The Sport of Kings - Argumentative Essay
Nearly everyone has had some contact with the back of a horse, usually during a leisurely trail ride on a vacation to the beach or the Rockies. They go to the trail station, climb on some old nag, grab onto the stick that’s stuck in front of their saddle, and spend one to two hours plodding along at a slow walk, never needing to touch the reins, and lazily following the horse in front of them. After the ride, the poor tourist curses the animals for making his butt so sore. It’s these people that confidently tell me, “Horseback riding isn’t a sport”. After hearing these words, I can’t help but stifle the giggle that rises up inside of me. I always wonder what to say in these situations. Should I break out the guns or just smile and nod? Either way, it irks me to no end. Everybody thinks that a ‘sport’ has to do with some sort of ball, points, winning, losing, and teams. There are probably millions of people who have no idea that the sport of horseback riding can easily be the most difficult activity in the world.
Firstly, many, if not most of the population are unsure of what proper horseback riding actually is. Part of it involves telling a horse where to go, how fast or slow to move, when to stop; but those are only the very basics. Advanced riding is all about best cuing a horse to place his feet right where you ask him, and for him to carry your weight in a specific ‘frame’ or way of moving and position of the body. There are different speeds, or gaits, a horse can travel in, and within each one there are specific and detailed movements you can ask the horse to perform. These are not tricks we ask the horse to do because they look fancy, but movements that better condition the horse to carry a rider. You must keep in mind that horses did not evolve with a rider on their back, and a horse can be reduced to a sway-backed, boney, unbalanced clunker after years of improper training (indeed, some terrible riders manage the same feat in weeks). I have taught scores of beginner riders of all ages, and one thing that shocks them deeply is how much work there is, even at the lowest levels. Children and teens who come to learn the sport and expect to be galloping across the plains and leaping over great obstacles are quickly silenced as they try to maneuver a school horse over a simple obstacle course consisting of turns, halts, cones, and poles laid on the ground. When there is no horse in front of you to follow, the game becomes drastically more difficult. You must use your brain and your body to encourage an intelligent, 1,000 pound animal to obey your wishes. It would actually be much easier if the horse was a simple, non-thinking object, such as a ball. That fact enough warrants the activity of horseback riding to be considered a sport.
Let’s go back to that leisurely trail ride. You just sat there and followed the horse in front of you, yes? Boring, yes? You are probably right. Most people who ride regularly and can be termed ‘horseback riders’ find trail rides at commercial trail stations horribly boring. Actually ‘riding’ a horse has nothing to do with it. You were merely a passenger. The horse knew his job, and excelled at it – all he had top do was walk along the trail, follow the leader, and avoid any discomfort. If that trail horse had moved into a lively trot, canter, or gallop, and you had to have a secure seat, supple body, and forgiving hands to allow the horse to properly carry himself in a frame that would best support your weight, maybe, just maybe, you would have a greater appreciation for the work, discipline, intelligence, planning, and activity that goes into properly riding a horse. Many top riders do not even consider it a sport – they see it as an art.
Die-hard ‘traditional’ sports fans declare that a sport must be active, and a person must have an elevated heart rate, break a sweat, and a person must be moving. When you look at a professional horseback rider performing a round of dressage or flatwork, you may scoff to yourself and think, “That person isn’t even moving! The horse is doing all the work!” Indeed, the horse is moving a great deal more than the rider he carries, but a good horseback rider is simply giving the illusion of doing nothing at all. Actually, if that rider had been moving a great deal, with flapping arms and legs, swinging torso and bobbing head, she would probably be laughed out of the show arena. Riders do move, yet the movements are so fine, a greenhorn wouldn’t see a thing. Let’s dissect a dressage movement to see how much the rider is actually doing. Let’s begin with the leg-yield to the arena wall, an intermediate move in which the horse moves forward and sideways at the same time, crossing his legs over underneath him. The horse is making a great effort to carry his 1,000 pounds of body weight over, but the rider just seems to be happily sitting there. If you looked closer, you would see her weight inclined to her outside seat bone to allow the horse to have freedom in moving to the wall, her outside leg firmly placed against the shoulders in front of the girth to prevent the shoulders from bulging out and keep the front of the horse straight and on a proper two track path. Her inside leg is pulsating behind the girth to encourage the haunches to cross over, while her outside rein maintains a degree of bend throughout the horse’s body, the inside rein controlling how much bend is allowed and keeping the shoulders straight. The rider sits up tall, looks ahead, and avoids collapsing at the ribcage or hip. If you are thoroughly lost, that isn’t my fault. I never said horseback riding was easy, did I? All that I just explained has to be preformed with as little pressure and resistance as the horse will allow. The muscles of a rider are very fine-tuned, yet still strong and fit. Remember that pain you felt in your loins and buttocks after you got back from that trail ride? That is not the fault of the horse; it is simply the strain of muscles you haven’t used before. Yes, you were using them to sit there and balance yourself. When sitting