The objectives were to describe the time-motion characteristics of the
sport of show jumping at the preliminary, intermediate and open level
s of competition. Videographic recordings were used to measure the tim
e spent galloping between fences and the airborne time over the fences
at the different levels of competition. In the first round the total
time decreased progressively from the preliminary (80.8 s) to the inte
rmediate (75.0 s) to the open (67.5 s) level, but the average speed (3
99.6 m/min, 399.0 m/min and 403.2 m/min, respectively) did not differ
between levels. Both the galloping time between fences and the airborn
e time over the fences were longest at the preliminary level. In the j
ump off, the open competition had a significantly higher speed, togeth
er with a significantly lower total time and galloping time, Comparing
the jump off with the first round at the 3 levels of competition, the
total time, the total galloping time and the airborne time were short
er in the jump off, There was an increase in the percentage of time sp
ent galloping between fences and a corresponding reduction in the perc
entage of time spent airborne in the jump off compared with the first
round. However, the average speed increased only in the open competiti
on. In the competitions studied here, the horses performed at speeds i
n the range of 399.0 to 445.2 m/min for periods of 39.1 to 80.8 s. The
interval between jumping efforts varied between 4.3 and 5.6 s. This i
nformation can be applied in formulating interval training workouts fo
r show jumpers.