"Hi, my name is Arooj and I would like to know how to teach a horse to jump. I don't know whether I should start with pole work or get straight to jumping. So please help!"

Olympic event rider and H&C blogger Sharon Hunt replies: "I would always start with poles, generally trotting poles but also canter poles. I would lunge the horse first over these and then progress to ridden work. To start jumping I lunge over a cross pole to start; I place a trot pole (marking the correct place for take off) before the cross pole, making it into an upright and then a spread, etc. Once I've lunged a few times over fences, I'll then start to jump on his back - again a trot pole to cross and eventually build up to a grid on three strides. And so it goes on building it up slowly to gain confidence. Best wishes, Sharon."