Show Jumpers Need Skill, Time and Money

Two weeks ago, 21-year-old Hillary Dobbs became a professional show jumper.

Her first competition as a pro, the Hampton Classic that began last week in Bridgehampton, N.Y., included one of the country’s most competitive Grand Prix events, with Olympic veterans and other top international jumpers competing for $250,000 in prize money. It was not an easy way to start, but Dobbs, the daughter of Lou Dobbs of CNN, had won it the year before, as an amateur and as the youngest rider to do so.
 
Grand Prix show jumping requires the horse and its rider to clear a course of fences more than five feet high and as wide as six feet. If multiple competitors complete the course without any misses, they ride against the clock in a jump-off. The fastest rider with the fewest faults wins.

The sport is prohibitively expensive; the horses trained for this level are valued at six and even seven figures. Getting this far usually requires family wealth or a fairy godmother…

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Date: 8-31-2009
By: www.nytimes.com