Highboy Learning to Jump

Last weekend a friend got some great photos of Highboy playing over the jumps in the round pen.  This horse loves to play, loves to jump, and it is really fun to see him figuring out how to make his body work.  First he romped around the pen to get warmed up

Then he and Mahzi chased each other for a while.  First Mahzi barks and sort of pretends to chase him (she doesn't dare get too close), then Highboy chases her until she cries uncle and scoots under the gate to escape.

Then he began to play with the cross rail jump.  He would always make an alert face for the camera, then run to the gate to ask the photographer if she got a good one. 

First he jumps it high...

Then he jumps it low...

All normal activities for a young horse figuring out how his body works and what is necessary for jumping different types of fences.  Then I raised it to a vertical.  It's actually a horizontal pole parallel to the ground, but it's called a vertical because the horse needs to jump higher in the air with more vertical bascule or body shape to clear it. 

However, Highboy thought he would first investigate the pole to see exactly how much lift he was going to need.  For reference, this jump he is walking over is set to 3'3" high.   He's a high boy, hence his name "Highboy".

Next time around, up and over!

Once he had easily cleared it once or twice, he got a little lazy because it wasn't really challenging anymore, despite the fact that I had raised it to 3'9".  He would get a little sloppy with his legs, not tucking as tight because he didn't have to try too hard to do this jump.  This tells me that he is quite relaxed about jumping (which we already knew because he does it in the round pen unprompted), and I'm not concerned about the sloppy form at this point.  This is only his second time doing fences greater than small cross rails, and this is all a normal process of a horse figuring out how to do it, how much effort is involved, and where his feet and legs go.  Down the road I'll correct his form by doing gymnastics with him.  Those will teach him many things.  He'll learn how to gauge fences with a spread like oxers that are wider, how to compress his body and launch from a rocked back on his haunches position, how to see his distance to the fence so he knows where to take off from, and how to jump high or wide or small or fast or slow.  Through that process he'll learn to tuck his legs and arch his back really use himself well.  It always makes me smile to see the young horses figuring things out in photos, and they will give me something cute to compare to when Highboy is older, stronger, wiser, and jumping like a rockstar. 

After he was done playing he came to the middle of the round pen to snuggle.  I often say that this horse (like several other TBs I've had) is half thoroughbred and half black lab.