I never really thought about it, but I did know that some horses like to jump and others did not, since I have a horse book that talked about it and showed pictures of a horse disliking it and one liking it.
I have memory of reading somewhere that jumping was silly to horses, because they could just as easily go around it.
I think there are lots of activities that horses enjoy with humans that the horses wouldn't do in the "wild." One of the things a human can do for a horse is think of fun, interesting ways to move together in harmony. Jumping is only one of those things. However, forcing horses to jump (or do any other activity), or pursuing our own obsessions and goals at the expense of our horse's health or happiness, is where horses and humans both run into trouble. That goes for recreational activities too, not just for competition and working and performance horses. It's not the jump, the race, the dressage, the cutting, the reining, the trail, the whatever ... I believe that it's the human's responsibility to be a wise and considerate leader who keeps the horse's emotional, mental, and physical well-being in mind at all times. This can happen at the highest levels of competition and it can happen in the pasture when we're 90 years old, resting under a tree with our 35-year-old pony. We can cause jumping to be enjoyable for our horses, even if they don't choose to jump on their own. I think of it like this ... you can love running, you can run in races throughout the year and compete for awards and medals and have fun with your running buddies ... but you aren't necessarily going to choose to do a 10-mile hill course or wind sprints on your way to dinner.
money was spent to study this? really I can think of other ways to use money than trying to decide if a horse likes to jump or not it sounds like a study teenagers or 4h kids would do for a project not to be disrespectful or anything horses are amazing creatures and their abilities will never seize to amaze me
I agree with k, especially since horses need studies in their health- there's not much info in that area
horses will do a lot for humans,even the abused ones-so even if they don't like it,most horses will do it out of love for us :)
Just because horse picked the easier route without the jump does not mean it doesn't like to jump. I love to jump but if I was heading for lunch I'd probably pick the route without obstacle. And I know my horse loves to jump. When I say jump he gets all excited and looks around for it!