for mental stimulation and teaching him manners and obedience.

Incidentally I had jumps set up in the field last summer and my then 3yo shetland gelding would jump them by himself when they were all playing. It was fun to watch but as he was taking them on no matter the height I decided to leave all poles on the ground from then on and remove cups when not in use, did feel a little mean for spoiling his fun though
 
I don't think I've got much more to ad, seems you know what you're doing. I personally won't be loose jumping my rising 2 yr old, just wanted to ad just because they like something it doesn't mean it's good for them that's just the first thing that springs to mind but I see you are well aware of joint issues etc. Thats great she'll hop over little obstacles inhand, I'd just try and keep it 'fun' and carry on as you are and then when the time comes she'll be as eager as ever to learn more.
 
I don't think SusieT's post was rude at all, it was just stating what can happen if you do too much too soon - ie, what's the rush?
If you want to 'play' a bit then maybe just set up a 'course' of poles on the ground in an arena (if you have one) and lead her over them without acvtually asking her to jump them - she needs to be happy to be able to walk over these without fuss.
I didn't loose jump my youngster until he was 3 and have only done it once- I need to do some more as he's rising 4 now!!
Leave her to do her own 'jumping' in the field if she wants and fine if she's doing it when walking out on command but I would be trying to make her just step over things on the ground not jump them as otherwise you could have issues when you do try and ride her over such things later on as she will think she needs to launch over everything!
 
They can do enough damage to themselves at that age without help...

Our rising 3yo spent his 2yo spring in because he pulled a chip of his pedal bone doing handbrake turns at gallop in the field. Their bones haven't fully formed yet and they damage really easily.
 
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