Have you ever wondered why course designers put an unjumpable object like a bush or a gate right in the middle of a line to the jump? Well, as FEI course designer and builder Alain Ponsot explains, it’s because that’s not the line to the jump that they want you to use!
‘Non-jumpable’ or ‘unjumpable’ elements are not used by course designers simply to frustrate riders or throw them off. They’re actually used to help the rider ride the line to the fence in the way that the course designer has intended. You can think of them as little hints or cheat sheets, if you will — they’re guiding the rider on how to answer the question that the course designer is asking.
In this video, the last in a series of cross country videos safety videos produced by Tiggy’s Trust, Irish Olympian Sam Watson sits down with Alain to talk all about the various purposes of unjumpable elements on a cross country course, including how they can affect the type of MIM clip used on a fence.
You can watch all of the videos in the Tiggy’s Trust ‘Cross Country at it’s Best’ series right here on YouTube.
