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Riders Don’t Influence How Horses Jump

by Liz Osborn © HorseScienceNews.com

Popular belief has it that riders strongly affect their horse’s jumping technique. Through their body position and movement, a rider can direct a horse’s speed and stride, as well as take-off and landing points. Surprisingly, results of a study that measured all these factors while horses went over vertical jumps suggest that this belief is mistaken.

Researchers at the University of Limerick in Ireland filmed ten seasoned horses being ridden over jumps 1.05 metres (3.5 feet) high. Either an experienced equestrian or a novice rider rode each horse.

When the video footage was analyzed, the researchers found that the rider’s level of experience had no significant influence on several aspects of how horses went over jumps. There were no differences among riders in a horse’s speed, nor its length of stride when it approached the jump. Similarly, the distances from the fence to where the horse took off and landed were the same among riders. Horses took jumps in a consistent kinetic manner, regardless of their rider’s body position or movement. 

These findings imply that riders might be given more credit than they deserve for horses’ jumping performance. Additionally, if an experienced jumper isn’t responding to its rider’s guidance, as was the case here, this makes further training of the horse difficult.

Reference
Pippa N.R. Powers and Anna M. Kavanagh. 2005. Effect of rider experience on the jumping kinematics of riding horses. Equine and Comparative Exercise Physiology. 2: 263-267.



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Comments

5 Responses to “Riders Don’t Influence How Horses Jump”

  1. Sue on October 1st, 2008 at 7:59 am

    Were any aspects of the jumping/overall performance different between riders?

  2. Liz on October 1st, 2008 at 10:19 am

    Hi Sue - The study measured just the four variables: velocity, stride length, take-off distance and landing distance. For all of these, the researchers found no significant differences among riders.

  3. cassie stuart on April 2nd, 2009 at 11:11 am

    ok this has nothing to do with influencing how a horse jumps but i have a question and i would like a answer. what is the science behind riding a horse in the hill or mountains, things like forces, gravity, friction, speed, velocity, acceleration, momentum, pressure, mass/weight, reaction time, turbulence, projectile, inertia, collision/collide, viscosity, elastic/inelastic, and kinetic and potential energies. this would really help me in the report i’m doing for my class and this is some of the info i would need if you could send it to me i would be really great full thanks

  4. Hannah on October 5th, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    I am doing a senior project this year, and would like to know if you could answer a few questions as for a source of information? Please let me know as soon as possible. Thank you for your time.
    Hannah

  5. Elle on January 2nd, 2010 at 9:59 am

    This study was done with seasoned horses, who already know their job. Horses do tend to take care of riders when a rider screws up. Perhaps the study should be expanded to consider horses who are not seasoned.

What are your thoughts?