Want to teach your horse to jump a bullfinch? First, you need to understand the fence itself. A bullfinch is a brush fence that has greenery, twigs or foliage extending from the top, which the horse should push through, similar to when jumping an untrimmed hedge when out hunting. In this situation, the judge does not want to see the horse jump over the top of the branches and clear the whole fence.
If you’re worried about how to jump a bullfinch or want to improve your horse’s technique over this type of fence, champion working hunter rider Katy Greens shares her advice on how to teach your horse to jump a bullfinch with confidence.
With Royal International Horse Show and HOYS qualifiers often including a bullfinch, not to mention the impressive one at Hickstead itself, many riders will need to incorporate tackling a bullfinch into their training and show preparation.
Why are bullfinches a problem?
“Bullfinches are hard to train for because most of the time you want your horse to be careful and leave all the poles up, but in this instance you are asking them to jump through something,” explains Katy, who specialises in the horse workers, but also competes some native ponies in the larger mountain and moorland working hunter pony divisions.
“It can be hard for the horse to understand when you are training to accommodate one fence when everything else they learn is about clearing the element,” adds Katy. “So when they first see a bullfinch, unless trained correctly, they think that they need to jump over the top and clear it. It’s even harder for the horses who are naturally very careful to understand.”
Ruby Ward and Noble Banksy tackle a bullfinch with ease at Hickstead.
(Image credit: Equinational)
How to teach your horse to jump a bullfinch
When training, Katy emphasises that it’s important to take your time. In an ideal world you need an assistant on the ground to help build your bullfinch up steadily without you having to dismount and remount every time you need to change your fence.
“I always take teaching them to tackle a bullfinch really slowly,” Katy says.
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1. Set up your fence
To begin you need a brush fence set up, in to which your assistant can poke greenery or soft twigs in the top of the brush.
“To start with, add the bullfinch material to each side leaving a big gap in the middle so that the horse understands it is a fence to jump.”
2. Jump the fence as normal
Approach and jump the middle of the fence as you would normally – aiming for the gap in the greenery.
“As the horse gains confidence and understanding, add a little foliage to the middle – and then a little more – but always keep it lower at the centre so they begin to get the feel of bruising through it and it touching them.”
It’s important not to overface the horse and make them feel they need to jump high to clear the greenery at this stage.
3. Add more brush
“We then add more greenery, little by little, to build into a fuller bullfinch,” says Katy.
Once the horse is confidently jumping through the bullfinch, and isn’t worried by the feeling of the foliage touching their legs, then you can call it day for that training session. But beware thinking that once you have done this, that’s your training done – it’s not.
4. Repeat
To ensure the horse’s confidence and understanding is established, you will need to repeat the process a few times.
“When we come to train for a bullfinch the next time, we restart the process,” explains Katy. “I will very rarely just run a horse at a full bullfinch, especially when they are only just learning about them – it’s fine once they are very established and confident – but at the training stage I wouldn’t.”
Continue repeating the process until you and your horse feel confident and ready to face a full bullfinch in the ring.
Bethan joined Horse & Hound as showing editor in January 2025, after spending two years as Editor for Showing World. Having adored ponies since childhood, she started showing as a teenager and has enjoyed wins at major shows up and down the country, including Royal Highland, New Forest, and the Royal Welsh, as well as HOYS, RIHS and London. She is particularly passionate about Welsh breeds and is also a Welsh language commentator.
