# Gaited Horse Jumping: Horrible Free Jumping



## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

I decided to do some free jumping with Baby Girl today.I set up a little grid and asked BG to navigate it a couple times. 

My lord, it was awkward. :lol: She can't even CANTER, so her jumping... 

Critique my poor horse, tell me how to make her better, how to set up my grids better, etc. Fire way! Help me, because sweet heavens I need it. 

Watch in HD or you won't be able to see anything.


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## xJumperx (Feb 19, 2012)

First of all, that was *adorable!!*

I don't think she's a terrible jumper!! She keeps her knees very clean, and she's got some umph in her! I don't know hardly anything about gaited horses, but a little more impulshion might be useful. That gridwork looks great for her. Maybe include some more one and two strides to help her establish a "canter," which will help tons.

I love her!! I think she's simply adorable!


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

Ha ha, thanks! 


I had a hard time getting impulsion. You can see my lunge whip flash around in the video, but she was pretty set on "picking" through the jumps instead of taking them at speed. I'm thinking of adding more ground poles before and after to get her/keep her cantering? She has serious canter problems. 

But yeah. She is sort of cute. <3


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## xJumperx (Feb 19, 2012)

She's probably just figuring her legs out, finding out what's going on. She hasn't done this often, correct? She'll probably get more speed with more confidence, which comes with practice. You're doing great! ^.^


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Question... why? If she isn't comfortable cantering, why do you want her to jump? 
Yes, it was awkward.. but she was trying her heart out for you. But she's obviously not very comfortable with the idea. Why do you need your gaited horse to jump? Some horses just aren't built/bred to do it. 
My advice? Well... can she canter? If not, why? Essentially these smaller jumps should just be a higher, longer canter stride.. so if she can't canter, that's the first problem. Can a horse trot in and out of fences? Sure, but it certainly isn't conducive to a nice jump. 
Like I said, she was trying her heart out to figure it out, and she seemed to get slightly more used to the idea, which is good - but I'm not sure she's going to be your next jumper, sorry.


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

JustDressageIt said:


> Question... why? If she isn't comfortable cantering, why do you want her to jump?
> Yes, it was awkward.. but she was trying her heart out for you. But she's obviously not very comfortable with the idea. Why do you need your gaited horse to jump? Some horses just aren't built/bred to do it.
> My advice? Well... can she canter? If not, why? Essentially these smaller jumps should just be a higher, longer canter stride.. so if she can't canter, that's the first problem. Can a horse trot in and out of fences? Sure, but it certainly isn't conducive to a nice jump.
> Like I said, she was trying her heart out to figure it out, and she seemed to get slightly more used to the idea, which is good - but I'm not sure she's going to be your next jumper, sorry.




Mostly for cross training purposes. She's primarily an endurance horse. I have no hills to train on for mountain rides, so a friend of mine recommended weekly jumping sessions to help build the hind end up. I figured it may work, may not-- but it was worth a try.

So she'll never be a competitive jumper. That was never the goal. But if I am jumping her -- even if I leave it all at home -- I want it to be the best it can be. If that's still pretty bad, I'm okay with that. As long as it's safe for her, and she becomes comfortable with the idea. She gained confidence as the session went on, but as far as safety... She truly isn't a tradition jumping horse. That's an understatement. 

Cantering... She can't even canter properly in the pasture. She cross fires 90% of the time, and she never naturally picks up a slow canter. It's always a _gallop_. She can sprint (badly) from one of the pasture to another (in a straight line only).

We have two theories on why she "can't canter": She has PSSM (confirmed PSSM; we just don't know if it's related to the canter issue), or she is just hard wired to move laterally and the canter is a diagonal gait. (I've settled on a combination of the two.)

I was also hoping that jumping, since it is a canter stride in the air, would help her "learn to canter." 

If all she can do is trot jumps... I'm fine with that. Tell me how to trot jumps excellently, and we'll trot until she is the best she can be.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Could I suggest that perhaps trot poles might be more conducive to your needs? If she can't canter comfortably due to PSSM, or otherwise (it is not natural for a horse to cross-canter 90% of the time) I would suspect that jumping is even more awkward for her as well. She hesitates a lot, even a few times through the grid. 
My suggestion is to look at trot poles, if she trots well. Getting a horse to engage over trot poles is a true muscle builder. Raise the ends to make her work even harder.


