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My horses birthday is tomorrow!! IRL
  • This is my baby boy Mojo handsome little polish Arabian
  • Trying to get this to work lol
  • He's my best friend I've raised him since he was born and I've done all the training on him since I was 13 :)
    img src="photo CBFF3662-9D78-4358-A92A-6D53C226A369_zpsadmw0vb3.jpg" />
  • He's so handsome!! Do you do shows with him?
  • I did a little 4H with him but he was a baby it was for a training program I did :)
  • Oh, that's cool! I do 4h with my guy too! I actually have a big 4h show coming up soon :D
  • I loved doing 4H when I lived in Minnesota. Now I live in North Carolina and I'm planning on doing more shows once my daughter gets a little older and listens better. I have a feeling she's going to climb through the fence while I'm in the ring. I trained him in jumping but I'm working on doing gaming with him now :)
  • Awwww :x

    image

    Always Looking for FF's and Liver Pearl's
  • He's gorgeous! How old is he? I really like the Arabians like your boy that are more of the Polish/Russian or endurance type. Some of the halter Arabs that you see now with the extreme exaggerated dished faces look really creepy and like alien horses to me, and they can have breathing problems with faces that dished so I really don't get why they breed them like that. But Arabians like your boy are stunning!

    I have a soft spot for Arabians since the first school horse I learned to ride on when I was a little kid was an older Arabian. He never did anything naughty or ran away with beginners, he was always happy to work, and he wasn't dead lazy and comatose like a lot of the beginner school horses out there. I still remember that his favorite treats were McDonalds French fries (but not wendys or Burger King, he didn't like those) and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He ate all the normal horse treats too, but those other things were his favorites. :D

    I ride jumpers so you don't really see many Arabians since they're generally not the most talented show jumpers out there (they usually have proportionally short backs which can limit a horse's scope and how high they can jump). But I've seen some at lower levels and they're wonderful since they always seem to have such a nice work ethic and attitude. Thoroughbreds will always be my absolute favorite, but I really like Arabians still. The Anglo Arabs seem to do well in 3 day eventing though, I know there was one at Rolex this year.
  • Oh that's cool! I love doing shows! Even though I still call Sally mine, we sold her, but I did ranch with her which I love because it's like western, but not as slow and it's a lot less formal! Elliott was professionally trained in western pleasure, but we're starting to try out English with him :) we tried jumping with him, but he's still a baby and he's terrified of all the jumps! :))
  • Have you tried free jumping with him? The showjumping and eventing breeders (especially the Europeans) do it a lot with their young horses since it allows the horse to figure out how jumping works by itself. It generally boosts their confidence over fences too because if they know what to do without a rider telling them, they're usually a lot braver and they don't get as nervous if the rider makes a mistake (which happens to everyone sometimes, even the best riders). Smart horses tend to do especially well with free jumping because they learn things a lot faster and Arabians are usually pretty clever, so it's something your boy might enjoy.

    If you do a google search on how to teach a horse to free jump, you'll find a lot of info since it's a pretty popular training technique. You will need some way to create a fenced in "chute" though. If you have an fenced arena, standards and poles can make a decent side wall for a chute. Just make sure you start with little crossrails and work your way up to fences that are a little bit higher if you want. Some of the people who breed horses for jumping will start their young horses off with fences that are a little bigger but I wouldn't recommend that for your boy since you said he's already a bit nervous about jumping.
  • His mom is a polish insurance Arabian and his dad is a western pleasure
  • If you mean free jumping he can clear our gate at 6ft and he's only 14 hands lol
  • He's turning 7 :)
  • He's stunning! Happy Birthday, Mojo! :)
  • @mistidog to get mojo to stop being afraid of jumps I had to hop off and jump them with him lol I'm glad I did track after I went over it with him he wasn't scared anymore lol
  • Give him a kiss for me :x. Tell him i say happy birthday!
  • Very pretty happy birthday Mojo he almost looks wild bay with the small black on his legs so pretty
  • The weird thing is, at home, he'll jump over anything, but at shows, he'll refuse any jump, no matter how small or simple it is
  • Such a pretty boy. I wish I could ride again. With Arthritis, in the passed it would lay me up for weeks if I tried. I now have a new medication regimen but have been to scared to even attempt it yet.
  • He has no white at all just like his mom lol. His legs should be darker but his dad is a gray.
  • @Mistidog, when you jump him at home are there always other horses in the arena or immediate area? A lot of horses that don't want to jump at shows aren't afraid of the jumps so much, what they're really afraid of is being in the arena all alone and having to jump without other horses around. Especially if your horse will jump fine in the warmup ring at shows but freaks out in the show arena, he might just be upset because he doesn't have any horses in there with him. Or sometimes the show environment and all the pressure of showing can make horses nervous, especially the sensitive ones. They know there's something different about the show, the people are behaving differently, and it gets them freaked out. Does he get upset if you take him other new places besides shows, like trail riding or clinics/lessons at other barns? Or is it only shows that he doesn't like?
  • He's lovely - happy birthday to him. :) x
  • @WindwardFarm, at home, sometimes I'll jump him with other horses and sometimes there isn't, so I don't think he's scared of being alone. Also, he's scared of the warmup jumps and the jumps in the show arena... I guess it might just be stressful for him. He's usually very calm when we take him places, including shows. He can be fine all day doing English and western at a show, but as soon as we try to jump him, he'll freak out and refuse. He's also really new to jumping, so that's probably another reason why
  • @Mistidog I've learned that also the jumps themselves can be very scary the first time around! Of course, I cant speak for your actual situation since I don't know the horse, but I've learned from experience that new jumps are the scariest, especially for young horses and horses only starting to jump. He might just be familiar with the jumps at home, and therefore more comfortable, but once you get to a show, he's never seen these colors and shapes before and therefore gets scared or stressed.
  • @deardiamond, that's probably part of it too... but the last show we tried to jump him at, we set up a tiny cross rail with plain wood poles and plain wood standards, and he still refused... we haven't really tried to jump him since February, but we were gonna try to jump him again at smaller shows once 4h is over
  • @Mistidog "I know what you're trying to do, Mom. It won't work!" -Elliott =))
  • @deardiamond :)) "Mom, the jump has scary flowers!"
  • Have you tried walking him over the jumps with you leading? That's what I do with my horse and he's over come jumping alone. I do it a lot when I'm training when ever I get to an obstacle what ever I'm doing (games, jumping, western pleasure, or trail) it gives them a clear signal and are you nervous when you go over a jump? The horse can feel that through your legs and hands. it's kinda like going through a haunted house it's less scary having a person who knows the house and you follow them through it.
  • @OakCreek13, I haven't done that with him, but that might help. But I wouldn't be able to to that because normally they don't let you in the arena to jump until it's your turn, so I wouldn't get the chance to do it. Sometimes if he's brave, he'll master the warm up jumps, but he'll still refuse the show jumps. And in trail classes, he's not terrified of anything! He'll do the bridges and the gates and everything fine.
  • I'd say try to get there when no one is going to be in the arena and just do a little ground work with him either early in the morning or late in the evening (if the arena is lit)
  • My insurance mare Cake (Mojo's mom) is my all around mare. She can do a trail patter perfectly and pretty quickly lol but I disqualified because I use only a hackamore on her because she had a hooked tooth and the bit would hurt her mouth. When I did insurance with her I use to get a solid full run with her for an hour and a half and the longest I've trained her to go it 15 miles. She does games as well. I trained her when she was 6 and now she's 11 I'm moving her down south with me next year after she has her last foal and I want to do games with her again. My mom tried to sell her but I got really mad and told her to send me the horse I wouldn't let my mom sell that horse if my life depended on it I'm excited for next year when I get Mojo's training done and get to show both of them :)
  • @Mistidog, I don't know what kind of shows you do, but most jumper shows and rated shows no longer allow people to lead horses over jumps in the warmup ring, and the handy hunter classes can't ask people to lead horses over jumps any more. There were some pretty nasty incidents where people tried to lead their horse over a jump and when the horse jumped it landed on top of them and the people got badly hurt. The eventing competitions do not allow riders to dismount on cross country and lead their horses over jumps for the same reason.

