Horse Jumping Tips

Looking for a few horse jumping tips? Horse jumping is a wonderful activity to become involved with. Once you have some experience under your belt, you can even branch off into show jumping, which is also known as open jumping or stadium jumping, if you so wish to. There are tons of cool horse jumps that you can learn to perform, such as the open water, triple bar, filler, oxer, and joker.

1. Build Confidence. You can't expect a horse to know how and when to jump right off of the bat. You need to build confidence in yourself and allow the horse to build confidence in itself. If you are working with a horse that has never jumped before, try to use a young horse, as they will be easier to train. It is always a good idea to allow the horse to be brave and jump over a fence or similar object on its own. Trot jumps are a great starter jump and warm-up jump, as well.
2. Have a Ground Person Ready. You should always have a ground person near you when you are horse jumping. You may find that you need to change a grid or lower the jumps that you are performing. You want to keep your horse's mind busy, which means you shouldn't be hoping off of the horse and wasting time lowering the jumps on your own. In the event that you get into trouble, such as the horse losing confidence and attempting to run off, having a ground person nearby will be a great safety precaution, too.
3. Reviewing the Steps. Of course, you should be using different jump grids each and every day you go horse jumping. However, lets say that you are up to a three-element grid. Do not go jumping the next day and expect the horse to jump the three-element grid right off of the bat. Simply put, you need to train progressively. Horses are very smart creatures and they do best when they get a chance to review the steps each and every day, which means you should spend a few minutes with a one and two-element grid before moving onto the three-element grid.