Equestrianism
- Competitive Mounted Orienteering, a form of orienteering on horseback (but unrelated to orienteering) - consists of three stages: following a precise route marked on a map, negotiation of obstacles, and control of paces.
- Le Trec, which comprises three phases - trail riding, with jumping and correct basic flatwork. Le Trec, which is very popular in Europe, tests the partnership's ability to cope with an all-day ride across varied terrain, route finding, negotiating natural obstacles and hazards, while considering the welfare of the horse, respecting the countryside and enjoying all it has to offer.
- Competitive trail riding, a pace race held across terrain similar to endurance riding, but shorter in length (25 - 35 miles (56 km), depending on class). Being a form of pace race, the objective is not to finish in the least time. Instead, as in other forms of judged trail riding, each competitor is graded on everything including physical condition, campsite, and horse management. Horsemanship also is considered, including how the rider handles the trail and how horse is handled and presented to the judge and vet throughout the ride. The horse is graded on performance, manners, etc. "Pulse and respiration" stops check the horse's recovery ability. The judges also set up obstacles along the trail and the horse and rider are graded on how well they perform as a team. The whole point is the partnership between the horse and rider.
- Cross Country Jumping, a jumping course that contains logs, and natural obstacles mostly. The common clothes worn are usually brighter colors and less conservative.
- Endurance riding, a competition usually of 50 to 100 miles (160 km) or more, over mountainous or other natural terrain, with scheduled stops to take the horses' vital signs, check soundness, and verify that the horse is fit to continue. The first horse to finish and be confirmed by the veterinarian as fit to continue is the winner. Additional awards are usually given to the best-conditioned horses who finish in the top 10.
- Fox hunting
- Hacking or pleasure riding
- Hunter Pacing is a sport where a horse and rider team travel a trail at speeds based the ideal conditions for the horse, with competitors seeking to ride closest to that perfect time. Hunter paces are usually held in a series. Hunter paces are usually a few miles long and covered mostly at a canter or gallop. The horsemanship and management skills of the rider are also considered in the scoring, and periodic stops are required for veterinarians to check the vital signs and overall soundness of the horses.
- Ride and Tie is a form of endurance riding in which teams of 3 (two humans and one horse) alternate running and riding.
- Steeplechase
- Trail Riding, pleasure riding any breed horse, any style across the land.
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Criticism of horses in sport
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- See also: Horse racing and Rodeo
Most horse owners are interested in the well-being and welfare of horses. Some are allied with various animal welfare organizations that try to end genuine abuse of horses. Almost all competitive events have well-established rules and regulations to prevent abuse of animals and to encourage ethical behavior. Most high-intensity sports like show jumping, endurance riding, eventing, rodeo, and horse racing are closely monitored by veterinarians to prevent and treat injuries. On the other hand, there are genuine abuses of horses that do occur. Some people, often motivated by profit or a desire to win at all costs, may inflict pain, overwork, injure, neglect, starve, or drug horses in ways that harm the animal's physical health and mental well-being.
Organized groups dedicated to protecting all animals, such as the Humane Society of the United States, and animal rights groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, target some horse sports with claims of animal cruelty. Horse racing and rodeo are most commonly targeted both because of their visibility to the non-horse-oriented public and because these are sports where it is sometimes difficult for people who do not know much about horses to differentiate between pushing equines to perform to their peak and actual abuse.
One problem is a disagreement about terms like abuse. While some individuals consider even fairly drastic discipline of horses as non-abusive, others consider abuse to be anything done against the will of the animal in question. Some people consider poor living conditions abusive, others think riding itself is abusive. There is no consensus on the issue. Further, the perspective of the individuals holding various viewpoints is sometimes quite different. For example, horse professionals claim they know better what is best for horses than people who live horseless lives, easily influenced by propaganda. On the other hand, other individuals claim that many horse professionals are biased because of motivation for personal gain.
However, many people take a middle ground, primarily concerned that certain sports or training techniques may unnecessarily cause pain or injuries to horse athletes, just as they do for human athletes. Some people who advocate use of horses in equestrian activities point out that horses in the wild have a shorter average life expectancy and are injured more often and more severely than those used in sport. Most public laws and statutes carefully describe criminally abusive practices that incur legal penalties in very specific terms.
Some behaviors and activities are widely condemned as abusive by people within the horse industry, even if not illegal as a matter of public law. Use of many performance-enhancing drugs is prohibited in most competitions, and organizations that sanction various events spend a great deal of money testing horses for illegal drugs. Some specific training or showing practices are so widely condemned that they have been made illegal at the national level and violations can incur criminal penalties. The most well-known is soring, a practice of applying a caustic ointment just above the hooves of a Tennessee Walking Horse to make it pick up its feet higher. However, in spite of a federal law in the United States prohibiting this practice and routine inspections of horse shows by inspectors from the United States Department of Agriculture, the practice is still widespread and difficult to eliminate.[3]
Some events themselves are also considered so abusive that they are banned in many countries. Among these are horse-tripping, a sport where riders chase and rope a loose-running horse by its front legs, throwing it to the ground.
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References
- ^ Chamberlin, J. Edward Horse: How the Horse has Shaped Civilization New York:BlueBridge 2006 ISBN 0-9742405-9-1
- ^ Hobby Horse clothing company, educational articles on current trends in western show clothing
- ^ EQUUS Special Report: Why Soring Persists
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See also
- Western riding
- English riding
- Dressage
- Classical dressage
- Driving (horse)
- Domestication of the horse
- Horses in warfare
- Horse show
- Equestrian at the Summer Olympics
- United States Equestrian Federation
- International Federation for Equestrian Sports
- Horse training
- Horse behavior
- Equestrian helmet
- Mounting block
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External links
- International Federation for Equestrian Sports FEI official homepage
- United States Equestrian Federation USEF Official web site
- Equestrian Federation of Australia Equestrian Federation of Australia web site
- Equestrian Federation of Ireland - EFI web site
- United States Dressage Federation
- American Endurance Ride Conference
- The North American Trail Ride Conference - Competitive Trail Riding
- UK Endurance Horse Riding
- Ride and Tie Association
- The American Vaulting Association - Equestrian Vaulting
- National Cutting Horse Association
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