Cross Breeds

Jumping help?!!!!?

I have a 6 year old quarter horse gelding who was retired from the race track 2 years ago. I plan to make him a game horse. One game requires him to jump 12 to 18 inch hurdle so I started training him to jump. sometimes he jumps very well and other times he just runs right through it. any help to get him to jump consistantly would be appreciated. he's very big (16.5 hh, 1200 pound) so I've also thought of using him as a jumper. he runs barrels and poles great it's just the jump. If you're wondering I'm a very experienced rider (have ridden race horses) and have trained horses (went to state in horse training for 4-H last year) so don't hold any training tactics back. *sorry I must have pushed the wrong number and thanks for correcting me he's 16. 3 hands I am lunging him over the jumps. have been for a month. I have yet to try to ride him over the jumps

Public Comments

1. Good Luck! Track horses are almost only exclusive to be a track horse and are very, very stubborn and hard-headed
2. running through it how? is he knocking it over or just not making an effort? either way try putting a ground pole in front of the jump so that it looks more 3-d to him. as a side note, a hand is only 4 inches, so a horse cannot be taller than _.4hh edit- wow, i too am a dumbass. i meant to type _.3hh
3. You need to lounge him over jumps you dont just get on him and Jump it! and there is no such thing as 16.5 Horses can only be up to The bigest he could be is 16.3 with out going up to 17 hands.
4. Trying laying out poles before the fence, 3 poles each a stride apart and then one as a ground line. That will help the horse gage the strides and take off point. I have had several horses off the track and shown them in jumping quite successfully and have also hunted a few with no problems. Being an ex-racehorse has nothing to do with his ability to jump, he's just green and needs some help. There is a book out there called Buying and Re-Schooling Ex-racehorse, should be able to find it on Ebay or Amazon and that might be helpful for you.
5. I think you need to build him slowly. Truly, a horse isn't going to learn to jump something with a rider on his back just by lunging or free jumping. If you've been lunging him over one jump for a month or so,. it's well time you got on his back and started him over jumps the correct way --- riding him over groundpoles at the trot, first, then graduating to canter. Once that is successful, raise the ground poles (if you have cavallettis or can make one, these are excellent training tools) to a heigh of 6-8" and trot him over these. Use more than 1 pole/cavaletti, give him gymnastics to work over. Eventually you can graduate to cantering over small jumps. Retaining a Qh race horse is no different that retraining any other horse that's never jumped - do it slow, do it right - and they will learn. Gymnastics are a far too underused way of teaching a horse to jump - but they build so much of the horse's abilities & confidence & training. It seems like the obvious option to just run him up to a jump and let him fly over it (which is all you are doing when lunging him), but this method will create a horse who has no respect or understanding for the jump, and will crash through it, or bolt over it from too far away. Teaching slowly, under saddle, over small obstacles will build him up, and will teach him correctly long term, instead of doing the wrong way and you'll just end up having to back and do it correctly in the future.
6. i'm a gamer also, and there's actually 3 events w/ jumps: 1 jump scurry, gymkhana jig, and western jumping. i don't train my horse to jump, but when there's a compettition i practice jumping a little. i don't train to jump because an event with a jump in it doesn't show up very often where i compete. but then again you said he'd be good for jumping shows because he's so tall. just givin you what i do. my horse is the same way (jumping wise, not tall). :P
7. Even though he's retired, he still has a lot of excess energy to burn; he is young. Just try to bend him more and get him listening to you. To get him to jump constantly is a bit difficult depending on the stubborness of the horse, but the best way is with time and patience. Start off low and gradually raise the rail to a point where he won't jump. Then just keep sending him over it, he will realize what you want eventually, and as soon as he does, reward him. My friend had a horse like this once, it just took time and patience, and eventually he was eager to pop over the rails! Good luck! :)
8. make it alittle bit taller so when he knocks his feet it will teach him to pick his feet up then you can just lower it back down..if his is just plowing through them, I would just try riding him over them a few times and use extra leg when you go over the jumps so he learns to put more power and effort into the jump. when he does it sorrectly over praise him so he understands its a good thing when he jumps it!! if this works then go back to lunging and if he goes right back to doing the same thing I would make him continue to do ground work untill he does it right and when he does it right end it there so he knows that is what you want...if he never does it and become too tired to jump(because a horse can only go so long) I would place a ground pole in front of the jump so he feels more like he has to jump it! I hope this helps and good luck!!! :)