jumping outside with artifical lights?

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djlynwood

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I had a bit of a bad fall last night jumping.

was having a jumping lesson on a very seasoned jumper and we were outside with the school lights on. I think he spooked at the shadow below the jump. He never refuses a jump.

Is it a bit carless to jump at night under artifical light given that it can throw shadows?

Does anyone else jump in school with lights on? Im thinking I may be best leaving my jumping till the weekend when I can ride in the daylight!
 
I have jumped in the school with lights on, on two horses - one that is a good jumper and another that can find jumps scarey. They both jumped fine.
I dont do it often and i know people on the yard who wont do it at all.
 
I don't think it's careless to jump under artificial light.
however if this light is very poor it might be worth placing your jumps in well thought out points or not jumping.
If the lights are good - then it's all good
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Our school is flood lit buy 8 or 10 cant quiet remember flood lights and Ive never had a problem even with my youngster shell jump just fine but to be fair I do not have alot of choice espically this time of year when your working untill 6pm.
 
I often ride (and jump) in the dark in the floodlit school - the problem you describe never even occurred to me!
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However we have two massive floodlights, one at each end of the school, so we don't get the problem of shadows under jumps. We do get scary shadows in the corners, but they're more likely to frighten me than Scooby!
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I wouldn't have thought it careless to jump under artificial lighting - but if it does bother your horse, maybe it is best to leave it until daylight.
 
aaah poor you, hope you're ok. i personally don't do it as while my school is lit its not very brightly lit, and while horses can see better than us i dont feel too happy to do it - although i would pop over the odd little jump if it was up in the school if i was having a jumping session id wait til the weekend - depends on the lighting in different schools though i guess
 
I had a very nasty fall many years ago jumping in fading light when dusk and would never jump in those light conditions again as I am sure it was attributed to this bad light and would seriously question my horses ability to be able to jump safely in such conditions. I was lucky and although I ended up in intensive care having suffered severe concussion and fitting and lashing out at the consultants I did not have a brain injury as such. I was poorly for a long time after with typical head injury side effects but I was lucky and would never wish to repeat the experience. Having said that I know horses are meant to be able to see better in these conditions that us.

As for artificial light in a school situation I have jumped in such light before plenty of times but I am always on the look out for shadows, especially that of passing horses that may cast a shadow on a fence as you are about to go over it. Research has shown that horses find yellow/beige/cream and brown fences/poles harder to see than any other colour (regardless that these tend to blend into the surface colour) so you might like to bear that in mind.
 
I have jumped in the dark outside, with lights on and been fine, i have also been at a show where the classes have run on late, its dark and the warm up been outside, so luckily Buzz just gets on with it, pretty much like in the summer when the suns low and casts shadows. however, when i first got him he jumped a shadow and i fell off!!
 
If the lighting is good then no it isn't careless at all, I guess you just have to use your own judgement.

I was watching the SJ at Spruce Meadows the other day, the Six Bar competition was jumped entirely under floodlights, won by a Brit incidentally I think.
 
Mine is spooky and school isn't very well lit so I don't jump, just because I don't want to knock her confidence that took so long to build up. But if it's well lit and horse is confident jumper, I don't really see why not
 
I jump my very green baby TB under artificial light (last night it was blowing a gale too!).

He doesn’t have a problem jumping shadows when were flat schooling so I can’t see how it would effect his jumping too much, plus horses have much better night vision than us.

Plus think of the number of places that hold indoor or evening jumping under floodlights?

Hope you don’t feel too sore this morning though, falling is never fun! x
 
I was jumping at dusk last week and my pony spooked at a rabbit running out of the shadows and / or the shadow of the jump. He slammed the brakes on & I landed face first on his head!

Cue a trip to A&E and two days off work due to concussion, a lip so swollen I couldn't talk / eat and a hugely swollen face / black eye. A week later I still have a swollen cheek and an eye / face that is turning a lovelt yellow / green colour!

I plan to only jump in daylight from now ...:)
 
Thanks everyone,

I got back into the school last night and popped a couple of cross poles from trot. My back was still a little bit sore to canter.

Glad I did, I was coming on so well with my jumping and didnt want to leave it too long before I got back into it.
 
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