Should your flatwork be a certain standard before you jump?

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Cinders

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Just interested in peoples opinions and maybe some tips/ suggestions please.

I’ve got a 15.2, 8yo mare who I’ve had 2 months now, she’d been imported from Italy and I got her off a friend. She came to me quite unfit and clearly hasn’t had much work put in to her flatwork as she’s very green and loves to go like a giraffe. She’s suppose to have SJ in Italy but my instructor thinks she was probably flung at jumps with the emphasis on getting over them rather than technique. In the time I’ve had her she’s really come on and is now working more consistently in an outline in walk and trot, however her canter is still not great. She’s got a very high head carriage and it’s all a bit fast which makes it harder to control her.

In the time I’ve had her we’ve done some pole work (although only in walk and trot) but no jumping mainly because I didn’t want to whack jumps up and tear at them out of control, also my instructor suggested with left jumping until she’d improved on the flat. Some people think I’m mad to have not jumped her yet and it got me thinking that whilst you need good flatwork to get the jumping good, jumping also helps improve the flatwork so maybe I should be working on the jumping at the same time?

Anyone got any suggestions or exercises on slowing her down and getting her to pay attention to what she’s doing? I’m thinking grid work might help but I’m not sure on the distance and don’t want to get it wrong. What sort of distance should I use for a 15.2? She’s quite an excitable mare and a bit of a free spirit liking things done of her terms so anything that will keep her calm and controllable is appreciated!

Finally, I feel stupid saying this but I always feel more confident jumping from a trot first until I’m used to a horses jump but when I went to try her I was told never to jump her from trot as she’s got a big jump and will send me into space. When I tried her she does have a big jump but I’m not sure how helpful that comment was apart from slightly putting me off, surely trotting won’t be hugely different to cantering?

Should I hold off and wait till the canter has improved or give some jumping a go with the view that I need to get on with it and try her out?

Sorry if this all sounds rather novicey but I’ve only really jumped my lovely 14hh pony for the last 7yrs so jumping this new mare is as new to me as it is to her.

thanks in advance
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I started to properly jump my horse when she could canter in balance (I had done some pole work before that). I remember because she had just done her first prelim test when I started to jump and I wouldnt have taken her to do a test unless she could strike off properly and canter a 20 meter circle in balance.

I jumped her from trot at first, when she herself pulled me into canter before the jump did we start to string a few together in canter
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That seems a bit of an odd comment for someone to make?!
 
i think some people can wait forever until the flatwork is absolutely perfect before jumping which imo is a bit silly.

if you are going to do gridwork why does the horse have to be able to canter a 20m circle in perfect balance? you will be cantering in a straight line for between 1-3 strides.

i think with the OPs mare there would be no reason why she couldn't do some gridwork with small cross poles- i have always found jumping really helps with the canter as it can give them a purpose if they are idle or steady down the whizzy ones by making them look at what they are doing
 
when i got my horse, he was appauling in every pace, no balance, which meant he just careered round a course of jumps with me hanging on trying to slow down, often ended up in horrible cat leaps. so i decided id work on my flat work mainly, with my instructor, having lessons once a week- 45 mins flatwork, 15 mins jumping. I didnt not want to jump as although we were going very fast, he actually had a very nie technique. so once we had really improved his canter- instead of a gallop, it was a canter we then put up some very small jumps-2.6ft/2.9ft in a shape like a X but with lots of jumps all coming off from one point. this stopped him rushing as i just jumped where i wanted to jump, and because there were lots of jumps he didnt know where he was going so startd to listen to me. it really slowed him down. now we are fine, but it did take a lot of time to sort him out! hes still a bit giraffey! so i would work on both, but mainly flatwork, what made me keep jumping him was i gave it to him as a reward, as he loves jumping, and he soon realised if he behaved in the flatwork part he was allowed to jump, if he didnt we did more flatwork!!!
good luck
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i think with the OPs mare there would be no reason why she couldn't do some gridwork with small cross poles- i have always found jumping really helps with the canter

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Yup, I would agree with this - jumping can really help some horses to improve their flatwork IMO. A few years ago, I was ridig a horse that could hardly canter round the arena - he just didn't seem to be able to get his legs in the right order! We worked on some bounces - just tiny to begin with, working up to a line of several. It really helped him, and when he could do them, his canter on the flat came on enormously.
 
my pacer has to jump from a canter but the only way to practice cantering was to get him jumping. poles on the ground and grids helped him canter but that worked for him, and he's a bit different to most!
 
it depends totally on the horse tbh. i have a homebred 4 yr old who can just about canter a circle (ish), but was getting really bored in the school and starting to look for trouble, so i put a few poles out and then a few small fences (no bigger than a foot high), and trotted to them. she absolutely loves it, she can now see the point of going in circles for a bit, it is improving her attitude and her balance hugely, she lands in canter and happily carries on, doesn't rush, etc.
so, i'd say, try it, with little fences, and see how you both cope. use placing poles if she does try to rush, but she shouldn't really if the fences are small and she's confident.
 
thanks for the replies, certainly given me lots to think about!

Tried her over some small jumps today on the lunge starting with a X pole and going no bigger than 2ft6, she loved it and really surprised me at how calm and sensible she was!

She's quite a clever horse and get bored very easily so i'm definitely going to try some small jumps under saddle as we can we can keep going with the flatwork whilst letting her have fun as well. She's also been napping a lot of hacking so hopefully some jumping might sweeten her up!
 
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