Show Jumps Are Given An Alloted Time To Finish Or Beat

If you are not sure what exactly show jumps are, then this will help explain them for you. They are generally affiliated with the English style of horse shows or events. The event is generally called show jumping or stadium jumping, these are instruments that the horses are trained to jump over in. Show jumping can be an event on its own or it can be combined with other events such as dressing, hunters and several other events. This type of event is done in horse shows all over the world, you can even find it in the Olympics.

There are a couple of classes of horses in these shows, one is the hunter class the other is the jumping class. The hunter class is judged by appearance, manners and style, whereas the jumper class is based on a number scale on the ability to follow routines, which jumping over show jumps is part of the routine. Hunter class require calmness and style while the jumper class requires the horse to be bold, fast, accurate, power and control.

There are a variety of different things that will create faults that will be given to the horse which will lower its score. Those would be knockdown or refusals as well as time violations. Note that there is no fault given to the horse if the knockdown did not result in making the jump shorter. That means it is alright for the horse to knock down a bar that is in the middle or the bottom.

If the horse refuses to do a certain jump and it interferes with the competition, that horse can then receive up to four faults for the one refusal.

There are time penalties during show jumps as well and that is based upon the average time it should take to run a certain course and if they go over the average time then they will receive one fault for ever second that they go over the allotted time.

Another fault is called the combination fault. This is when the course happens to have repeat areas during the course and the horse has to go through a particular area more than once. Should this area be an area that the horse refuses to do each time they get to that point, they will be given four faults for each refusal. So if the horse decides to refuse that area two times in a row, he would receive 8 faults.

The type of tack or saddle and accessories that a horse wears is important to the horse and rider. The saddle is an English saddle that allows the rider to have close contact with the horse. This kind of saddle gives both the horse and rider a lot more freedom when it comes to their show jumps. The saddle pads are generally white, they can attach the bridle to any kind of noseband and can be equipped with a bit or not. A lot do not use bits. If used, they must get approval of the official vet before they can use the bit on the horse.

There are several different types of events that show jumps can be found in. One would be the Grand Prix. Here the horses are expected to complete ten to sixteen obstacles with the heights going as high as six and a half feet. This particular event is included in the Olympics.

Other types that are popular would be, Speed Derby, Puissance which is a type of course that may have jumps as tall as seven feet high. The Six Bar is a course that has six different jumps for the horse that vary in size beginning with the shortest and ending with the tallest. The Gamblers Choice is a course that the rider picks for the horse. There is also one called the Maiden or Novice which is a course for horses with very little experience.

There are different styles of show jumps that the horse may have to jump over. The first would be the Vertical which is several poles that are placed one on top of another and no width for the horse to jump. There is the Oxer and that is when they take two of the verticals, put them together so that there is more width for the horse to jump over. The Triple Bar is a fence like structure that uses three different bars that are set at three different heights. The Wall is a jump made to look like a brick wall. A combination is where the horse does the same jump two or three times during the course. Plus many more different types of jumps.

The two main breeds that frequent these types of competitions are the Warmbloods and of course the Thoroughbred. The competitions however; are not limited to just those two breeds, many horses that have not come from this stock have competed successfully.