How do you train a horse to jump natural fences confidently?

Working Hunter fences are designed to look natural and solid — brush, logs, stone walls, gates, ditches, and banks — rather than the brightly colored poles used in show jumping. Many horses that jump show jumps readily are initially hesitant or spooky in front of natural fences, particularly those with brush, water, or unusual visual elements. Training a horse to jump natural fences confidently requires systematic exposure to these fence types before they are incorporated into a course or asked for at competitive height. Introducing natural fences begins with small, straightforward examples that are similar in size and appearance to fences the horse has already jumped successfully. A small log on the ground, approached first at the trot and then at the canter, gives the horse the experience of jumping a natural fence in the most manageable format. As the horse's confidence develops, the size and variety of natural fences can be increased gradually. Brush fences deserve particular attention because the visual appearance of a solid, opaque obstacle is quite different from an open pole and can cause horses that are otherwise bold jumpers to hesitate. Introducing brush at a very small height and rewarding forward, confident jumping before increasing the size builds the horse's trust in the fence type. Ditches and water, if they are part of the competition environment, require their own systematic desensitization beginning with walking over or through them in hand before any jumping is asked for. A horse that has been exposed to a wide variety of natural fence types at manageable sizes before being asked to jump them at competition height will approach a Working Hunter course with significantly more confidence.