Show Jumping #3-Article

While researching, I found this website with some interesting facts:

http://www.localriding.com/showjumping.html

Some cool things I learned:

• Jumping horses resulted from the Enclosures Acts in England in the 18th century. Fields were required to be closed, and riders had to jump the fences in order to move from place to place on horseback.
• In France, jumping became a popular sport, but the fences were scattered in a field so it was hard for spectators to view the entire competition. 
• In result, "Lepping" was created. This was a jumping competition inside an arena.
• By 1900, most important shows had lepping classes.
• The first big "lepping" or show-jumping competition was held at the Horse of the Year show in Olympia, England in 1907.
• To form rules for the newly popular sport, officials formed the BSJA in 1925 to put some rules into action.
• Similarly, in the United States, national competition rules were formed through the creation of the American Horse Show Association in 1917 (which later became the USEF).
• A fun fact: before 1907, there were no penalties for refusals, so competitors were asked to stop at a fence or go around it to arouse the spectators. 
• Show Jumping became widely more popular with it addition to the Olympics in 1912.