Show Jumping

 This is a well-known international equestrian sport enjoyed at local clubs to big international competitions worldwide. A meeting was arranged in 1923 which led to the formation of the BSJA in 1925. Jumping penalties are assessed for refusals and knockdowns, with each refusal or knockdown adding four faults to a competitor's score; time penalties also apply. A show jumping horse must have the scope and courage to jump large fences as well as the athletic ability to handle the sharp turns and bursts of speed necessary to navigate the most difficult courses.

The international governing body for major show jumping competitions is the Federation Equestrian Internationale (FEI). The two most common types of penalties are jumping penalties and time penalties.

Jumping Penalties: Jumping penalties are assessed for refusals and knockdowns, with each refusal or knockdown adding four faults to a competitor's score.

Penalties for knockdowns are imposed only when the knockdown changes the height or width of the jump. If a horse or rider knocks down a bottom or middle rail while still clearing the height of the obstacle, providing the rails are directly underneath the top rail, they receive no penalties. Penalties are assessed at the open water when any of the horse's feet touch the water or white tape marking its boundary. If a rail is set over the middle of the water, faults are not accumulated for landing in the water.

Refusals: Refusals  are penalised four faults, up from three. Within the last several years, the FEI has decreased the number of refusals resulting in elimination from three to two. A refusal that results in the destruction of the integrity of a jump (running into the fence instead of jumping it, displacing poles, gates, flowers, or large clumps of turf or dirt) will not receive four faults for the knockdown, but instead the four faults for a refusal and an additional penalty while the timer is stopped for the repair or replacement of the jump. A refusal inside a combination (a series of two or more fences with one or two strides between each element) must re-jump the entire combination.

Time Penalties:  Each second or fraction of a second over the time allowed would result in 1 time penalty (e.g. with a time allowed of 72 seconds, a time of 73.09 seconds would result in 2 time faults).

Combinations: A refusal at any of the jumps in combination results in the horse having to repeat the entire set of obstacles, not just the element refused. So a horse may jump "A" and "B" without issue, but have a refusal at the third fence (C), at which time the rider would have to circle and return to jump fence "A" again, giving the horse a second chance to refuse or knock down "A" and "B". Despite being considered one obstacle, each element may result in penalty points if knocked down. Therefore, if each of the three fences in a triple combination were knocked down, the rider would receive 12 faults (4 per fence, instead of 4 faults for the entire obstacle.

Many breeds of horses have been successful show jumpers, and even some "grade" horses of uncertain breeding have been champions. Most show jumpers are tall horses, over 16 hands, usually of Warmblood or Thoroughbred breeding, though horses as small as 14.1 hands have been on the Olympics teams of various nations and carried riders to Olympic and other international medals. The most famous example was Stroller, who only stood 14.1 but was nonetheless a medal winner for the United Kingdom's show jumping team in the 1968 Summer Olympics, jumping one of the few clean rounds in the competition.