My gorgeous 4 year old hunter is now a jumper. I’ve always known he has an amazing body for jumping but I didn’t think he had the mind. I just couldn’t get him to take jumps and cavellettis even scare the heck out of him. I finally just gave up and didn’t want to push it. Some horses just do not have the head to be jumpers.

Well, today he took a 4 foot field fence! And appears to have cleared it nicely. He also kicked out our metal gate, just for fun. This my husband saw and I’m worried that he’s going to come up lame. I cant believe he didn’t kill himself but so far, no soreness, he’s walking and running normally and both front and back legs seem to be ok.

I’ve had them roped off from the large pasture while the rye grass comes up, so this may explain his new found love for jumping.

My question is, what should I be looking for in the next couple of days? If there’s no soreness, limping or lameness now, do you think he’s in the clear? I can’t believe he can come away unscathed from this incident. Is it possible?? Is there anything I can do preemptively in case he did something to himself?

Anne,

usually the first sign is some type of swelling or a tenderness in his leg area.  If he doesn't have any then I guess you dodged a bullet ! Besides Arabs have just about as many lives as a cat....

Now lets see if he will jump with a rider aboard, try jumping him over small jumps on a lounge line.  It might just be a "maturity" thing.

See my thread on the gelding with the bitting problem when you have time.

Thanks guys. It seems like this was my mare. Hey, I wasnt the eyewitness! My friend saw it happened, and said it was "Red".(what the heck, they all look alike, right? ). It turns out it was my mare! How do I know this? Because I went to ride her the other day and saw a nice gash on her chest. She ripped off all the hair but nothing else! Amazing. This defies physics.

Beth, We tried lunging him all right. It was like, "ok, I'll hold the lunge and the 'whip' and you be the spotter." Translation: When he blows the jump, you be the one he runs over. :) Actually, we got him to jump 3 times! wow!! The next day he came up lame. His hind hip, I believe was bothering him. What a drama queen.

At any rate, for the last few days since I was convinced he was "the Jumper" I've been taking him over cavelettis and he's like "way to go, ma!" lol. I guess it just shows that some things are psychological with both the rider and the horse. Now, I wonder what will happen now that I know he's not going to be the next Olympian protege.  ;)