The World of Horses and Equestrian Sports
To this day, my adult friends have the same misconceptions about the difficulties of riding. They assert that it requires no muscle strength, coordination, or endurance, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. Other than soccor, and perhaps hockey, riding is the most physically challenging sport that I have ever tried. Depending on your chosen sport, riding will exercise nearly all of the muscles in your body, and will quicken your heart rate almost instantly.
Equestrian sports have been a major part of the Olympics since 1896,when jumping became the first category. Since then, it has grown in fan base as well as participation, and the competition for the United States Olympic team is fierce. The most popular Olympic equestrian sport is three-day eventing, which will be described later on in the article.
If you are thinking of taking up horseback riding, or if you are considering several of the sports, it’s a good idea to be well-informed of your choices so that you can pick the sport that will work best with your abilities. Each sport requires a different set of skills, and has varying levels of difficulty. I have seen four-year-olds participate in western pleasure shows, but I have never seen anyone younger than seven in a three-day event.
I have divided the sports into two categories: western, english, and racing. The western sports are performed using a western saddle, and are geared towards the representation of life on the farm. The english sports use an english saddle, which is flat and has no “horn”. These sports are more refined and were the original “proper” sports of Great Britain many years ago.
WESTERN
Western events are performed using a western saddle, a western bridle, and other western gear. Riders wear a cowboy hat, a fancy western-style shirt or blouse, jeans, and cowboy boots. The horses are always groomed to perfection.
Western Pleasure
This is arguably the most relaxed of the sports, since the objective is to create the slowest, most comfortable movements possible with your horse. Western pleasure is designed to simulate life on the trail, and riders are encouraged to slow their horses gaits and shape their movements so that sitting in the saddle is comfortable. Competitions involve circling the riding arena at three speeds, called gaits: the walk, the jog and the lope. Competitors are judged on their riding form, their appearance, the movements of their horse, and the correctness of the gaits. Quarter Horses, Arabians, Appaloosas, Paints, and Morgans are commonly used in this sport.
Reining
For more of a challenge, many riders choose reining as their sport of choice. This event starts with years of training and perfection for both the horse and the rider, and often requires particular breeding; in other words, horses that are bred specifically for reining. A horse’s worth is usually dependent on who their sire and dam (mother and father) were until they prove themselves in the ring.
Competitions are essentially patterns assigned to the rider, which he or she must complete in front of a panel of judges. The horse is judged on correctness and style, while the rider is usually not judged at all. Reining patterns are made up of the following movements:
Big Fast – the rider turns the horse into a large circle that touches two corners and the center edge of the ring. The horse is encouraged to pick up the maximum amount of speed.
Small Slow – This is meant to show the smooth transition from speed into relaxation. The rider turns the horse into a much small circle and slows the pace.
Rollbacks – From a halt, the rider swings the horse toward the rail of the arena and changes direction. The horse should plant the outside hoof and swivel around it smoothly.
Slides – Sliding stops are quite exciting, and involve the horse planting his hind legs and “sliding” into a halt. The horse should come up underneath himself from the hindquarters, and the rider should sit back during the transition.
Spins – Also exciting, the spin involves the horse planting one of the back legs and spinning around it, moving only one of the back hooves and his front legs. Most spins entail 4-5 circles.
Quarter Horses, Arabians, and Appaloosas are the most common breeds for this sport.
Cutting
This sport has been gaining in popularity over the last fifty years, and now is a “big-money” sport. Purses for winners range from $10,000 to more than $500,000, and the events almost always turn quite a large crowd of spectators.
Cutting is meant to simulate the horse herding cattle on a cattle drive. It is the horse’s job to “cut” a specific cow from the herd, and make sure that the cow does not escape one line of fence. As the cow darts back and forth along the fence line, the horse “tracks” it with mind and eye, keeping it pinned to that area. Many cowboys and trainers say that cutting is bred into the horse, and that certain animals simply have it in their blood. It really is an amazing sport to watch.
Quarter Horses are the only “acceptable” breed to perform this event.
Barrels & Poles
Some riders start out in these sports, then get bored and switch to others. These are “speed events” where form and style don’t matter. You are timed for each of them, and the fastest run wins.
Barrel racing is a popular rodeo sport involving three barrels set in a triangle. The horse runs a clover-leaf pattern: right turn around the far right barrel; left turn around the far left barrel; left turn around the center barrel; then back “home.” The professional riders have horses that know the pattern and practically run it themselves, and barrel horses are known to be high-strung and easily excitable, despite the mellow characteristics of their breed. Barrels used to be made of steel, but have since changed to plastic to minimize potential injuries.
Pole Bending is not as popular, and involves 6 cement-bottomed poles set in a line. The rider runs his or her horse up the right side, weaves down the line, weaves back up the line, and runs back down the left side. It is a sport based on agility and flexibility.
Quarter Horses, Arabians, and Appaloosas are the most popular animals for this sport.
Trail
Very few people participate exclusively in this event; it is most commonly combined with Western Pleasure. Trail classes are complicated mazes set in a ring that are meant to judge the reliability of your horse. The trails are similar in set-up to that of Agility for dogs, though horses walk the entire course. Riders are made to guide their horse over logs, through water, across poles, and through gates. They increase in difficulty with age and experience.