on a horse you use nearly every muscle in your body: your shoulders need to stay back and absorbing the movement from your arms which are supple and soft (since you are holding two leather straps that are connected to a rather large metal bar in your horse’s mouth), your abdominal muscles are activated to keep you straight up and your pelvis tucked under to absorb movement and apply ‘slow-down’ cues, your buttocks and seat shift from side to side depending on the direction you go, and your legs are constantly applying cues and controlling your horse. I suppose by now you have realized there is a great deal more to riding a horse than “kick to go, pull to stop”. In true riding, you are using your reins about 10% of the time, the rest is all your body. It’s true that riders are not as active as soccer or baseball players, but if you watch an intermediate or advanced riding lesson taking place, you see the riders breaking a sweat, breathing hard, and taking breaks. A good rider has strong muscles and lungs. Many overweight riders said they have lost weight by riding. Riders also must have a strong sense of balance. As a horse is moving and turning quickly, the rider must keep with the horse. If the non-horseman doesn’t have the patience to watch a round of dressage, the ultimate test of the horse and rider in which the pair perform a variety of highly refined movements, perhaps he should sample the more obviously physical disciplines such as show jumping or barrel racing. Those who still believe that horseback riding isn’t a sport should tune into the Olympics, since many disciplines are shown there with horse and rider teams from all over the world. In the show jumping section, the rider must navigate her horse through a course of huge jumps, many of which are taller than a man. The horse expends a great amount of energy thrusting himself over these six foot jumps, but the horse can easily take a bad step and fall or knock a jump if it were not for the rider. In addition to staying with the horse and not interfering with his movement as he jumps, the rider must regulate the horse’s stride and speed, or risk disastrous results. Just recently at the Rolex Equestrian Finals in Las Vegas, the two top favorites were both eliminated from the jumping competition due to freak falls. One horse was unable to get the correct striding up to a jump and crashed down in the middle of it. This show was televised to a national audience. Dictionary.com defines a sport as: an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature. After watching a round of any horse discipline and to see the courage and determination set in stone on the rider’s faces, and to see them heaving and sweating as they return backstage after a competitive round should dispel any myth of horseback riding being a simple, un-athletic, and boring activity.
Some of the best evidence for the claim that riding horses is indeed a sport comes from the most unfortunate of people. While working at several ranches for disabled children and adults, it’s amazing to see the transformation these special people undergo while on the back of a horse. Many of the riders that come for therapeutic riding are not strong in body or mind, but after even just a few sessions, amazing progress can be seen. They build needed muscle and develop fine motor skills and balance, something many sports require. Most importantly, they build a bond with a creature that does not lie, chastise, or tease, and many of the handicapped riders are able to open up and begin to talk with confidence they have never felt before. I would love to see some other activities often called ‘sports’ do that for a child, such as golf, gambling, video gaming, or poker.
The final aspect of riding horses, an aspect that no other sport has, is the necessary relationship that must be built between the horse and rider. Equus callabus is not as easy to train or bond with as dogs or cats. They are prey animals that think and behave in a very different way than canines. For one to compete well and win on the show circuit, the rider must have a bond unlike any other with her horse. They must move and think as one organism. They must be totally in sync with each other. One misinterpreted cue can lead to a mark down, fault, or even an accident. The horse must trust the rider, and many horse behavioral problems stem from a steed’s lack of confidence. On a soccer team, the players can all communicate in one language, but that won’t work with horses. Sure, most horses can learn to speed up or slow down by simple voice cues, but that simply isn’t enough, and in some disciplines, the rider is not allowed to speak to the horse. Each horse is as different as human individuals, and a rider must be calm and patient enough to figure out how to best communicate with them. It can take years of training and conditioning to turn an ordinary horse into a champion athlete, and the same stands for any human sportsman. Even most school children know that to become better at a sport, one must practice, and the same is true for horseback riding.
Next time you see an equestrian walk into class wearing her breeches and boots and carrying a binder covered in photos of her and her partner (for a horse is more of a life partner than a pet), ask her about what she does and how much work it takes to win that blue ribbon before you open your mouth to denounce her sport. For it truly is a sport. If you still do not agree, take a trip to your local riding stables and enroll yourself in lessons, or ask a rider to let you take her 1,500 warmblood gelding over a course of four foot plus jumps all in under 59 seconds, or perform one-tempi canter stride changes on a perfectly straight line, or run a barrel race pulling G’s at every turn at a full gallop. Or even get on a humble school horse and try to get it from point A to point B and look like you’re not really doing anything. You’ll come out of it with a newfound respect for one of the hardest sports on Earth.
- by Antlers
scotch megafleet Community Member 
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