3 yro Ottb jumping by himself by choice....

[Galloway Farms, L.L.C.]

Hi guys,

Maybe you guys can give me some incite into why this horse would do this?

He is a 3yro Ottb, came off the track in Nov,08. Has had very little reschooling undersaddle and NO jumping at all. I have trotted over ground poles and that's it.

His Racetrack trainer kept calling him an "Old Soul" and said, "He just gets it" but is not fast enough.

We have an indoor with jumps, and a month or so ago I let him out into the arena and right from the gate he trotted across the arena and jumped over a 2' vertical and cantered around the corner, laid down and rolled. I called my trainer and she did not believe me!

Today he was out in the arena, for 20 minutes or so, running around and he stopped behind a 2'-9" oxer and was smelling the plastic flowers. I called him to come in and he....from standing....jumped right over the fence. Once again I called my trainer and told her and once again she did not believe me.....I am a 39-year-old woman....why on earth would I call my trainer to lie about something like that!

I have seen horses jump things on there own before, but it is usually when a jump is in the way of the running frenzy. I have never seen, until now, a horse jump things when he has options...It's like he doesn’t know how to deviate from a straight line.

Just wondering how common this is and if anyone is horse do this?

Best
Christy

[RioTex]

I have had some that will do it. Some for fun and some when they are playing and the jumps get in the way. I had one that really liked to jump, I could turn him out and cluck at him, he would jump though the in and out for grins.

I had another one that would just make laps jumping. I sold him out of state, sight unseen to a lady and got a phone call the first day they turned him out. He's out there jumping the jumps, she exclaimed.

My favorite was the horse that I bought off the track. I was working him in the round pen over a jump and he would jump, land, roll back and jump it from the other direction.

[jetsmom]

Jet used to jump when turned out, if there was a jump between him and me, and I called him. He'd take the most direct route (over the jump) even though he could go around. Now, he loves jumping. He doesn't have a stop in him, no matter what spot you put him in. If you are even slightly aimed at a jump, you are going over. Makes angled jumps a breeze (no supporting with outside rein and leg to prevent runouts!)

[fourmares]

I'll give you some insight, though I'll try not to incite a riot... some horses just like jumping things. Some horses will jump stuff in the pasture even as babies. My friend has a horse that would jump jumps if he was turned out in the arena.

[caffeinated]

A friend of mine had a foal that loved to jump stuff- he would run around the run in shed, and on each circuit jump the salt block. :)

[FancyFree]

My old mare would jump little stuff in the arena when turned out. Just on her own. It was funny to watch. The first time I put her out in pasture, she jumped out. She comes from a long line of jumpers, so maybe it's hereditary, the liking of jumping.

[McVillesMom]

There is obviously something very, very wrong with him. I'll take him off your hands for you ;):D

[Imaginagent]

Some horses do just really love what they do, or love jumping. My mom had an OTTB long ago. When she first got him, he would flatten himself along a rail in the paddock he was in (that looked like a race track, on paddock inside the other), run a race, then pull himself up and go out to graze. When she sold him, the person did jumpers with him, and when they turned him out, he would go jump an entire course of jumps by himself before going out to graze. It happens!!

[Vandy]

I have a 6-yo Appendix who regularly jumps things on his own, and has been doing so since I got him at age 4, before he'd ever jumped with a rider. He jumps cactuses and bushes in his outdoor turnout - everyone gets a kick out of watching him do this. Even if there's only one jump set up in a big arena, chances are he'll jump it even though it's not "in his way". He also jumped a mounting block when he was turned out in the indoor the other day ;) Have had some others like this over the years, including one who would jump a whole course of 6-8 jumps when inspiration struck. All the ones I've had who have done it are horses who clearly love jumping under saddle as well :)

[zahena]

We have a pony who will jump stuff when she's turned out or free lunged. She'll actually canter around, look for a line or a fence to jump and jump it. Then canter around some more, size another one up, jump it and keep on galloping around. It's pretty hysterical to watch because she'll just do it all alone, with no one watching. She just REALLY loves to jump!

[Vandy]

And another good one: I have a pony who was sold to me because the 4-yo kid who owned her before I did hadn't started jumping yet...but the pony would drag her over jumps set up in the arena and the kid would fall off :lol: She got better about that over the years, but in one lesson I was teaching a crossrail kid with less than perfect steering, and rather than jumping out over the crossrail that was the 2nd jump of the diagonal line, she jumped the 3' oxer next to it. Wait...now that I think of it, she also jumped a 2' jump with a little kid here who was just learning to canter and was supposed to be cantering a circle near the jump. The kid's mom actually got that on video, including my reaction which involved a 4-letter word. So I guess now that I think about it, the pony didn't really get better about it :lol: :lol: Amazingly, neither of my kids fell off, but watching it probably took about 10 years off my life.

[Beasmom]

I had one who (before I got him) would jump out of his turnout & over the neighbor's barbed wire fence to spend the day grazing with the neighbor's horses. Then he'd jump back home for dinner. Previous owner (my old trainer) stopped that by putting a hot wire around the top of his turnout fence.

My mare would jump a line set up along the rail in the indoor (freejumping) until she was either out of breath or I started to dismantle the jumps.

Yes, some just love it!

[Rhody Ram]

My Oldenburg, from the first day I owned him, has jumped on his own in the indoor. He will jump around the outside (even at 3'6') over and over. Sometimes up to 10 times in a row. He'll jump in-and-outs, oxers, verticals, he even once jumped an end fence and has jumped diagonal fences on occasion. He leaves at least 1, and usually 2 strides out of lines, jumps easily and canters away. He'll make STUPID decisions (like leaving from 2 miles away) but bails himself out every time.

It has only once come back to bite him in the ass. He tried to jump a 3' vertical off the corner on the outside and took off from a mile away. He second guessed himself in the air (which he never does) and paddled in the air. He crashed and ended up on his knees and his back legs went under him too. He stayed down for a second, then got up and cantered off sound. He had only a few minor scrapes on his legs.