• However, most forms of horse show competition can be broken into the following broad categories: • Equitation, sometimes called seat and hands or horsemanship, refers to events
  where the rider is judged on form, style and ability.

• A typical show hunter division would include classes over fences as well as “Hunter under Saddle” or “flat” classes (sometimes called “hack” classes), in which the horse is
  judged on its performance, manners and movement without having to jump.

• The most noticeable feature of western style riding is the western saddle, which has a substantial saddle tree that provides support to horse and rider when working long hours
  in the saddle.

• Horse shows Horse shows are held throughout the world with a tremendous variety of possible events, equipment, attire, and judging standards used.

• This is probably the single most physically dangerous event in rodeo for the cowboy, who runs a high risk of jumping off a running horse head first and missing the steer or
  of having the thrown steer land on top of him, sometimes horns first.

• Show jumping is also one of the five events in the modern pentathlon.

• In horse show competition, the following general categories of competition are seen: • Combined driving, an internationally recognized competition where horses perform an
  arena-based “dressage” class where precision and control are emphasized, a cross-country “marathon” section that emphasizes fitness and endurance, and a “stadium” or “cones” obstacle course.

• The judges also set up obstacles along the trail and the horse and rider are graded on how well they perform as a team.

• Some popular forms of competition are grouped together at horse shows where horses perform in a wide variety of disciplines.

• [11] Competitive dressage has the goal of showing the horse carrying out, on request, the natural movements that it performs without thinking while running loose.

• Gambling on horse races appears to go hand-in hand with racing and has a long history as well.

• • Ride and Tie is a form of endurance riding in which teams of 3 (two humans and one horse) alternate running and riding.

• • Show hack is a competition seen primarily in the United Kingdom, Australia and other nations influenced by British traditions, featuring horses of elegant appearance, with
  excellent way of going and self-carriage.

• • Eventing, also called combined training, horse trials, the three-day event, the Military or the complete test, puts together the obedience of dressage with the athletic
  ability of show jumping, the fitness demands the cross-country jumping phase.

• By 1912, all three Olympic disciplines still seen today were part of the games.

• Instead, as in other forms of judged trail riding, each competitor is graded on everything including physical condition, campsite and horse management.

• • Mounted archery • Yabusame • Mounted Games, a sport where games are played in a relay-style with two to five members per team at very high speed • Polo, a team game played
  on horses, involves riders using a long-handled mallet to drive a ball on the ground into the opposing team’s goal while the opposing team defends their goal • Polocrosse • Tent pegging Cross-country sports [edit] • Competitive Mounted Orienteering,
  a form of orienteering on horses (but unrelated to orienteering) – consists of three stages: following a precise route marked on a map, negotiation of obstacles and control of paces.

• Horses are also driven in harness racing, at horse shows, and in other types of exhibition such as historical reenactment or ceremony, often pulling carriages.

• In particular, horse show events such as Western pleasure may much flashier equipment.

• • 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.

• This event was designed to teach smaller or younger riders the basics of calf roping without the more complex need to also lasso the animal.

• Modern rodeo competitors in timed events sometimes use a closed rein without a romal.

• • Eventing, show jumping and dressage, described under “Olympic disciplines”, above are all “English” riding disciplines that in North America sometimes are loosely classified
  within the “hunt seat” category.

• • Harness classes, where the horse is driven rather than ridden, but still judged on manners, performance and quality.

• They are also used in competitive sports including dressage, endurance riding, eventing, reining, show jumping, tent pegging, vaulting, polo, horse racing, driving, and rodeo
  (see additional equestrian sports listed later in this article for more examples).

• At the other end of the spectrum, some draft horses compete in horse pulling competitions, where single or teams of horses and their drivers vie to determine who can pull
  the most weight for a short distance.

• • Steer wrestling – Also known as “Bulldogging”, this is a rodeo event where the rider jumps off his horse onto a steer and ‘wrestles’ it to the ground by grabbing it by the
  horns.

