Designing the Perfect Course of Jumps
What goes into designing the perfect jump? Richard Jeffrey, a world-renowned jumping show course designer explains.
What goes into designing the perfect jump? Richard Jeffrey, a world-renowned jumping show course designer explains.
| Q: | How do you design a jump? How do you design a course of jumps? | |
| A: | If the jump is being designed for a sponsor then I take into consideration the product that that company supplies, their logo and house colors and put this together in a tasteful way that both compliments that company and the sport itself. If the jump is just a standard jump for a show then I will take into account any environmental or architectural features of the site, so that it will be harmony with its setting. Also, as we need variations in the jumps, some designs will be based on using ‘wings’, while other jumps will have ‘pillars’ to support the poles. Then there are the different items that we use with the poles like gates, planks, walls, etc. which are very much standardized, but there is a lot of freedom in the designing of the wings or pillars The whole course should not look the same, so when I design a whole course of jumps I will come up with at least five or six different designs as well as the same number of different pole color combinations. | |
| Q: | How did you get started designing jumps? | |
| A: | Before being a course designer I trained as an architect so it has been a natural progression into designing actual jumps. In the old days a jump was very much just a standard type of wing in one of three basic colors, but today as events and competitors has become more sophisticated in their approach to the sport, so has the construction of the jumps. Also, with television and large audiences at shows, it is important that the jumps look attractive. Designing your own jumps can be very rewarding as you know of the different ways you can use them. You can also see them grow from a pencil sketch, through the design on the computer, to the actual construction of them in the workshop and then building them in the arena. | |
| Q: | What are the important elements in designing a jump? | |
| A: | The first and most important element is safety. The various elements that are to be jumped must fall easy and that no one item is too big or heavy, or has any sharp items that could hurt the horse or rider. The same applies to the ‘wing’ or pillar’ at the side, in case the horse ‘runs out’ and crashes into that part of the jump. Of course, it must be attractive to the eye and be in proportion to the rest of the course. A horse is a very elegant animal with a lot of power and the sport comes with a lot of tradition so we should not forget this. | |
What goes into designing the perfect jump? Richard Jeffrey, a world-renowned jumping show course designer explains.
| Q: | What was specific or special about the Animal Planet design? | |
| A: | I was worried that the horse may be spooked with the animals on the side, as some have been by the ‘Shamoo’ jump or Clydesdale hoses that we have used in the past. Toronto Winter Fair once had a jump designed like a cow and many horses have refused to jump it! It was important that the animals were not too large. I thought the way the poles were painted like bamboo, rather then the conventional striped poles that one normally sees at shows, made the jump look so more appropriate to the occasion. Although, there was the extra expense in making the animals three dimensional, and freestanding from the actual pillar supporting the poles, to me this added a whole new concept to jump design. Also we had to use this jump for two very different types of classes - the Maclay Equitation Finals, where in the past competitors traditionally jumped a more natural style of jump at 3ft 6" high, - to the Sportshorse Cup, a more traditional type of show jumping course where the jump was built 5ft high. | |
| Q: | What makes a jump easy or hard? | |
| A: | There are many things that the course designer can use to make the obstacle more difficult to jump, like:
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Picture: DCI |
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Copyright © 2008 Discovery Communications
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