Lately, as the popularity of horse riding increases from its regular appearances in many events, the question “is horse riding a sport or hobby?” has also made quite a lot of regular appearances during horse riding fan’s gossip section too.
So what is it?
Well. It is not a sport. In other words, horse riding is simply an activity or maybe a hobby, but many sports that you must ride a horse, which is precisely why people always debate about it.
The reason why horse riding isn’t a sport
Sport is for human beings, and it becomes less so when another thing (dead or living) is involved and does most of the works.
Simple as that. If that was the case, you might argue that car racing would not be considered a sport either.
Well, please note that one would stop dead in its track if the human stands up and leaves. Of course, the other one would keep on going on with its lives, and then they would probably stand up to appreciate and say thanks for your decision.
Why? Because now it doesn’t have to carry 176 pounds on its back from morning till night.
Source: https://secure.i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02519/thelwell_2519352b.jpg
Horse riding competition events – Yes or No?
Precisely, and that’s exactly why people get confused.
However, since this is quite a controversial topic, I would try to refrain from inflicting my opinion on everyone and giving out death sentences to people who disagree.
So to be clear, I personally do not think horse riding can even be remotely considered as a sport unless the following activities are involved:
- Dressage
- Team chasing
- Equestrian vaulting
Which if you are interested, please learn more information about horse riding competitions in our prior article!
How is that any different from car racing?
Well, the difference is that you don’t consider a person who drives a car to work playing sports, right? So that is why if horse riding is done leisurely, it is quite hard to consider it a sport, isn’t it?
Similarly, both activities would only be debatably considered a sport when some skills are shown.
For car racing, it would be drifting, and whatever cool looking thing it is that they do (beyond the scope of this article), for horse riding, it would be dressage, team chasing, vaulting, and so on, which I have already mentioned above (which is also cool!)
You may like: How fast can A Horse run?
Final result
A solid no, but it is quite understandable why people always get confused, though. Hopefully, I have expressed my reasoning as to why horse riding isn’t really a sport.
Also, if by any chance this article has piqued your interest in horse riding activities or competitions, please remember to check out the link I have provided above and experience the differences between horse riding leisurely and doing it skillfully to become a sport (or sport that require horse riding).