• “Rough Stock” competition [edit] Small herd of rough stock in Texas In spite of popular myth, most modern “broncs” are not in fact wild horses,[15] but are more commonly spoiled
  riding horses[citation needed] or horses bred specifically as bucking stock.

• • Roadster: A horse show competition where exhibitors wear racing silks and ride in a sulky in a style akin to harness racing, only without actually racing, but rather focusing
  on manners and performance.

• • Hunt seat or Hunter classes judge the movement and the form of horses suitable for work over fences.

• • Fine harness: Also called “Formal driving”, Horses are hitched to a light four-wheeled cart and shown in a manner that emphasizes flashy action and dramatic performance.

• • Saddle seat, is a primarily American discipline, though has recently become somewhat popular in South Africa, was created to show to best advantage the animated movement
  of high-stepping and gaited breeds such as the American Saddlebred and the Tennessee Walker.

• There is public access to horse trails in almost every part of the world; many parks, ranches, and public stables offer both guided and independent riding.

• • 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.

• • Carriage driving, using somewhat larger two or four wheeled carriages, often restored antiques, judged on the turnout/neatness or suitability of horse and carriage.

• Finished western horses are asked to perform with a loose rein controlled by one hand.

• The job of the horse is to hold the calf steady on the rope) This activity is still practiced on modern working ranches for branding, medical treatment, and so on.

• • Harness racing is also found throughout Europe, New Zealand and Australia.

• [5] Riding halls enable training of horse and rider in all weathers as well as indoor competition riding.

• Horse sports that use cattle [edit] • Bullfighting (rejoneo) • Portuguese-style bullfighting • Spanish-style bullfighting • Campdrafting, a type of cattle-working competition
  popular in Australia • Cutting • Team penning • Working cow horse Defined area sports [edit] • Buzkashi, a sport originating on the steppes of central Asia, now the national sport of Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan.

• • Team roping, also called “heading and heeling”, is the only rodeo event where men and women riders may compete together.

• Horses are also used for therapeutic purposes both in specialized para-equestrian competition as well as non-competitive riding to improve human health and emotional development.

• Western riding Western riding evolved from the cattle-working and warfare traditions brought to the Americas by the Spanish settlers, and both equipment and riding style evolved
  to meet the working needs of the cowboy on ranches in the American West.

• 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.

• • Dressage (“training” in French) involves the progressive training of the horse to a high level of impulsion, collection and obedience.

• [6] History of horse use Though there is controversy over the exact date horses were domesticated and when they were first ridden, the best estimate is that horses first were
  ridden approximately 3500 BC.

• • Goat tying – usually an event for women or pre-teen girls and boys, a goat is staked out while a mounted rider runs to the goat, dismounts, grabs the goat, throws it to
  the ground and ties it in the same manner as a calf.

• • Jumping or Over Fences refers broadly to both show jumping and show hunter, where horses and riders must jump obstacles.

• • Show jumping comprises a timed event judged on the ability of the horse and rider to jump over a series of obstacles, in a given order and with the fewest refusals or knockdowns
  of portions of the obstacles.

• [9] Horse racing Humans appear to have long expressed a desire to know which horse or horses were the fastest, and horse racing has ancient roots.

• Additional awards are usually given to the best-conditioned horses who finish in the top 10.

• Variants include Ride and Tie and various forms of long riding.

• There was also the ‘Steeple Chase’ Phase, which is now excluded from most major competitions to bring them in line with the Olympic standard.

• In New South Wales, Australia, a study of equestrians seen at one hospital over a 6-year period found that 81% were wearing a helmet at the time of injury, and that helmet
  use both increased over time and was correlated with a lower rate of admission.

• [24][25] Types and severity of injury [edit] In Canada, a 10-year study of trauma center patients injured while riding reported that although 48% had suffered head injuries,
  only 9% of these riders had been wearing helmets at the time of their accident.

• Furthermore, the study noted that in Germany, one quarter of all sport related fatalities are caused by horse riding.

• [26] A German study reported that injuries in horse riding are rare compared to other sports, but when they occur they are severe.

