Puzzled by the word scope in the context of horses? So was I, before I got to understand what it meant. The only meanings for scope I knew were optical instruments like rifle scopes and telescopes and the extent of an activity or probability.

When horse riders speak of scope, they’re talking about a horse’s fence jumping capabilities. A horse is said to be ‘scopey’ when it takes jumps effortlessly.

As you can understand, scope is invaluable in the show world, particularly show jumping. Pony owners, trainers and riders are constantly on the lookout for exceptionally scopey horses. They want horses that negotiate the largest obstacles without raising a sweat. Heights in some classes can surpass 1.60m, therefore the scopier a pony is, the better its possibilities of coming back home with one or two certificates. Gifted, truly scopey horses are uncommon, and can be particularly pricey. Great equine athletes are just as rare as great human ones. A human Sotomayor comes along once in a lifetime or 2, and so does an equine Genuine. Both are incredibly scopey.

Get one thing straight, though. Not all horses are scopey to the same extent. Not all horses are of Olympic class in their skills. You can make judgments on a horse’s scopiness only in the context of its classes of competition. You could be referring to a pony which has established a name for being scopey in children’s jumpers without quite having the talent to move further. Everything is relative.

Nonetheless scope is just one of the pre-requisites for good jumpers. They also must exercise due care. A pony that exercises due care is a horse that makes an attempt to jump cleanly, without hitting the jumps. Scope without care is like speed without direction, something like a disaster waiting to happen. The converse holds good, of course: care without scope is like direction without speed. You won’t be getting anywhere.

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