Most horse jumps you see on TV and in the movies look like graceful and effortless movements, as the shimmering horse sails through the air, lands on it’s feet, and keeps up it’s pace without ever slowing down. In real life, it’s not so perfect or natural for horses to just jump over things as if they were born to do exactly that.
It takes endless amounts of training, time, patience, skill, and the right fit between horse and rider, and also trainer, to master the feat continuously. The sport requires that its human and animal participants have courage, intelligence, and physical prowess in order to be successful.
Horses with long strides, powerful leg muscle and hind quarters, excellent hooves, and substantial height make the best jumpers, It’s not all physical though, the mental aspect of jumping is just as important. Horses have to be smart on their feet, confident, and aggressive. It takes a lot of training, hard work, and trial and error before a horse truly masters the art of jumping, and all that may also be said of the rider.
In this video you can see Commando the Holsteiner learning how to jump. As he and his female rider approach a shallow ditch in the field, the horse hesitates, unsure of whether or not he wants to make the small leap. Commando was going along so nicely and then for several seconds he looks indecisive about the whole situation before he finally leaps high up in the air and over the obstacle.
He overshoots and miscalculates the height he needs to make the jump and the result is a hilarious, ill timed, yet also adorable moment that makes for a great horse clip. With a little more practice and patience, Commando will soon be jumping over things like this with no hesitation or problem at all.
It may look like the horse is doing all the work and the person is simply along for the ride, but it is actually a very athletic and challenging endeavor. Both the horse and rider need to share a common connection and be well bonded so that they trust and instinctually know, or can sense, feel, and anticipate, what the other is doing or is going to do next.
Since the horse and rider cannot see over high obstacles, which may be broad, narrow, doubled or even tripled in width, they need to trust each other to be able to swiftly and properly make it over them all. The object of horse jumping is to make it through the course without ever touching or dislodging any of the obstacles and because of this a horse must have complete faith in it’s rifer to guide them both through.
Enjoy the Video Below!
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