ENGLISH
English riders are usually required to wear a black helmet, a ratcatcher (white blouse), jodhpurs (breeches), tall black field boots, and a hunt coat. Coats are often waived for hot weather in small events, and sometimes riders are required to wear a stockpin, which is fastened to the neck of the shirt. Olympic-caliber riders wear red hunt coats to show their exceptional skill.
The most popular english event horses are Thoroughbreds, Arabians, Dutch Warmbloods, Irish Draughts, Quarter Horses, Andalusians, and Fresians.
Dressage
This is one of the oldest styles of riding, and originated with the famous Lipizzan stallions of Spain. It involves an intricate pattern formed in a small ring, and extremely proper etiquette. There are specific saddles – usually black – for dressage, and riders do not have to wear a helmet. The patterns increase in difficulty for experienced riders, and they are usually scored by one judge. Patterns in dressage are called Dressage Tests. Riders are not allowed to speak or communicate to their horses in any way other than physically, and spurs are not allowed. If a horse exits the arena before the test is over, the rider is eliminated, and the judges have the authority to eliminate a horse due to lameness or excessive disobedience. Dressage is judged based on correctness of moves, effectiveness of aides, balance, impulsion, and quality of movement, all of which are advanced riding techniques.
Jumping
There are actually three types of jumping: stadium, hunter, and cross-country. Hunter jumping is an event judged on the rider and the horse, where speed is not a factor. The horses are usually graceful and obedient, and very “even jumpers,” which means that they jump each jump exactly the same way. For advanced riders, jumps rarely exceed four feet because higher fences are not jumped “prettily.”
Stadium jumping is judged on speed and faults alone. A fault occurs when a rail is knocked down, a horse refuses a fence, or a rider falls off. Fences can be as high as 4 Ã?½ feet, and are meant to challenge the horse’s ability to turn and take off. Fences in stadium jumping can also be “solid,” which means that there is something solid under the top rail, such as a wall or a flower bed.
Cross-country takes place in both open fields and in the woods, and is meant to judge stamina and speed. Cross-country fences can include such gregarious jumps as boats, wooden benches, logs, water complexes, steps (or banks), and “leaps of faith,” where a horse jumps over a 3 Ã?½ foot log into a valley. This is an extremely dangerous sport, and has resulted in the deaths of both horses and riders. Competitors are required to wear a safety vest to protect their backs as well as a medical armband, which gives emergency informaion and medical instructions should a rider be injured.
Three-Day Eventing
Also called Combined Training, these events are rigorous judges of three different events: dressage, stadium jumping, and cross-country jumping. The local, minor shows are held in two days, while the more advanced competitions span three days (hence the name). These horses are extremely fit, very athletic, and ever-versatile animals.
After each event, the horse is required to trot on concrete and have vital signs checked by an on-site veterinarian, who determines whether or not the horse is fit to continue with the competition. If a horse shows any signs of lameness or illness, he is eliminated immediately.
The first day consists of the dressage competition. This is when the horse is judged on grace, fluidity and control. The second day is cross-county, when the horse is judged on speed alone, and the ability to complete the course. Jump judges sit at evern obstacle to assist if there is an accident. The third day, the horses are judged on the ability to come back from the arduous cross-country to complete their stadium jumping round. The winners are judged on all-around scores.
Ground Events
Also called “flat classes,” ground events are the english version of western pleasure. The riders walk, trot, and canter their horses in both directions around an arena, and a panel of judges determines which horses are the best movers and the most talented. Ground events contain no jumps, and are much less stressful than other types of sporting events.
RACING
Thoroughbred Racing
This is the most popular form of racing, and involves different lengths and qualities of horse. The most famous races are the three jewels of the Triple Crown – the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes. Only Thoroughbreds are allowed to race in these events, and each animal is tatooed with an alphanumeric number on their upper lip, which is how they are registered with the Jockey Club.
Thoroughbred Racing has earned a bad name because of how young they begin to train their horses (18 months) and how difficult racing is on the delicate bones of the legs. Racehorses are trained only to run counter-clockwise on tracks, and not to do anything else. Thoroughbreds are high-strung hotblood horses, and are not to be handled by anyone less than a professional.
Some of the most famous racehorses of all time are Man O’War, Secretariat, Seabuscuit, Ferdinand, and most recently, Smarty Jones.
Quarter Horse Racing
Quarter Horses are “sprinters” because they are only fast at quarter-mile lengths and less. They have powerful haunches and amazing strength, but they are not known for their endurance. Over the last fifty years, this type of racing has faded in popularity, and can be seen mostly on the west coast.
Steeplechase
This is an extremely dangerous sport, as it is cross-country jumping with several horses running at once. Many people have died in this event, and amazing horses have been injured or killed. There are usually four jumps set on a large track, and the first horse to complete four circuits wins. The jumps are between three and four feet tall, and are usually brush jumps with tall weeds and branches.
Foxhunting
This is less of a race than the others, but is still mean to determine speed around a course. As with steeplechases, there are several jumps in a field, and riders are chasing a fox on their horse. Now, due to animal rights activists, an actual fox is not used. Sometimes there are still hound dogs in attendance, though it is not required.
