Children’s Jumper Championship

One of the exciting events at the Washington International Horse Show is the Children’s Jumping Championship, offering $10,000 in prize money.

The picture above shows the course for this year’s Children’s Championship. As you will see, there is plenty of math in show jumping. Learning to read the course design and understand the written information is important. So let’s get started.

The general types of jumps used in competition are straight or vertical fences and spread (wide) fences. Each jump on the course design has a number beside it, indicating the order the jumps are to be ridden. The spread fences are shown as two jumps very close together. Jump #1 is an example of a spread jump.

A combination, is a series of fences one, two or three strides apart. There may be two or three fences involved and they can be of any type. Together, the jumps included in a combination are considered one obstacle. Combination jumps are indicated on the course design with a number and letter for each jump in the combination.

1. How many obstacles are in the Children’s Jumping Championship course?

2. How many jumps are in the course all together?

3. How many spread jumps are in the course?

4. How many jump combinations are in the course? 

In the information included on the page you will see the term ‘Jump off’ part way down the right hand column. After one round, all horses that have jumped without any penalties are asked to come back for a jump-off round over a shortened course.

5. What is the entire length of the course for the first round?

6. What is the length of the course for the jump off?

7. How much longer is the first round course than the jump off course?

The course must be ridden within the time allowed as indicated by the ‘Time Limit’. There is a penalty for exceeding the time allowed to complete the course, 1⁄4 of a time fault is given for each second or part of a second over the time allowed.

8. What is the time limit for the first round course?

9. What is the time limit for the jump off course?

10. How much more time are the rider’s given to ride the first round course?

Thirteen horses and their riders had clear rides in the first round of jumping at this year’s Children’s Jumping Championship. Of those with clear rounds, the fastest time was Devon Monroe on Shinkansen, finishing with a time of 55.670 seconds; the slowest time was Meghan Flanagan on Revelation with a time of 62.480 seconds.

11. How much faster was Devon and Shinkansen? Round your answer to the nearest tenths.

All thirteen horse and rider teams with clear rides made it to the jump off. In any jump-off, when there is a tie regarding the number of faults, the horse with the fastest time is declared the winner.

At the championship, four horse and rider teams had clear rounds in the jump off – so the fastest time was going to determine the winner. The table to the right shows the four riders, their horses and their times.

12. Place the riders in order of finish.

13. How much faster did the first place team complete the course than the fourth place horse and rider team? Round your answer to the nearest tenths.

14. Of the total prize money awarded for this event, the first place winning team received $2,000. What percentage of the championship purse did the first place team receive?

Here is a video showing one rider and her horse competing at this year’s Washington International Horse Show. See if you can pick out the spread jumps and which are the combinations. Try and spot the jump numbers at the base of each jump.

Children’s Jumper Championship – Answers

1. How many obstacles are in the Children’s Jumping Championship course?
Answer: 11

2. How many jumps are in the course all together?
Answer: 14. Obstacle #4 was a triple combination. Obstacle #7 was consisted of two jumps.

3. How many spread jumps are in the course?
Answer: 8. Jumps 1, 3, 4b, 5, 7a, 8, 10, and 11 were all spread jumps.

4. How many jump combinations are in the course?
Answer: 2. Obstacles 4 and 7 were the only combinations.

5. What is the entire length of the course for the first round?
Answer: 365 m

6. What is the length of the course for the jump off?
Answer: 230 m

7. How much longer is the first round course than the jump off course?
Answer: 365 – 230 = 35. The first round course is 35 m longer than the Jump off course.

8. What is the time limit for the first round course?
Answer: 126 seconds.

9. What is the time limit for the jump off course?
Answer: 80 seconds.

10. How much more time are the rider’s given to ride the first round course?
Answer: 126 – 80 = 46. The rider’s were given 46 more seconds to ride the first round course.

11. How much faster was Devon and Shinkansen? Round your answer to the nearest tenths.
Answer: 62.480 – 55.670 = 6.81. Devon and Shinkansen were 6.8 seconds faster.

12. Place the riders in order of finish.
Answer: 1st place – Grace Knox and Rapidash; 2nd place – Wimberly Debono and Tusker; 3rd place Adeline Rohrbach and Snow White; 4th place Lili Huymowitz and Belle Bleu S.

13. How much faster did the first place team complete the course than the fourth place horse and rider team? Round your answer to the nearest tenths.
Answer: 31.640 – 28.930 = 2.71. The first place team completed the course 2.7 seconds faster than the fourth place team.

14. Of the total prize money awarded for this event, the first place winning team received $2,000. What percentage of the championship purse did the first place team receive?
Answer: 2,000/10,000 x 100% = 20%. The winning team won 20% of the total prize money.

Photos:
Course Design courtesy of the Washington International Horse Show
Horse Jumps by Stephen Craven; CC BY-SA 2.0
Fishbone – Sunday 27 November 2005 – Show Jumping by andreavallejos; CC BY-ND 2.0