I believe that it’s generally accepted that a longer back is good for jumping. I was wondering if it was because a horse with a longer back can lift its front end higher before it has to push off with the back legs.
Comments, thoughts?
[QUOTE=vineyridge;7878439]
I believe that it’s generally accepted that a longer back is good for jumping. I was wondering if it was because a horse with a longer back can lift its front end higher before it has to push off with the back legs.
Comments, thoughts?[/QUOTE]
From my personal experience - this is true x10000. The best jumpers I have seen all have long backs. I have no idea why…it is certainly very interesting. Maybe the front end is already way up before the hind leaves the ground?
Cavalier Royale, a producer of MANY top event horses was long as a boat.
I have had good jumpers who were short-backed but have yet to meet a long-backed horse who wasn’t good over the jumps.
That being said, it perplexes me that many horses who have picture perfect conformation cannot jump worth a hoot. Happens… that is one reason why I do not make predictions based on a still photo. Too many times, those predictions are wrong. 
I was taught that longer back = more flexibility, which is necessary for the horse to bascule over the fence and snap the hindend up in the air. It also allows for more “coil” at the base of the jump, when the hind feet step under the front feet to take off. More potential energy = more kinetic energy. Or something like that. 
Of course, long backs may be predisposed to weakness and injury. A longer “bridge” can generate more bounce, which may be more stressful to the connective tissues than a comparatively shorter back. With a long-backed horse, strengthening exercises (compression/extension transitions, lateral work, etc) are particularly important.
It is more important, I think, the sloping and length of the femur than the long back. You can have a long backed horse with a strong back, and a long backed horse with a weak back. The loin connection is very important – but I’ve noted consistently that compact horses are more likely to have a strong loin connection than their longer backed brethren. Obviously, there were many exceptions.
Most of the longer backed horses in the UL have very powerful, sloping femurs.
I don’t think it’s so much that a ‘longer back makes a better jumper’. I think a lot more things come into play there than the length of back. There are many drawbacks to a longer back, including predisposition to ligament/tendon distress and trouble overtracking and carrying themselves properly, are a few that come to mind.
Winding Down, I have had the opposite experience as you, perhaps unluckily. The longer backed horses I worked with had a harder time carrying stronger canters with impulsion, and generally, were slipshod over fences when first introduced. They just didn’t ‘get it’ right away and it took a while for them to develop a correct style. In my experience, the compact backed (I do not use short-backed as a term for a reason, as that can be a flaw too) horses have a more ergonomic jumping style.
[QUOTE=EventerAJ;7878708]
I was taught that longer back = more flexibility, which is necessary for the horse to bascule over the fence and snap the hindend up in the air. It also allows for more “coil” at the base of the jump, when the hind feet step under the front feet to take off. More potential energy = more kinetic energy. Or something like that.
Of course, long backs may be predisposed to weakness and injury. A longer “bridge” can generate more bounce, which may be more stressful to the connective tissues than a comparatively shorter back. With a long-backed horse, strengthening exercises (compression/extension transitions, lateral work, etc) are particularly important.[/QUOTE]
AJ is closest to the answer, I think.
It has to do with loin coupling. The flexibility of a longer back probably contributes to the strong loin which is the muscle base for the coiling and joint angulation. It also makes it easier for a horse to get the hind leg under the belly and less likely to hit himself. I have some short backed horses who are always grabbing their own heels and after a while they just don’t want to extend anymore.
I have been taught that a longer backed horse has more scope (in the sense of being better at jumping big spreads), but has harder time with short distances and tight turns.
My personal experience is consistent with this.
Whether or not a long baked horse is good jumper in general depends on the whole top line, not just the length of the back.
