Where to start with loose jumping a youngster?

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Sammy_46

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As title really :) Wanted to start getting my young horse over some jumps loose before I do any on board to give him a chance to get his legs sorted. Having never really done any loose jumping with something so inexperienced, I wouldn't really know what sort of thing to put up :/ We have a jumping lane though and I know where I'm at with distances etc and I've got a friend who will help. So yeah, just start with a little cross pole and leave it at that? Should I use placing poles, canter poles, anything else? Will be going for the less is more approach as I don't want to rush him, so I pretty much assume it should just be the one fence, but y'know, just wanna make sure :o :p thanks for any advice
 
I would just start with a pole on the ground then move to a small cross.
See how it goes and build up when the horse is confident ,you can do a fair amount loose in a lane, if the horse is finding it easy and enjoying itself.
Just be careful with distances as a loss of confidence in a youngster can take a long while to regain.
 
horseless jorge! said:
I wouldn't personally start loose jumping until three and a half / four years old, and even then it would be after a couple of sessions with poles and jump wings. I'd start with a placing pole, and then a tiny cross.
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He was four in March and backed this year, his owners haven't done anything with him, so I'm just wondering exactly where more experienced people would start with this :) By sessions with poles and wings, do you just mean leading/free schooling over a couple of poles on the ground? He's been through wings under saddle with no hesitations and ridden up the lane with nothing in it. He's done some in hand stuff over poles but nothing more than stepped over in walk. He has no issues with this at all. Do you think that would be a good enough starting point to putting up a little jump? or should I have him trotting over a line of poles, or just a single pole? Really sorry for the barrage of stupid questions, but I've never had a horse at this point before, they've always been before or beyond this :o
 
It's not a problem, we're here to answer the questions! :D

Well, with my youngster I started with the single pole, leading him over on the ground. Then I got him used to the wings, and put the pole between the wings on the floor. Sounds like being ridden through is a great start for him. I had my youngster trotting up and down three poles in a line, with wings on all of them, then I put the last pole into a small cross.
 
be positive said:
I would just start with a pole on the ground then move to a small cross.
See how it goes and build up when the horse is confident ,you can do a fair amount loose in a lane, if the horse is finding it easy and enjoying itself.
Just be careful with distances as a loss of confidence in a youngster can take a long while to regain.
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Okay, thankyou :) forgot to say that we'd done a couple of poles on the ground already. I've been trying to ensure his confidence is kept high so I'm probably inclined to err on the side of caution as it is.

be positive said:
I wouldnt use placing poles they can be confusing,let it sort itself out that is how they learn to be careful.
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Okay, I did wonder about this, but I would usually use them for a young horse, but I've never had something right from it's first time over a fence so wasn't sure :) thankyou
 
Use placing poles once you start riding him over fences,they are as much a rider aid ,so that you can do less when coming into a fence, as they are to help the horse.
 
horseless jorge! said:
It's not a problem, we're here to answer the questions! :D

Well, with my youngster I started with the single pole, leading him over on the ground. Then I got him used to the wings, and put the pole between the wings on the floor. Sounds like being ridden through is a great start for him. I had my youngster trotting up and down three poles in a line, with wings on all of them, then I put the last pole into a small cross.
Click to expand...

haha that's lucky, I seem to have a lot today!

We had massive gateway issues when we first started hacking out, so I thought I'd rather have my leg scraped on a light plastic wing than a solid gate post if it had to be done! We're quite lucky to have a properly built, post-and-rail jumping lane down the side of our arena. It's brilliant for grids on the more experienced horses, but would you use it for a baby? I suppose if it's just the one fence it would be a problem, they aren't really going to get 'stuck' as they might in a full grid? It's all completely safe, the rails are high enough and the wings are totally safe, all the jump cups come right off. thankyou for your advice :)
 
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