Starting
Free jumping is primarily used to start horses over jumps. The goal from this training method is to develop an honest jumper that has confidence over fences and to strengthen muscles used for jumping. Starting without a rider is viewed as beneficial because a rider can interfere with the horse’s natural way of going and create unnecessary problems. A poor rider will create nervousness or bad habits in the horse that will be difficult to reverse. Allowing a horse to jump on its own also develops better balance and strengthens the necessary muscles which will make it easier on their joints and back when it comes time to jump with the added weight of a rider. By starting a horse over jumps without a rider it makes the horse better prepared and easier to ride over fences.
Read more about this topic: Free Jumping
Famous quotes containing the word starting:
“The starting point of the human and the end,
That in which space itself is contained, the gate
To the enclosure, day, the things illumined
By day, night and that which night illumines,
Night and its midnight-minting fragrances,
Night’s hymn of the rock, as in a vivid sleep.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Down went the owners—greedy men whom hope of gain allured:
Oh, dry the starting tear, for they were heavily insured.”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)
“But even at the starting post, all sleek and new,
I saw the wildness in her and I thought
A vision of terror that it must live through
Had shattered her soul.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)