How high would you expext to see poles raised in a trail course ? Are they taken in jog or lope?

Also, I know jumping is not part of western disciplines, but I know my cob likes to jump, (Lunging him yesterday, we veered to close to a large cone in the school and he cleared it!!!)

Would popping a couple of jumps every now again affect a western horses way of going?

I am hopeing (possibly somewhat ambitiously!) to do both western and hunter/jumping classes with my Quarter Horse so I would be interested in the answer to this too!

My boy likes to jump logs etc when out hacking, always ridden western and has not afected his show abilities at all....

I can't see whay the odd bit of jumping would cause any problems. I always think it helps to 'open up' a horse and then they can seeem more flexible in their flatwork afterwards.

If your boy enjoys it I'd think a bit of variety would be good for him.

Hi there raised poles in trail are usally taken in the walk and hence are quite low - i don't think the AQHA have raised jog / lope overs - someone correct me if i'm wrong. We use those pole pods at home to raise walk overs and those are roughly around 7/8ins high.

Raised poles are always at the walk - you want the horse to step higher and not jump.

We use 'bloks' designed for jumping set at their lowest height, with some ground poles placed in front. They work a treat with a horse that's tapping poles.

At the WES clinic Lee was lifting one end of the pole as we jogged over it - don't try this at home!

There's a myth that jumping western horses 'ruins' them for trail - our previous mare showjumped quite happily and also did trail. She knew quite clearly there was a difference between ground poles and jumping. The only thing she couldn't get - understandably - was a grid of ground poles into a fence!