Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2010 | Page 110

the rider

Island Life - August/September 2010

BY ROBERT BOOTH

Assessing a young
horse for jumping
Finding a horse suitable for show
jumping is not an easy task as they
require many qualities. A horse with
proven bloodlines is a good start with
size, movement, temperament and
conformation to stand the work. We
have been lucky enough to have Tanya
Potters 4 year old mare Electra in for
breaking seen here in the photos. She
is by the International showjumper
Romanov out of a grade A mare, she
stands at 16.2 hh, is well put together,

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moves well and has good
limbs, a strong back and shows
a lovely attitude to work, all
the right points to start.
We start by loose jumping the
youngsters to see first of all what their
attitude is going to a jump, starting
with poles on the floor. They nearly
always are surprised first of all but then
should learn very quickly to just step
over them calmly. Then increasing the
jump gradually we start to look at the
way they begin to use their body to
jump. For me the first thing I look for
is spring off the floor, they must leap
in the air with enthusiasm, scope and
height. The next thing I look at is the
use of their backs, they should lower
their heads and lift the back making
a nice round shape over the jump.
They should let their back legs flip out
behind them and at the same time lift
their knees and tuck the front legs up
trying not to touch the jump to show
carefulness. They should do all this in a
bold and confident way by introducing

them slowly and allowing several
training sessions to let the horse work
out what it is doing.
Then we have to ride them over a
fence again starting with poles on the
floor gradually increasing the size of
the jump and here we look at the most
important part, the rideability of the
horse. I like to feel a punch off the
floor and the horse moving forward
over the jump and if they have a little
buck or a play after, all the better. One
that enjoys jumping is so much easier to
train than one with the most wonderful
technique but doesn’t like it.
If the horse can do it, it is our
responsibility as riders and trainers
to bring out the best of a nice horse.
Electra is a lovely horse, has all the right
qualities and with careful training will
go a long way as a future competition
horse.

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