Understanding Equestrian Sports: Part 2 - Disciplines

Welcome to part two of Sportskeeda’s brand new series, ‘Understanding Equestrian Sports.’

In the previous article, various breeds of horses were discussed. Now, we move forward to discuss about the various equestrian sports.

There are numerous mounted sports that exist in various parts of the world. We’ve explained a few briefly:

Dressage

The sport involves the progressive training of horses to a high level of impulsion, recollection and obedience. Competitive dressage’s goal is the showing of horses carrying out, on request, the natural movements that they perform involuntarily while running loose. It is a highly competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as “the highest expression of horse training“, where “horse and rider are expected to perform from memory a series of predetermined movements. Its fundamental purpose is to develop, through standardised progressive training methods, a horse’s natural athletic ability and willingness to perform, thereby maximising its potential as a riding horse.” The peak of a dressage horse’s gymnastic development is when the horse responds smoothly to a skilled rider’s minimal aids. Dressage is occasionally referred to as ‘Horse Ballet.’ In modern dressage competitions, judges evaluate each movement on the basis of an objective standard appropriate to the level of the test, and assign each movement a score from zero to ten – zero being ‘not executed’ and 10 being ‘excellent’. A score of 9 is very impressive, while a competitor achieving all 6s (or 60% overall) will be considered for progression to the next level.

Show jumping

Show jumping is 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. This event is seen at horse shows across the globe and is also included in the Olympics. Sometimes, shows are limited exclusively to jumpers, sometimes jumper classes are offered in conjunction with other English-style events, and sometimes show jumping is but one division of very large, all-breed competitions that include a very wide variety of disciplines. International competitions are governed by the rules of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI, from the body’s French name of Fédération Équestre Internationale).

Eventing

Eventing is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combination compete against other combinations across the three disciplines of dressage, cross country, and show jumping. The competition may be run as a one-day event (ODE), where all three events are completed in one day (dressage, followed by show jumping and then cross country), or a three-day event (3DE), which is more commonly now run over four days, with dressage on the first two days followed by cross country the next day, and then show jumping in reverse order on the final day. Eventing was previously known as ‘Combined Training’, and the name persists in many smaller organisations. The term ‘Combined Training’ is sometimes confused with the term ‘Combined Test’ which refers to a combination of just two of the phases, most commonly dressage and show jumping.

Tent Pegging

Tent Pegging is a cavalry sport in which a horseman comes galloping and uses a lance to pick up symbolic tent peg placed on the ground. The tracks on which these pegs are placed have markings every 100 meters, while the pegs themselves are placed at an angle. The amount of time the horseman takes to enter and exit the start and finish line is noted by the judges. He is awarded 6 points for picking up the peg and carrying it beyond 15 meters, 4 points for dislodging but not being able to carry it, and 2 points for piercing it.

Specific Tent Pegging competitions’ rules specify the size and composition of the target.

Endurance riding

It is an equestrian sport based on controlled long-distance races. It is an FEI recognised sport. In an endurance ride, the winning horse is the first one to cross the finish line while stopping periodically to pass a veterinary check that deems the animal in good health and fit to continue. In the United States, most endurance rides are either 50 or 100 miles (160 km) long.

Polo

Also known as the ‘Game of the Kings’, it is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Started in Persia, the players score by driving a small white plastic ball or wooden ball into the opposing team’s goal using a long-handled mallet. The sport is played on a large grass field up to 300 yards long and 160 yards wide, and each polo team consists of four riders and their mounts. ‘Field polo’ is played with a solid plastic ball, which has replaced the wooden ball in recent years. In ‘arena polo’, only three players are required per team and the game usually involves more manoeuvring and shorter plays at lower speeds due to the space limitations of the arena. Arena polo is played with a small air-filled ball, similar to a small football. The modern game lasts roughly two hours and is divided into periods called chukkas (occasionally rendered as “chukkers”). Polo is played professionally in 16 countries. It was formerly an Olympic sport.

Read the other parts of the series here: Understanding Equestrian Sports