Horse jumping obstacles
items jumped over by horses in some equestrian sports
Many types of obstacles are found in competitive horse jumping sports such as show jumping, hunter classes, and the cross-country phase of eventing. The size and type of obstacles vary depending on the course designer and the expected difficulty level of a particular competition. Horses will need to negotiate many types of obstacles in order to be successful in jumping sports.
Fences used in show jumping are often brightly colored and artistically designed, while hunter and eventing fences are generally made to look rustic and natural. Show jumping and hunter obstacles are constructed to fall down if struck by the horse, whereas eventing obstacles have traditionally been solidly built—though to prevent dangerous rotational falls, certain elements are now being designed to break away when hit.
Arrowhead
Also called chevrons, these fences are shaped like triangles, with the point facing towards the ground. They are generally very narrow, usually only a few feet wide. Arrowhead fences require the rider to keep their horse straight between their hands and legs, as it is easy for a run-out to occur due to the narrowness of the fence. These fences are often used in combination with other obstacles to increase their difficulty, such as right after a bank or as the second obstacle in a bending line. This tests the rider's ability to regain control of his/her horse following an obstacle.
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This entry incorporates text from “Horse jumping obstacles” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.