Horses

[Golem Joe]

I'm working on an article discussing horses and other types of mounts. After seeing far too many ads for the movie, SPIRIT, it occured to me I needed to add a section on how far horses can jump. Now I know next to nothing about horses, and since I doubt the Discovery channel is gonna come through for me in the next few days, I thought I'd bring my questions here.

To keep things simply, I'm only using 3 categories of horses: Common, Racing and War. Anything more specific will be up to the DM to add.

Anyhow, here are the questions I'm hoping some horse enthusiast/gamer can answer:

How far might each of these three types of horses jump:

Ahead, standing?
Ahead, at a trot?
Ahead, at a canter?
Ahead, at a full run?
Backwards, standing?
Sideways, standing (or bucking)?

How drastically might the rider's weight affect these figures?

Thanks in advance for the input.

Golem Joe

 

[Hand of Evil]

I use a simple formula, a running horse can jump twice its body lenght and clear half its height. This means an 'average' horse will be able to jump a distance of 12 to 14 feet, clearing an object about 3.5 feet high.

Depending on horse and training you can adjust difficulty as needed.

Horses are not really jumpers when they are not moving at speed.

To get a better answer I would say post your question to a horse forum.

 

[DerianCypher]

I'm not exactly a horse expert but I'm pretty sure a horse can't jump backwards

 

[DWARF]

I'm fairly sure some of those drassage-type horses can jump backwards. Maybe their length, but that means almost nothing since at the end of the jump, the horses front feet will only be as far back as his back feet were at the beginning of the jump... so you can cover much distance, and I doubt they could cross any drops that way...

 

[Skarp Hedin]

Lippizaner stallions are heavily trained and can do all manner of things. Of course, they are primarily trick/show horses, but it's a good example of what a heavily bred and trained horse -can- do. I don't know much about horses, of course, but you could probably find info on the Lippizaners on the web.

 

[Mark]

Here are the types of jumps that show horses make-

Jumps:

Vertical --- Straight up and down fence with no spread width to it; appears simple, but it is one of the most difficult for the horse to jump

The Wall --- Solid looking, with top sections which can be dislodged resulting in faults

Oxers --- Two elements in one jump to create a spread; parallel oxers present the most difficulty.

Triple Bar --- A spread fence with three elements of graduating height; very wide but relatively easy to jump.

Combination --- Series of two or more fences one or two strides apart. A refusal of any fence requires the horse and rider to re-jump the entire combination

Water Jump --- A broad jump of 12' - 16'; a low hedge or fence usually, but not always, marks the leading edge; horse must clear the tape on the far side of the jump or incur jumping faults.

Gate --- Vertical jump made to appear solid byusin planks, gates, brush or balustrades

Here are some links that might prove useful-

http://www.bannaczech.co.uk/welcome.htm

http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/~rose/equine/jump.htm

http://www.donblazer.com/ahorseofcourse/0799ahorse.html

http://www.horsenews-online.com/archive/html/geible2.html

Good luck!

 

[N' Scur rah]

First: Horses do not jump backwards! Some very spezial trained horses can do canter backwards, but this means they move about 40 Centimeters per jump back. Forward canter, horses do 2,50 - 3,50 Meters per jump (as a movement of galopp).
Trained horses can jump over a barrier about 1,80 Meters to 2 Meters in high – but only with a trained rider in springstyle.
Racing horses can run with 70 Kilometers per hour for short time.
Normal horses with normal riders can jump up to 1,50 Meters in high.
Horses need two or three galopp-jumps to get enough speed to jump. Without movement, they can only jump up to – let’s say – 50 Centimeters.
Combat horses (like the Lipizzanier) can jump up in the air and catapult their backlegs back to attack an enemy.

I hope that helps a little bit.