About this guide

RM Show Jumping is an independent guide to the sport of show jumping: how a course is designed, how a round is scored, what the equipment is for, and how to watch a class and know what you are seeing.

It is written for the curious spectator and detailed enough to be useful to riders. The whole site is arranged as a walk in six numbered steps, because that is the order the sport actually makes sense in — the plan first, then the round, then the score, then the history that shaped all three.

What this is not

• Not a venue, showground, club, stable or competition organiser, and not affiliated with any.
• Not a results or entries service. There are no schedules, start lists, scores or dates here.
• Not a source of horse-care, veterinary or feeding advice. This guide covers the sport, not the animal's health.
• Not the rulebook. Where a rule is summarised here, the rules of the competition being run govern.

How it is written

Every diagram is drawn for this guide. The course plan is a representative track — invented geometry, chosen to show how distances and angles ask questions — not a copy of any real class. Rule references such as 2.1 or 2.5 are this guide's own numbering, so a rule can be cited and linked inside the site; they carry no official standing.

Figures are indicative throughout. Heights, spreads, speeds and distances vary between levels, federations and individual competitions, and the schedule of the class is always the authority.

Photographs show fences, arenas, tack and paper plans. Riders appear only distantly or in part, and no minors are depicted. There are no named horses or riders anywhere on the site: the subject is the sport itself, which is why nothing here needs a date on it.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, we would rather know. Write to the desk and quote the guide and the paragraph.