Anyone who rides gets asked/told these two things, “Horseback riding isn’t a sport” and “Why do you ride, it’s not a sport in the first place?” Well to answer that last question, we ride because we love it. There is nothing close to how fun and beautiful horseback riding can be. Just like how you like swimming, soccer, karate, etc. We love horseback riding! For me, (and many others) the answer will never change!
Other than how fun and amazing riding is, it also requires lots of physical strength. I ride and I do 200 squats a day to keep myself in good physical shape. I also do 100 push-ups a day, to make sure my core is strong! This is the type of exercising we equestrians must do so we can be physically strong enough to ride. How do you think we make the horse go, we don’t say “Oh beautiful horse, please go into a Canter for me!” NO, we use our legs to squeeze the horse to make it go: all the while steering the horse and planning out when to turn. So, at any given time we are doing 3-4 things at once. Most of them require physical effort.
Anyone who rides horses has amazing balance!! How do you think we stay on while were jumping, or when barrel racing? We have to sink our heels down into the stirrup which requires lots of leg strength! We also need core strength, so we stay on when jumping. If we didn’t have any core or leg strength how would we stay on? People would just be falling off left and right! Sometimes the horses lean, and we start falling off. We need to have impeccable balance so we can stay on.
We also are hard core daredevils! We allow a beast with a mind of its own to carry us and do whatever we say because at any second they can throw us off! We also are brave enough to get back on a horse that may be unruly and has a habit of bucking. All because we love the sport, and we will do anything to do it. Unfortunately, there are over 100 equestrian related deaths a year! Not only that the injuries that come with the sport are (worst case scenario) paralysis and severe brain damage. I am training to become a hunter, not the hunter that kills animals, the hunter that jumps over jumps on a horse while trying to not go past the time limit. The whole jumping over large jumps on a horse is scary but add in the fact that horses are beasts with a mind of its own which makes it even more dangerous and scary!
When were not on the horse we are working hard too! Simply just being in a horse barn requires some sort of physical strength. From lugging around BIG bags of food to carrying heavy saddles to put on the horse so even just prepping to ride and taking care of the horse is demanding work!! When we pick the horses feet, we have to carry the horse’s leg and hoof and pick out their feet. It’s not exactly the lightest thing. We also shovel poop multiple times a day and that can be demanding work.
I hope this article makes you appreciate equestrians more. We work hard, but it’s all worth it because we are doing what we love!