Minnesotan Girl Turns Heads By Galloping And Leaping Over Obstacles As A Human Horse

By Liana Jacob

MEET THE girl who has learned to JUMP LIKE A HORSE after watching ANIMAL PLANET – and has even impressed her TEACHERS by horse-jumping OVER DESKS.

Incredible pictures show doggy day care worker, Hanna Kouba (17) from Minnesota, USA, jumping like a horse over laundry baskets, pillows and riding her pet horse and inspiration, Sassy.

Her skills are shown in pictures of her jumping on all fours in the style of a horse over two stacked laundry baskets with two pillows on top.

Hanna was just 13 years old when she first became fascinated with the show Animal Planet. She began impersonating the animals on the show including cheetahs, leopards and horses.

“Watching animal planet on television was an addiction; I loved impersonating all the different animals I saw, especially the cheetahs and leopards,” Hanna said.

“As time went on and I started playing with the horses at a farm I live close to, their gracefulness and beauty just swept me off my feet and I had to look into it more.

“Jumping was the first thing I started doing since that’s what everyone seems to connect horses with, but as I learned more that’s when I started running the patterns or in horse terms it’s called, gymkhana games. I definitely think it’s a lot more fun than jumping honestly.

“I once stacked a laundry basket vertically with four pillows on top of that and jumped over it. It measured out to be three-foot-four.

“I experience adrenaline when I do this. I always feel like I need to perform the best I can; it’s nerve wracking looking at a tall jump and thinking ‘I need to jump that’.

“It’s the same with my gymkhana patterns, it’s all about speed and accuracy. If you knock a cone you’re disqualified.”

Hanna says that she has received an overwhelmingly positive response for her horse jumping even from her teachers and peers.

“I have students ask their teachers if I can come in and jump for their class. There are in fact a few peers who think it’s babyish and don’t want me doing it,” she said.

“It helps release stresses that I have in life. Or anger that’s built up inside me. For the most part I get pretty supportive and inspirational comments.

“When I was fifteen, I got my horse Sassy and she really inspired me to start jumping and running patterns, and my high school teachers loved watching me jump the desks.

“I love inspiring people to not be ashamed of their talents and to never give up on them even when people put you down.”