• Some possible injuries resulting from horse riding, with the percent indicating the amounts in relation to all injuries as reported by a New Zealand study,[29] include: •
  Arm fracture or dislocation (31%) • Head injury (21%) • Leg fracture or dislocation (15%) • Chest injury (33%) Among 36 members and employees of the Hong Kong Jockey Club who were seen in a trauma center during a period of 5 years, 24 fell
  from horses and 11 were kicked by the horse.

• [53] Animal rights groups are also primarily concerned that certain sports or training exercises may cause unnecessary pain or injuries to horse athletes.

• A study in Germany reported that the relative risk of injury from riding a horse, compared to riding a bicycle, was 9 times higher for adolescents and 5.6 times higher for
  younger children, but that riding a horse was less risky than riding a moped.

• When a rider falls with a helmet, he or she is five times less likely to experience a traumatic brain injury than a rider who falls without a helmet.

• [20] A survey of 679 equestrians in Oregon, Washington and Idaho estimated that at some time in their equestrian career one in five will be seriously injured, resulting in
  hospitalization, surgery or long-term disability.

• [46] A case series of 4 female mountain bike riders and 2 female horse riders found both patient-reported perineal pain and evidence of sub-clinical changes in the clitoris;[47]
  the relevance of these findings to horse riding is unknown.

• [17] In Victoria, Australia, a search of state records found that equestrian sports had the third highest incidence of serious injury, after motor sports and power boating.

• [27] Most horse related injuries are a result of falling from a horse, which is the cause of 60–80% of all such reported injuries.

• Head injuries [edit] Horseback riding is one of the most dangerous sports, especially in relation to head injury.

• [22][23] A broad definition of falling often includes being crushed and being thrown from the horse, but when reported separately each of these mechanisms may be more common
  than being kicked.

• [52] A study by animal welfare group Animal Aid revealed that approximately 375 racehorses die yearly, with 30% of these either during or as a result of injuries from a race.

• [37] Helmets work by crushing on impact and extending the length of time it takes the head to stop moving.

• This can result in injury or death to the horse, as well as the jockey.

• [44] If a rider competing at Prix St. Georges and above is also riding a test at Fourth Level or below, he or she must also wear a helmet at all times while mounted.

• [43] Also in 2011, the United States Dressage Federation made helmet use in competition mandatory for all riders under 18 and all riders who are riding any test at Fourth
  Level and below.

• [36] Studies have found horseback riding to be more dangerous than several sports, including skiing, auto racing and football.

• [39] Despite this, helmet usage rates in North America are estimated to be between eight and twenty percent.

• [56] Despite over 1000 foals being produced annually by the Thoroughbred horse industry, 66% of those bred for such a purpose were never entered into a race, and despite a
  life expectancy of 30 years, many are killed before their fifth birthday.

• The races themselves have also proved dangerous to the horses – especially steeplechasing, which requires the horse to jump hurdles whilst galloping at full speed.

• [32] In the United States, an analysis of National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) data performed by the Equestrian Medical Safety Association studied 78,279
  horse-related injuries in 2007: “The most common injuries included fractures (28.5%); contusions/abrasions (28.3%); strain/sprain (14.5%); internal injury (8.1%); lacerations (5.7%); concussions (4.6%); dislocations (1.9%); and hematomas (1.2%).

• [55] Secondary effects of racing have also recently been uncovered.

• [31] In the second half of the study period, of the equestrians seen at a hospital, only 14% were admitted.

• Riding astride [edit] By the 1930s and 1940s most horse riding had become occasional and leisurely or competitive rather than being the common method of transportation it
  had been for centuries before The idea that riding a horse astride could injure a woman’s sex organs is a historic, but sometimes popular even today, misunderstanding or misconception, particularly that riding astride can damage the hymen.

• A 2006 investigation by The Observer in the UK found that each year 6,000–10,000 horses are slaughtered for consumption abroad, a significant proportion of which are horses
  bred for racing.

 

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