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

If I get a video of her cantering at liberty, would you tell me what you think? I've always had a hard time coming to terms that she "can't" do something, but you are right -- cross cantering like she does isn't normal. 

She trots quite well, at this point in her life. I had to teach her. She use to pace, every move she made. Pace at a walking speed, even. I don't think trotting poles would phase her much. Would it be more productive to do this at liberty or under saddle?


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Do you know how to get her hind end engaged under saddle? Horses will naturally seek the easy way out so at liberty isn't going to be as effective as u/s.


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

I have no clue.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Nothing to be embarrassed about!! Do some searching here and start to do some research about how to engage a horse properly. If your goal is building muscle, you want to do it right. There are many, many amazing posts on here from various users on the dressage forums in particular that are fantastic.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

She actually looks a lot more coordinated than I'm sure my gaited mare would be! 

I agree with the other poster, she's trying so hard for you! But I personally wouldn't do that with my gaited horse. 

As an endurance horse, I would be wanting to save the wear and tear on her joints. If you want to work on her hind end, I would work on a little bit of light collection. Which also is somewhat counter-intuitive for a gaited horse, but is probably a lot easier than jumping! 

Like with my girl, I will canter her up hills to practice cantering (this makes her work her hind end and gets her cantering instead of pacing). So I am sort of using the terrain to help her collect and shift her weight to her hind quarters. I know you said you don't have any hills so maybe that doesn't help any. 

Or I will push her a little with my legs while she is gaiting but also ask her to give to the bit and break at the poll. Maybe not true collection in the classical sense but it helps keep her from hollowing out. 

I dunno. Those are just some ideas.


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## xJumperx (Feb 19, 2012)

To cover my backside, because I advocated for the mare and her owner doing some free jumping:

While I'm on the side that generally steers clear of free jumping, I actually don't think it would be a terrible idea for this mare to do smaller jumps, as shown here. There's nothing over 2' here. 2' isn't going to wear a horse's joints as long as it's not done too much, and the OP has said this is a rare thing she does. I don't see an issue with it there, as long as it's not overdone.

Then again, I didn't know her canter issues were medical. I thought they were just from being inexperiences. If she's uncomfortable at a canter, I would definitely not be jumping her. If she's alright and is just wired to be a lateral mover, then I don't see an issue. Jumping these small jumps can help her learn to balance at a canter, maybe teaching her not to cross-fire or otherwise canter poorly.

Just my opinion! Thought I'd elaborte, considering the increase of information/understanding of whats going on here.


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## Cacowgirl (Feb 19, 2011)

Gaited horses werent' meant to be jumping a lot-they should know enough though to get over trail obstacles. My Paso Fino loved to jump, but my big Peruvian mare-didn't even want to go over a bar to the trails, especially if there was a way around it.

Your mare is really trying & I think she does great! If there's a problem w/her cantering, then the lower jumps at a trot-well-she's getting over them! 

I like doing some jumping out on the trail, but especially w/my gaited horses-if it's not their thing, I don't make them do something that goes against all that they were bred for.


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

I'm generally of the same beliefs as Just.

When I see a gaited horse jumping, I typically think "...why?' xD But that's just the Hunter princess in me!
I think your mare is real cute, and you can see her little gears turning, trying to figure it out. 

I would start with trot and canter poles, to get her thinking about the placement of her feet. Once she's got that down, start raising things slowly. I wouldn't go too high, as it's really not necessary.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

She has assessed the height as something she doesn't need to approach at the canter to get the extra push.


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

We just aren't sure if the canter issues are medical or just a wiring/muscle memory problem. :? If I knew for sure, this situation would be easier to call. Jumping, being a canter stride in the air, would help her learn to canter... If she was _physically capable_, which we aren't sure about.


So maybe let's do it like this?

Once a week, I do trot poles under saddle as JustDressageIt suggested. I will take videos for critique and do some research on engagement. 

Then, after trotting poles successfully for some time, maybe we'll try canter poles. If those aren't an epic fail and she proves physically able to canter properly, we proceed to canter poles and small (18" or less) jumps at liberty once in a blue moon. 

Sound safe?


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

Saddlebag said:


> She has assessed the height as something she doesn't need to approach at the canter to get the extra push.




Explain further?


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