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 a horse refuses to do a jump he can receive four faults for that jump. If the refusal by the horse happens to actually interfere with the event itself, is when they will receive a penalty for the 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 the horse wears is different for show jumps than for the other types of competitions. It is an English saddle with what is called a close contact design. This gives both the rider and the horse more freedom when they are performing their jumps. They usually have square white saddle pads, the stirrups are shorter. The bridle can be used with any kind of noseband and bits are allowed as long as the official event vet deems that it will not harm the horse.
There are several different competitions available around the world. Grand Prix is one where the horses are made to jump ten to sixteen different types of jumps. Some of which reach as high as six and a half feet. This particular course can be seen in the Olympics.
Others you might find would be the Speed Derby, Puissance a course where horses must clear seven foot jumps, the Six Bar which is six different jumps going from shortest to highest, Gamblers Choice would be one that the rider picks out and not the judges, Maiden or Novice for inexperienced horses and many more.
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 horse breeds that generally compete in these events would be Warmbloods and Thoroughbreds with a long lineage behind them. Although at times, there are horses that compete well and do not come from this type of background.
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