The sport of show jumping involves horse and rider competing over obstacles that are high and wide.  Many are made of bright colours and involve scary decorations or pools of water underneath.  The obstacles (or fences) are positioned in sequence by a professional Course Designer.  The fences are set to challenge the horse/rider pair through technical spacing, turns and positioning.

The age old question for non-equestrians is: So who does the work? There has long been the misconception that the horse does all the work and the rider hangs on for the ride.  However, if that were the case, why need a rider at all?  It is true that show jumping involves a partnered effort between horse and rider.  The horse contributes talent, scope (ability to jump over high over obstacles of varying heights) and physical strength.  The rider contributes technical smarts, timing, strategy and above all - guts!  The rider is the driving force behind teaching, encouraging, guiding, correcting and motivating his equine partner.  Show jumping could not exist without this delicate partnership.

In the Show Jumping discipline, the horse/rider pair competes based on performance only.  There are several types of show jumping competitions: those that test the jumping ability of the pair with no time constraints, those that test the jumping ability of the pair with time constraints, and those that require the pair to compete under higher speed and agility constraints.

The general rule of thumb is: if the pair changes the height of an obstacle (by knocking it down or knocking off a rail), they receive four faults.  If the pair takes more time than is allowed, they receive one fault. The winner of the show jumping competition is the pair with the least number of faults (and often) the fastest time.  When they're competing for $50,000 CDN, such as the FEI CSI** Swisscan Grand Prix during the Canadian Country Classic (August 31, 2008), let's just say the competition gets fierce!