Starting a horse jumping

[Jenni_]

the OP asked how to START a horse to jump so yes i wouldnt do any of these things with a youngster especially the cross poles

Maybe when they are balanced/more experienced we might do the things you listed above but that was not the question was it??

I know but you said you wouldn't use grids etc because you wouldn't see them in a competition, so I replied to that statement saying you won't see a lot of things in competition but it doesn't mean they're not good exercises.

 

[Kokopelli]

I don't like x poles either for starting out as they have no ground line unless you add another pole which is too much for a green horse, a small upright is much less imposing. X poles can be introduced a bit later.

OP another thing is to loose jump the horse so they can get a feel of how to jump and can adjust themselves without having to worry about a rider. Before attempting a jump mounted it's probably worth letting them do it first on their own.