Cracker Jack & Co! Photos by Jumporamic, Kit Houghton & Steve Wright
I am Francesca (Frankie) Hibbins and I’m 18, I am still studying at the moment as well as working part time. I’m an amateur show jumper who hopes to get far!
The main horse I compete at the moment is CJ, short for Cracker Jack. Although many people on the local show jumping circuit around here (Leicestershire) will know him as Mister CJ, (although he has many other names at home). CJ is owned by Deborah Hayes, and is not what you would call your typical show jumping type, due to him being a 15hh (not that he knows this fact) gypsy bred, coloured trotter with a wall eye. It is quite safe to say that CJ stands out from the crowd!
I thought people may be interested to read about a horse that wasn’t bred to show jump and to inspire people who would like to show jump and don’t necessarily have a horse that is specifically bred for the job which, as we all know, is a growing trend. CJ is, as we call him, a freak of nature with a tremendous jump. Debbie (CJ’s owner) helped fill me in on the time she spent with him before I was asked to ride him. He is now 10 and she spent a lot of time getting him to where he is now with me. Debbie had him from when he was 2 even though she thought at the time he was 3?! He had been originally broken to a Sulky (a gypsy trotting cart) and even with all the work that has been put into him, he still has tendencies
to behave like a trotter at times! Debbie spent a lot of time on the ground with CJ to regain his trust in people, as in her words she said “it was like dealing with a statue most of the time, as he just froze if you did anything like groom him or put a rug on him, his head went up like a giraffe and his eyes would roll backwards in his head and his answer to everything was to let rip with both barrels as I found out!”
At the start Debbie spent the majority of time on the lunge with him finding him going into sheer panic whenever a whip of any sort was picked up, the next issue she found was actually getting on him “Although once he got to trust me he was a very laid-back horse and would follow me around the school if I was on foot, he responded very well to voice commands.” Debbie also used to find if she didn’t have time to ride she would take him out on exercise on her bike and lead him off it, they could do a fair distance in a very short time this way with his trotting pace. “Braking could be a problem; thank goodness he was good with voice commands. CJ then ended up coming to live with us at Hall Farm after me riding him at a few competitions and us ‘clicking’, we even managed a 4th the first time I ever rode him. He’s now been with me for over 2 years and finally the hard work is starting to pay off, he still can be a handful, but it just goes to show that with some time and patience you can get somewhere with a horse that isn’t necessarily bred for the job! Some of the competitions he’s already qualified for and been to are the Amateur Championships, Scope, Burghley Pony Club show jumping teams,
represented Area 6 and is regularly placed in British Showjumping classes and my main goals for the forthcoming show jumping season are; to compete at the Blue Chip Championships and the Hickstead All England championships, to progress to Newcomers and to aim for our 4 double clears at Discovery for the qualifying rounds. Also I am hoping to compete at the Dengie Championships again and keep representing my Pony Club.
I also have a novice horse in at the moment, I’ve had him for a year and he’s now showing a bit of promise. He’s an Irish bred horse that has now turned his hoof to a bit of everything and has been doing well jumping on a ticket.
Last but not least I have a little 13.2hh cob who I’ve had now for 6 years, he’s very well known in the South Trent Pony Club and is known on the Quorn Hunt hunting field as “the one you get behind if you need a lead” and many times I’ve had people come up to me and say that poor pony couldn’t see over that fence but my god it can jump” he’s now considered a permanent member of the family.
I’d like to thank my sponsors, Classic Show Jumps who have helped with my home set of show jumps! And SAPS (Stamford Animal & Pet Supplies) who help me with anything I need for the horses especially with my feeding. I hope to write again soon. I have a few busy months now with competitions and I wish good luck to everyone for 2012!
www.equestrianlifemagazine.co.uk 65
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