Training Horses Using a Spring Garden

Every other Saturday we set up a jumping chute that our jumper trainer from Russia calls a "spring garden" (I think that is what he is saying), all the horses that are in training get to "play" in it instead of their regular work. They seem to have fun and it is a break for the ones that are under saddle - even the dressage horses like to kick up their heals. The heights are set for their abilities and the distances are set for their strides and also to teach them things like finding the right distance to take the jump, adjusting their stride for the distance, and gathering their haunches for more power.

Today I videoed several of the horses and decided to share them on this blog. The three-year olds jump lower even if they are capable of higher - their bones are still growing!

Here is Porsche, our 3 year old mare - she always comes to me to save her.

Pulsar, my daughter's, three year old gelding is always very pleased with himself.

Melissa is quite pleased with him also and is anxious to start jumping him under saddle. He looks like he is balanced enough to start doing a little very soon.

Polaris, our four year old gelding, has more experience. He went to a few shows last year and

was successful in the Level 1 and Level 2 jumper classes.

Patrick, the sire of all three of the above horses, was working on two things in the Spring Garden - more height:

and more span:

I think it is important to use a variety of different training methods with horses so that they don't get bored with the same old routine day after day. Free jumping can be fun for those that like to jump. You might be surprised to find that your dressage or non-jumping horse gets a kick out of going over fences without a rider on his back!