# Is jumping bad for horses?



## TimberRidgeRanch (Mar 6, 2012)

Horses can get injured just being in a field or even a stall. Its all in the care given. Dont want injuries wrap your horse in bubble wrap. I have had plenty of jumpers with no lameness issues but have had a few trail horses with lameness issues come to me.

TRR


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## Country Woman (Dec 14, 2011)

it can be when you don't jump right


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## Jessabel (Mar 19, 2009)

Conditioning is one of the best ways to keep your horse sound for life, regardless of what kind of riding you do. Conformation plays a big part, too. 

When you condition your horse correctly and you know how to ride, you're significantly decreasing the chance of injury, just like with any athlete. My trainer did hunter/jumpers, showjumping, and reining with her old horse, right up until she lost him to colic at age 29. 

When a horse is physically fit to jump, I don't think it poses any more risk than galloping around the pasture like a maniac (like many of them do, especially in the spring :wink.


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## Paul Turner (Apr 18, 2012)

It all depends upon the level of care that the horse receives. As someone else said on this thread, a running horse may get injured while a jumping horse may be completely injury free. It also depends upon the frequency and intensity of the jumps.


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

As with_ any_ athlete, human or otherwise, the chances for injury increase with the activity level and strain on the physical structure.

As long as the horse is conformationally sound for jumping and conditioned properly, I don't see as how it's any more dangerous than anything else we do with horses.


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## maura (Nov 21, 2009)

No, I don't think it's the "#1 avenue to lamenss." And neither stifle or hock injuries are particulary related to jumping. 

Jumping is harder on the horse's front end than the back - injuries I might associate with a horse being jumped too often or too much would include all the concussion related ones - navicular, ringbone, sidebone and soft tissue strains of the front end - pulled suspensory, check ligament, DDFT, etc. 

I'll also point that endurance horses are also prone to the former, and race horses prone to the later. 

Hock and stifle lameness are more common in horses that really work of their hind ends - dressage and cutting horses. 

As others have said, best way to keep your horse sound is with good care and careful conditioning. There's no reason to avoid jumping or any other activity in moderation. If you wrapped the horse in bubble wrap and cotton wool, and kept him in a padded stall 24/7, he might still find away to injure himself and go lame.


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