Individuals develop visual skills while participating in sport. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of reported riding expertise on the recall of visual information relating to show-jumps. We identified a relevant (F1) and irrelevant (F2) point of focus in 22 photographs of show-jumps. Participants were students (n = 40) with varying levels of horse riding ability. The task, having viewed each photograph for four seconds, was to identify F1s or F2s from four alternatives viewed for ten seconds. F1s were recalled significantly more than F2s (P<0.001). Riding expertise did not affect overall recall but only intermediate/advanced riders recalled F1s significantly better than F2s (P<0.05 and P<0.001 respectively). Recall of F1s but not of F2s was significantly correlated with riding expertise (P<0.05). Training riders in visual attention techniques might improve ridden performance and could reduce the number of accidents associated with lack of experience and/or rider error
