Tarquin jumped out of his field...again

[Laafet]

Seems I might have a serious jumper on my hands. Went to the yard this morning at about 7 so only just getting light and found Tarquin grazing calming in the alley way. Looked at his field fence, it was all still up so could only conclude he jumped out. Which is pretty amazing as its about 4'6 of electric rope onto a narrow alleyway, he was rugged, is only 15.1hh and must have done it in the dark!

He's only hacking out at mo and as he was only broken in about 6 months ago now we haven't tried jumping anything other than small logs and puddles which he loves. Does this fence jumping mean that he'll be good jumping ridden? I hope so, he must be brave to take on the fence in the dark anyway and incredibly careful as the fence is hard to see in the light. Have put a stop to the escapee act by re-electrifying it, as happens in winter I had just lapsed on keeping a check on the battery and he doesn't jump it if the electric's on. Yard joke is now that Mr T is going to go to Badminton next year!

He is fine and not hurt so I suppose that its not a bad thing just have to remember to turn the fence on. I will have to crack on with his schooling now and see if he's just as brave with a rider, although we wont be attempting any electric fences, I'm not that brave

 

[loobiloo]

PMSL - I had a 14.1 pony who would either jump the fence or wriggle his way underneath and it used to drive me mad. He could jump over 4 ft in the school, but at shows refused to jump 2

so I hope your boy is better behaved than mine in that way

 

[dozzie]

Dunno but I can say my friend had a horse who regularly jumped from field to field and he was a good jumper under saddle too. So hopefully....!!!!!

My old pony jumped out of her stable and she was also a good jumper. Infact she jumped a 5 ' hedge once when I was riding her! She was 13.2HH. Shame I didnt!

(jump the hedge that is! I ended up on the floor! Although I suppose it was the floor the other side of the hedge so does that count???)

 

[Laafet]

We've had quite a few escapees recently at the yard. Mainly due to fencing having had a rough year weather wise and some paddocks are a bit rough so the more intelligent inmates are taking it upon themselves to sort the issue out and get to the decent grass. The ponies opposite Tarquin just barge through the fence, so atleast mine has more class.
Loobiloo - my other horse used to jump out of his field which was barbed wire (hate the stuff) when his mates when out without him, he also refuses to jump when asked unless he has his mates with him. Tarquin at least does show some interest in jumping when ridden and he isn't spooky so I think he is brave.
Have to say he looked very smug when I went to catch him.

 

[moneypit1]

He's just letting you know what a star he is! xx

 

[Laafet]

Aww thats so sweet moneypit. I fell out with him last week as he had his first 'kevin' moment in months and reared up a few times when I was 'trying' to hack him out. But it so hard to be mad at him for long as he has a very cute face. He looked like he was saying 'look mum, I've got lots of grass now and I didn't break my fence, aren't I clever?' this morning.

 

[saskia295]

Laafit, I had exactly the same thing with my youngster last summer. Have you recently moved yards? Mine would pop over 5 bar gates from trot and popped the electric fence too. We tried him in the field on his own, he jumped out, we tried him in company, he jumped out, we tried changing fields, he jumped out. After a week or so (just moved yards) he settled and hasn't done it since *touches wood*! He also had a 'moment' in the school in the early days (which is surrounded by a 5'4" fence) so I thought 'I know, I'll face him at the fence and he'll stop'. How wrong I was! The little git only went and sailed over it.

Having been ridden for about 8 months now, his jump is incredible and he has so much ability under saddle, the height isn't a problem for us. However, SJ is terribly hard work as he has such a casual attitude towards it, he just doesn't care and has a tendency to plough through them. We are working on this and when he does start working, he goes incredibly.

I had 2 thoughts at the time when he was jumping the gates/electric fence and school fence... a) this horse has got scope to burn, what a talented little thing, I'm so excited and b) I'm a bit worried this horse has no brain. Is he brave or a total headcase?!

TBH, I think it's a mixture of both and whilst it's good xc, we have so much SJ work to do! Good luck, I hope yours stays in the field and has an equally great jump under saddle!

 

[Laafet]

Saskia - Mr T has been at his present home for about six months. I think he is a bit of an opportunist where grass is concerned and once he realised the fence wasn't on he decided to go over. He jumped the lower fence (ok its still a good 4ft) between himself and his neighbour in the summer when we first moved there, I think that was due to him never having been in a field on his own before. Hope your boy gets better with his showjumping.