As the 2016 Olympics are now well underway, I've recently come across various social media posts and articles that suggest horseback riding is not a sport; that the Olympics are for humans - not horses. If you believe horseback riding isn't a sport you are wrong.
In your sport, you work with a team. In my sport, my teammate is a 1000-pound beast. Your teammate understands you effortlessly as you call out "I'm open, pass the ball," it's not as simple for equestrians, as we have to speak to our teammate through our bodies. The smallest of movements or shifts of weight can create a flawless execution or a devastating consequence.
In your sport, you bounce a ball. Imagine you're dribbling down the court about to make a layup. Despite your flawless technique, the basketball leaves your hands and violently pushes you to the ground (kinda laughing at this visual) - a basketball with a mind of its own. Well, the equestrian's equivalent of a basketball does have a mind of it's own. In our sport, our "ball" has the power to kill us each time we pick it up.
Your sport has an off season. Sure, some sports season's last longer than others, however, just about all sports have an off season. You can hang up your cleats and enjoy some downtime. Equestrians have no off season. Sure, there are times when we aren't competing, but unlike your cleats, we can't put our horses in our closet and say "see ya in a few months."
I often hear the claim that horseback riding isn't a sport because a real sport has offense and defense. So swimming isn't a sport? Gymnastics isn't a sport? Archery isn't a sport? Track isn't a sport? If you're telling me a sport needs to have offense and defense you're telling me Michael Phelps isn't an athlete.
Oh so you lift? So do we. Equestrians lift water buckets (50 pounds), hay bales (50-75 pounds), horse feed (50-60 pounds) and saddles (25-30 pounds) daily. Still not impressed? How about the fact that we aren't afraid to put a 1000 pound animal in it's place when it acts out?
You tackle your opponent to the ground, you aren't afraid to get tackled. You think horseback riders wont get their hands dirty? Don't let our put together appearance fool you (we don't just wake up fabulous), between grooming our horse, cleaning our tack and mucking out stalls, we are no stranger to getting our hands dirty.
You know what, I'm sick of defending the fact the horseback riding is a sport. So If you still want to argue with an equestrian, get on a horse and see if you can do what we do.
