Training for Hunter classes

[bluerogue]

Hi all! My stallion is a naturally talented hunter type jumper. He has exceptional form while jumping, and is athletic enough to be good at it, and last the course. I did do a little bit of jump training when he was younger (he is coming 5 now), but since he was so young, it wasn't a lot. He really needs to be started from the beginning, and I have no clue where to start. He longes, and is generally a very good boy. I do know he has one problem I trained him to do (my bad, before I knew it was going to be a problem later)... he wants me to jump the jumps with him.

So my question is, how do I go about training him the right way? Should I start him over poles to get him more aware of where his feet are (with the poles just laying on the ground)?

Any advice is very appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Calekio]

Well when starting to jump are kinda just thrown into it! lol

Perhaps start him off with the wings and a pole on the floor, he goes over the pole, you go round the wings.

Then once he's happy with that put the pole up to a tiny cross... repeat again with him going over,you going round, then when he's happy with that put it up again, just go very slowly with him as you don't want him to start learning to run out.

Also if you find he's struggling to know when to take off we've found a ground pole in front can help.

 

[targetsmom]

That is good advice and what I would suggest too. But you might also want to get Jennifer Garrett's book Training Miniature Performance Horses, which covers it in more detail. It is available from www.smallhorse.com.

 

[justagirl]

I 2nd the comment about Jennifer's book !!!! It's VERY good for those just getting started in training your own horses.