Monday, March 24, 2008

Puissance: Wow! and [cringe]

Puissance competitions. On one hand, how exciting to see horses and riders test themselves in one huge singular effort. And what an awe-inspiring effort! On the other hand, I can barely stand to watch. The world record has stood for over 50 years (see the second video). A jump of 8 feet, 1 1/4" is held by an ex-racehorse named Huaso. Jumping something like that must be an act of tremendous courage and faith in the rider.

One heckuva jump


World record jump, 8 feet 1 1/4", held by Huaso
Starts about 1 minute and 10 seconds into the video...



As if that jump wasn't incredible enough, read the Wikipedia article on Huaso. After his racing career Huaso was purchased as a dressage prospect--but then he had a serious accident and impaled himself on something. According to the article, he "eventually recovered, but accquired a slight limp in the left hind." In South America in the 1930's, being too lame for dressage apparently didn't preclude a career in showjumping.

Well, who's to say? That hind-limb-lame horse jumped a fence over 8 feet high. To quote an old cowboy friend, there's a horse you don't mind feeding every day. Interesting that the post-jump footage is the triumphant rider hoisted on the shoulders of his countrymen. Hopefully off-camera someone is patting Huaso and saying "GOOD BOY!" Shall I just mention, in case someone missed this -- he's a thoroughbred!


4 comments:

  1. That is absolutely amazing! It is impressive to watch, but I agree, I'm not sure if it's good for the horse. I would also be worried about having to build taller fences... :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Incredible! And you really appreciate the height in the 2nd video when he comes down on the other side of the fence.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Coming down and going up -- as he takes off he is jumping close to straight up. Racing takes a lot of heart, but running at least comes naturally. What would possess a horse to want to jump a monster fence like that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brave brave pony. I like watching puissances. Generally the people that enter are pretty sure of how brave their horses are and the walls come down pretty easy. They don't get to heights like 8 feet anymore either.

    ReplyDelete

Hi Guys, Your comments are valued and appreciated -- until recently I never rejected a post. Please note that I reserve the right to reject an anonymous post.