    Now, if you're showing at 4-H shows or other competitions that don't focus on jumping they might still let you do it, but at a lot of shows a steward or show manager will come over and stop you if you're leading your horse over jumps. The best thing to do is ask show management for permission first so you know if you're allowed. If they say yes then go for it! Otherwise that's something that you'll have to stick to practicing at home.
  • @WindwardFarm, I don't do jumper shows (mostly because he won't jump lol) but most of the time they'll give you a warm up round before your class. And at 4h shows, they give warm up rounds before the show starts (like 5 or 6 in the morning) but I live really far from where most of the shows are, and I do halter and showmanship with Elliott, and my trainer doesn't want him to be dirty and sweaty before halter, so I normally don't do warm ups. And now, they don't let people walk the horse over jumps. In April, a girl fell off and her trainer tried to walk the horse over a jump, and people were yelling at her not to.
    Anyways, we decided that jumping wasn't his thing, and we decided to focus on things he's good at, so we haven't tried to actually jump since February. We've done cross rails and stuff, but nothing bigger. I just think that he needs more confidance at shows, and maybe bring him to some small jumper shows, and just do a few classes just to get him over the jumps :)
  • @Mistidog, If there are any ground pole classes at the shows you attend, those might be ideal. You can get him used to going over the poles in the show ring but he won't actually have to jump anything so that might help.
  • @WindwardFarm, in other classes, like ranch riding, sometimes there will be ground poles in the pattern that you have to walk, trot, or canter over, and he does fine! Maybe it's the flowers that scare him, or maybe he's just a bit crazy, but he just doesn't like the jumps :))
  • They've all got their quirks! I used to shareboard a TB gelding for a little bit when I was a freshman in high school. He loved jumping and he could easily jump around 4 foot courses at home, but when you took him to a show he just freaked out and it was a struggle to get him around a 3 foot course. He never really got better at shows so the owner eventually sold him to one of her friends at a different barn who wasn't interested in showing but wanted a horse she could jump around at home. Most horses do get much more comfortable at shows with time and practice though, especially if they're young. Sometimes the young ones mentally mature very slowly, and some of them don't outgrow their "baby brain" until after they've been done growing for years, especially the geldings. Which is probably part of the reason why I personally prefer mares lol.
  • @WindwardFarm, oh yes, he still needs to mature a lot :)) he's 5, so I guess he's still a baby, and he definitely acts like one :)) he has his little quirks that you might not notice if you don't know him, but I see him everyday and see all the things he does! :)) and I don't jump 4 feet, the highest we've gone with him is 2'6 and we probably won't go higher :)) when we were looking at horses to buy, I was looking at mares, but I just fell in love with Elliott when we first saw him! ;;) he was the first horse we looked at, and later that week we bought him :)
  • Since I finally learned how to post pics, here's a pic of us the last time we tried to jump at a show :)) it took us a while to get him over the tiny jump for warm up :))
    photo Snapseed_zpsxiudms91.jpg
  • He's a cutie! :) He just looks very green over fences but you said he's only 5 so that's totally normal.
  • Yes, he's very green. I've had him for about a year, and we started doing small jumps about 3 months after getting him. Before we got him, he had never gone over anything taller than a ground pole :)) he only did western pleasure with his old owners
  • Awww lol he's just a baby

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