Horses do not “love to jump”

June 14, 2017

Some people (usually those who profit from jumps racing) would like us to believe that horses love to jump. Again, this is incorrect.

Horses only jump obstacles at full gallop because they are forced to do so.

Horses are intelligent animals with a high level of perception of their environment. If they approached an obstacle that required jumping over in the natural environment, the horse’s reaction would be to slow down, assess the obstacle and adjust their gait accordingly.

If you watch a show-jumping or eventing competition, you will see riders deliberately slow their horses as they approach an obstacle. This helps the horse to steady itself, to judge the height and to jump cleanly. Although there are still risks involved in these equestrian sports, they are far less than those experienced by a racehorse being forced by a whip-yielding jockey at flat gallop alongside other horses over obstacles.

Travelling at speed, these horses are not given sufficient time to assess the hurdle and can misjudge height and/or width, leading to falls. This ‘judgement’ is further compromised when many horses are jumping the same jump simultaneously.

Survival instincts mean that horses are unlikely to jump over obstacles at full speed and risk injury or death. Most horses that lose their riders during jumps races (which happens frequently) choose to run around hurdles and steeples where they can rather than to continue jumping.

(Compared to flat races, jumps races have a higher rate of horses failing to finish. Nearly 20% of starters fail to cross the finish line for a variety of reasons. Horses that do finish often struggle many tens of lengths after the winner and are never in contention. Sadly, this doesn’t stop many riders continuing to whip their horses even though they have no chance of success.)

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18 thoughts on “Horses do not “love to jump””

  1. Claire Wade

    Thank you so much for this article. Greatly appreciated

  2. John Palmer

    Forcing horses to make high jumps which is against their natural behaviour should be regarded as a crime and be outlawed. Most contests which permeate our culture today serve no purpose whatsoever and are totally useless.

  3. Taishi

    As a horseman myself I couldn’t agree more with this and it really frustrates me that that people like me have to contend with this sort of thing constantly.

  4. Gabrielle

    I honestly do not agree at all. As I rider myself I have experienced jumping and my horse loves it. She shows all signs of happiness when I put out the jumps and never refuses a jump. What causes horses not to enjoy jumping is because of the trainers and riders. I only ever push my horse as far as she can and I never put her in situations that she may find uncomfortable. I personally find it offensive when people say our sport is cruel and in some cases it is but most people don’t know the enjoyment a horse can have from just simply galloping over a few jumps.

  5. Aoibh

    I agree – a Connemara I used to ride would get bored just doing flatwork and would often play up, becoming focused and happier when popping a few managable jumps, which for her were quite high – she was a pony that loved to be challenged – but this was natural for her. Put in a cross country field to graze, often she would pop over logs, just for joy, while jump racing, on the other hand, is unnatural, dangerous and cruel. It strains brave, talented horses to their limits, and often results in deaths and chronic injuries. Though the title is a little misleading, this is a great article and more awareness needs to be created around this admittedly delicate and controversial issue.

  6. Gwen

    My horse enjoys jumping. He gets excited to do it. He does not show this same excitement towards dressage (which is boring to him).

  7. Giuseppe

    Humans too have undergone a process of natural selection that rewarded the capacity to run over obstacles only occasionally. This doesn’t mean that many humans won’t enjoy sports involving cross country obstacles and alike . My take is that it’s all about predisposition and attitude , which I guess were partially addressed by breeding; the rest stays with the sensitivity of each rider .

  8. Han

    Thinking horses enjoy this as prey animals risking their ability to run from danger if they injure their legs jumping over obstacles is deluded. It doesn’t matter their breeding, they are the same basic animal with the same instincts. Even the very rare horse jumping over a log in a field once or twice on their own is nothing compared to the pounding they take doing this repeatedly for years with a rider.

  9. lilli

    ello mate

  10. Naomi

    I somewhat agree, somewhat disagree. Wild horses rarely jump but we’re not talking about wild horses. I think a lot of people forget that we’re talking about horses who’ve been bred to jump for generations and generations.. I have one jumper in my herd. We don’t jump her since I don’t enjoy it but she takes jumps by herself. I sincerely think that not jumping her is an issue. The other horses in the herd don’t do it. Like people, all horses are different. There are horses who enjoy jumping and there are horses that hate it. The problem starts when forcing a horse to jump which gives CLEAR signs that they don’t enjoy it. Likewise with horses or ponies that dont like to be ridden at all. The sour lesson ponies that everyone describes as “naughty” while they’re giving clear signs they don’t enjoy their job. So the problem isn’t jumping itself, it’s the trainer’s, the riders and the bystanders that will jump a horse because they want it to jump, not because they’re listening to the horse.

    Sadly there is a lot of misunderstanding in the horse world

  11. Samantha

    I grew up in the summer Olympic show jumping arena. I look back and am disgusted that I participated in damaging animals bodies for sport. I agree show jumping should be illegal.

  12. Amelie

    This is mostly not true. I loan a pony who will do anything to jump. He flies over them, excited to go over the next. Some horses do not like to jump, whereas some love it.

  13. LJ

    I sort of agree and sort of disagree. Some horses don’t enjoy jumping. Some do. If a horse does not like to jump, don’t jump him (her) if you can help it. I don’t like to do sports that I don’t have my whole heart in, and neither should horses. But that does not mean all horses should not jump. I believe soulfully that some horses really do enjoy the sport.

  14. Ann

    I highly disagree for many reasons one in which I’m a showjumper myself and my horse loves it you should see him perk up after warm-up when my trainer sets the high jumps up. iv saw many other horses do the same thing. you may just be some barrel racer coming at us because yall get hate all the time. ( by the way, I love yall barrel racers) we do not cause lameness and if we do something was done wrong or irresponsibly

  15. Evaline

    Sure, some horses don’t like jumping and would prefer flat work, but others really enjoy it. And if your horse enjoys doing it, let them do it. I know of quite a few horses who would definitely jump on their own. As well as some who wouldn’t. Humans don’t enjoy every single sport, and saying that since a few horses don’t enjoy jumping makes it abusive is like saying people should shut down every sport that everyone in the world doesn’t like.

  16. mike edwin fletcher

    I agree

  17. Arlo W.

    As an equestrian, I disagree with this. Horses are animals with feelings, just like us. So as a rider I literally don’t ever hit my horse with a crop because I don’t want to scare him. So he does not jump because he is scared of being treated badly. Only once have I seen my pony nervous because he performed badly. This was because he stopped at a jump as he was a little scared of the flowers and I didn’t give him the most steady approach. I gave him a pat and we moved on. In fact, I can let go of my reins and he will still jump the jumps. As long as I provide him with a direction, he puts his ears forward(a proven indicator that they are happy), and will happily do his job so long as he is comfortable with it. Fun fact: most horseback riders jump their horses significantly lower than they would be okay with on the daily basis. While it is true that there are many equestrians that are abusive to horses, you should not judge all horseback riders based on a few cruel singles.

  18. Jillian badge

    There is a difference between jumping over low hedges and virtually flying flat out over mountain high solid jumps or being forced to blindly jump over unnaturally difficult high or obscured water jumps there is a post on utube of a beautiful horse after a difficult jumping round stager and drop dead it should be banned

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