Peppers jumping update! 'How to?'

So i freejumped pepper very recently, and i thought it'd be fun to show how much pepper improved and roughly explain how i taught Pep to jump like this!

Please note that all these jumping excercises have been on different times throughout a 1.5 year time span. Jumping isn't something that happens overnight and Pepper was a blank canvas. She wasn't taught to jump wrong (or at all), has the talent and is a fast learner. Not all horses may pick this up this well or fast.

.: What is a good jump? :.

A well jumping horse will take off 'rearing' into the jump, and will have its wither as highest point in the jump. This will allow the horse to make a perfect arch over the jump.

To help a horse with their distances you can put a pole 3 meters before and after the jump. But don't chase them into the jump. Let them figure it out or you might get this.

Its an okay jump, if she was jumping a long water jump...

.: How to get a good rearing jump? :.

Teaching a horse to rear into the jump is done with a fun exercise called a bounce. A bounce helps the horse put its weight on its hind and to round its body and make it use its neck to really go over the jump. You can set up a bounce by having a distance of 3,5 m between jumps. You can also add a jump 6.5 m afterwards. You can jump it either way.

I usually put them high enough that she can't throw herself over easily, but that it doesnt become a big challenge. (Video a little later in the post)

.: Other training options :.

Ofcourse the bounce isn't the only 'magic solution' to a good jump. We did alot of things from doing doubles, a bounce to a jump, canter poles before a jump, verticals, oxers etc. This all teaches a horse variety and to keep its focus. The canter poles makes the horse think of its speed and feet so it doesn't rush into the jump.

.: Now back to Pepper :.

Let go back all the way to one of the first times i free jumped Pepper

This is not a good jump. Her head is the highest point, she just threw herself over causing a hard rub on the pole. Her distances were way off so we had to use a lot of poles to keep her straight and as close to a decent distance as we could.

Then we did the bounce excercise. Here pepper was going too fast, causing her to not land in the middle and hit a pole.

This was much better (rip last jump got cut off)

After the bounces we had a normal double and she did much better. You can see her kinda starting to rear more into the jump, and starting to see the distance better.

And now after many of these excercises, and 1.5 years of training, we have this.