Thursday Morning Feed from Fleeceworks: 4 Extremely Self-motivated Jumpers

Don’t need no stinkin’ rider to tell these horses how to jump!

Photo: Flickr/Kenny Marek Møller/Creative Commons License

A couple weeks ago we brought you 3 Extremely Self-motivated Western Horses, featuring horses cutting, running barrels and pole-bending totally on their own. Not to be outdone, here are four jumpers who are equally committed to the job at hand.

When disaster strikes (bouncing a one-stride = bad idea), this horse keeps his eye on the prize.

DelMarHorseGirl taught her horse Tucson to jump whatever she pointed him at — literally. She explains, “He learned to jump course of up to eight jumps completely riderless. He could do in and outs, rollbacks, bounces… you name it. It only took minutes to teach him a new course, too!” In her blog, she notes that he could also piaffe and passage bridleless on command while loose in the arena. What a smart horse!

At the 2011 Washington International, Navona Gallegos parted ways with her horse Vatricia at around the minute marker of her Adult Open Jumper course. Her horse, not quite ready to call it quits, took a victory lap that included free-jumping a water obstacle backwards.

And we mustn’t forget Leo the Magnificent who, despite losing its rider about 30 seconds in, managed to nearly win the 2014 Shetland Pony Steeplechase at Devon.

Go Horses. Go Fleeceworks. Go Riding!