SHOWJUMPING

If you're reading this and you don't know what showjumping is, well shame on you! No, but actually.  It is only the most incredible sport ever invented.  If you know nothing about the sport, I encourage you to study and learn, as it is something so different from baseball or swimming or tennis.  It is a life-long lifestyle.  I'll give you a tiny preview of the nature of the sport in this post, as well as in the rest of our posts to come.  Although jumpers and hunters both exist in the horse show world, we are just going to talk about jumpers because it's much more exciting.  Speed, agility, and scope are 3 characteristics a horse must master in order to win any big stadium jumping class.  There is a set course for each class, no matter what the level, and the jumps are numbered.  First, the riders learn the course and then walk it on foot (figure out strides and turns and distances - to make a plan to be executed on the horse).  Next, riders warm their horses up in the schooling ring, over a handful of practice fences and then, one at a time, enter the ring to ride for the blue.  Racing through the start and finish timers, without knocking down any fences in between is basically the goal here.  Typically, there is a first round and a second round (jumpoff).  The first round is when the riders are careful to go clean (no knocking down jumps and no time faults), and the jumpoff is a shorter course, when riders show their guts and race at high speed and make tight turns, while still attempting to clear every jump.  Ribbons are awarded to the winner and everyone who places in the top 8 or 12 usually.  In the big classes, prize money is also awarded.