Last weekend, William Woods hosted the Fall
Hunter/Jumper Derby. The hunter/jumper show team runs the competition, which
consists of classes anywhere from ground poles to 2’ hunters to 3’ jumpers. This
was my first time showing as a Jumper, and it was a very awesome experience!
For those non-hunter/jumper people out
there, a hunter class involves a horse and rider completing a predetermined
course of jumps. The goal for hunters is to have a consistent pace, straight
lines, neat corners and proper riding position. Basically, the most graceful,
consistent and correct pair wins. I, like most hunter/jumper riders, started
out riding and showing in the hunter style.
Jumpers are almost the opposite. There
is still a set course of jumps to complete, but the course can include some
tight turns and more challenging jump combinations. The goal of a jumper rider
is to complete the course as fast as possible without having any faults. A
fault would be either knocking down rails or if the horse refuses to jump the
fence. The fastest pair with the cleanest round wins! In a jumper derby, there
is a first round where everyone jumps the course. If a horse and rider complete
the course within a certain amount of time without any faults, they go on to
round two, called the jump off. The jump off usually has less jumps but may
require more technical skill from the horse and rider. Whoever completes the
jump off with the least faults and the fastest time wins.
Quickly transitioning from hunters to
jumpers had some challenges. I had to keep reminding myself to change my
mindset from ‘pretty’ to ‘fast’. Usually during practices, I would catch myself
in the middle of the course and think “well,
I was supposed to already be looking for my next fence while I was going over
that last jump but now my horse and I are way over here in the corner... oops”.
As a jumper, you really have to have a solid plan to cut off as much time
as possible before going in the ring, such as, “ok, right after that jump we’re going to immediately turn to the right
in front of that other jump so we can cut the corner and make the last jump”. Once
I got the hang of it and got rid of any lingering hunter habits, it was so exhilarating!
For this show, I rode an amazing William
Woods mare named Voila in the Low Jumpers. The Low Jumpers consisted of a regular
jumping course and then a jumper derby. The height of the jumps varied between
2’6” and 2’9”. Our first course was a good start, but not great. Voila needed a
lot of encouraging to move forward, and we got 2 faults for refusing a jump (it
was the same jump and had some haybales underneath it that apparently looked intimidating!)
Otherwise, I thought it was a good test run, although we didn’t win any ribbons
for that class. The first round of the derby went much more smoothly. We knew
where we were going, we were a lot faster and I had a plan. As soon as we
landed from the first jump, my plan kinda disappeared and improvisation took
the wheel. Everything was fine though, we made it through without any faults
and advanced to the jump off! The jump off round also went very well and placed
us 4th in the low jumper derby! Even though we didn’t win, I was
super happy with Voila and myself.
While showing hunters is exciting, nerve-wracking,
and loads of fun, jumpers introduces a new level of adrenaline and exhilaration.
The challenge of conquering difficult courses by taking risks and racing
against the clock has captured the attention of my inner adrenaline junkie. I
still plan on riding hunters, but more jumper courses are definitely in my
future!
~Jennah
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