Miss Z - I think that the reason it's so important to ride the horse correctly and set them up right is because they can't see the jump for the last two strides.

Horses free jumping would do the same thing, judging the distance before the jump and the effort needed. I would think that they could still jump it even if they couldn't see it for the last step again.

It is possible to teach horse horse to jump on a command...otherwise blind horses wouldn't be able to jump. I remember seeing this video of this girl and her blind mare jumping. So obviously they can jump blind.

As for them jumping bounces...I think that they judge the jumps before they reach them, so by the time they're jumping the first in, say a 4 jump bounce, they're seeing how far it is to the 3rd/4th one. Maybe. haha i just confused myself.

I know it's partly me, but we had such an improvement in one lesson that I do owe the person some help. Their technique really helped me keep Leo from popping his shoulder out, and reminded me that "you're not there till you're in the air" haha