Is Show Jumping Dangerous?

While at a horse show with my family the other day, the show jumping started and my wife pretty quickly had to look away.

She’s always been like that; very nervous watching potentially dangerous activities.

The rest of us were enjoying the show and, luckily, no one (people and horses) were injured.

My wife’s squeamishness did get me thinking, though, about whether showing jumping really is statistically dangerous.

So, after we got back, I decided to look into it.

So, is show jumping dangerous?

Leaping around on a horse always carries some amount of danger, but if done responsibly and carefully, and take the necessary precautions, statistically show jumpers aren’t in much danger. Injuries can be very bad when they do happen, though, but generally show jumpers are safe.

That said, show jumpers train for many years and it’s understandable why it looks so dangerous to the rest of us.

Furthermore, there isn’t just a human rider on there; what about the horse? So, let’s look at it from both angles.

Is show jumping dangerous for the rider?

Though experienced riders generally know how to stay safe on their horse, there are many dangers associated with the sport.

Most of the time, accidents happen due to a rider error.

More experienced riders, unsurprisingly, fall a lot less than newer riders.

This is where most of the danger occurs.

One danger for the rider is getting their foot caught in the stirrup after falling, and being dragged around by a frightened horse.

Most stirrups are designed to prevent this from happening nowadays, but it is not unheard of.

In most cases, though, riders will have someone on hand to stop the horse as quickly as possible.

Falling off midair is one of the more common dangers.

A horse can sometimes make a minor error that is enough to throw the rider off midair.

This can cause serious injury, broken bones, and serious concussions.

Helmets help to prevent this, though.

Sometimes, the tack can break, meaning that the rider has no way of stopping the horse except their voice and legs at the side. Losing control of the horse this way is less of a problem for well trained horses, but it can still be dangerous.

Finally, horses can be unpredictable, and in some cases have been know to buck, rear and throw off their riders after refusing to jump or participate at all.

This is always a danger with horse riding, but it’s certainly easier to get horses to run in a straight line for a race than to do a show.

But what about the horse?

Is it dangerous for them?

Is show jumping dangerous for the horse?

Any event involving horses holds an amount of danger for the horse, although most of the danger is really for the rider.

One very common one for younger horses is simply tripping over the jump.

This can cause them to break their legs or hit their heads, and there’s nothing the rider can do to stop it.

Not to mention, the horse stands a chance of falling on top of its rider.

Horses can also very often slip on the surface, which can also lead to broken legs.

Horses are very large, powerful animals propped up by relatively spindly legs, so even the most minor fall can cause a huge problem for them.

If a horse rears during a show jumping show, the rider can be a danger to the horse by reacting by pulling on the reins.

This can cause the horse to fall backwards and seriously injure itself and the rider.

The vast majority of accidents occur in young horses.

They’re much more unpredictable and can very easily injure themselves by not properly following the rider’s instructions.

Lots of experience of riders is essential before a horse can be ridden in show jumping safely.

Is show jumping hard?

In the simplest terms, yes, show jumping is very hard.

It takes many years of practice and training to be able to even ride a horse effectively, let alone take it show jumping.

Once you’ve been training for a long time, it certainly gets easier, but it is always hard.

The level of danger is probably one of the things that makes it so hard.

Professional show jumpers very rarely get into major accidents, but that is simply because only the best are able to compete.

Otherwise, show jumping would constantly be causing fatal injuries.

Having the courage to get on the horse in the first place is one of the hardest parts.

No matter how good you are, something serious could always go wrong.

It can depend on the horse, too.

Horses are obviously very susceptible to good training, but they still always have the chance of that animal instinct kicking in and throwing you off at the worst moment.

Show jumping is not easy, then, but it probably comes quite naturally to the professionals. F

or them, it has to be like breathing, or they stand a real chance of getting seriously hurt.

So, if you’ve never ridden a horse before and you’re thinking of climbing on and trying some show jumping, you’re in pretty high danger of hurting yourself.

Show jumping is probably one of the more dangerous horse activities, but far from the most dangerous.

For both the rider and the horse there’s always a certain level of danger, but if the rider is responsible then the danger is really minimal.