Three Tips to Have Your Horse Jump Higher

Posted by Thathorse Admin, 01 Feb, 2010
Jumps

If you want your horse to jump higher there are three simple things you can do to achieve that goal.  

Tip 1- Make sure you train your horse in a healthy way. It is shocking, some of the fads and training programmes out there that do not take into consideration how your horse's body responds to training. Many training schedules designed to help you jump your horse higher say you should repeatedly jump five days a week for extended periods of time. If you do this then you face an 80% chance of permanently ruining your horse's knees.

What good is it to be able to jump higher in the next few months if in a year your horse can barely walk? Don't overdo exercises which are highly concussive, make sure you rest your horse properly and mix up your programme with a variety of exercise types. Yes, focus on jumping, but don't just do jumps. That isn't smart if you want to know how to make your horse jump higher.

Tip 2- Have your horse eat well. Riders who know what they are doing know how to feed smart for their horse's growth and height. Over feeding will cause your horse to get fat which will in turn will cause greater concussion on your horse's legs, eventually impacting on the horses soundness. And if your horse is carrying extra weight then gravity is making sure that you aren't jumping as high as you could be!

Losing weight through eating well may be one way to increase the height of your horse's jump, but another reason to eat the right kinds of food is that it gives your horse's body the fuel it needs to build up his body after doing exercises. You want to get the maximum benefit out of your jump so training and eating the right foods can be a major part.

Tip 3 - Do the right type of exercises. You want to do exercises that will build your horse's leg muscles and also train your horse's body to produce explosive power.  An exercise to try is jumping grid work where your horse has a series of strategically placed fences in a row to jump. The number of strides between the fences vary this challenges your horse both physically and mentally.