What is showjumping?
Showjumping is a discipline where horse and rider jump a course of fences as cleanly and quickly as possible.
In showjumping, a horse and rider tackle a course of coloured fences, often poles balanced on cups that fall if knocked, against the clock. Faults are added for a knockdown, a refusal, or going over the time allowed, and the rider who jumps clear in the fastest time wins. The penalty values are not folklore: they are set in the FEI’s Jumping Rules and, domestically, in British Showjumping’s rulebook, and they change. The 2026 FEI rules were reported to alter both the refusal penalty and the number of refusals that eliminates, and we could not open the rulebook itself to read the current figures, so this page will not print numbers it cannot source. Check the current rulebook, or the schedule for the class you are entering.
It's one of the more spectator-friendly equestrian disciplines because the outcome is easy to follow: clear rounds, faults, and a jump-off if riders are tied. It sits alongside dressage as one of the two disciplines most people recognise, though the skills involved: a horse that's bold, careful with its legs, and responsive to a stride adjustment: are quite different. See our gifts for horse riders for the rider chasing clear rounds. Warmblood studbooks breed for this discipline separately from dressage, the Hanoverian among them.
Written by Craig Fearn, Stable & Hoof. Last updated .
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