Why do some riders get so mad when people say riding isn't a sport?

C

Chelsea

New member
I ride horses, I've been riding for thirteen years. It seems some people get so defensive over riding they flip when someone says it isn't a sport. Do i think riding in a whole is a sport? No. Do I think certain areas of riding are sports? Yes. Some people are so defensive over it though, we had a girl at the barn we board at flip when someone said it wasn't a sport. To me, Jumping is a sport, while riding along a trail on a family trip is not. Team penning is a sport, going out on a leisurely hack is not. The same way there is a difference between going on a jog and running the 500 in the Olympics. Just a question, why do some riders defend ALL riding is a sport until the end?
Megan, going on a jog is not a sport. Running the 500 in the olypmpics makes it a sport. Going on a trail ride takes effort, but so does a jog, unless you actually competing in a trail class, why should it be a sport? A marathon would make jogging a sport, but going on a morning run ins't a sport it is an athletic activity same with a trail ride.
I've ridden up to state, I have put many hours of work in, whether it be in the 100 degree heat or when we had three feat of snow in February, I was out at the barn. We put a hell ot alot of work into our horses, most owners do. Just because we work, dosen't make it a sport. Lots of things require work but they aren't sports.
 
i don't consider riding a sport until you're doing more then just walking around a trail. the actual parts of riding like barrel racing, pole bending, flags, combined training, hunt seat, roping, saddle seat i think all those are sports and even trails when you're doing more then walking if you're trotting it's iffy if you're cantering on the trails yeah you're using muscle. if you're on a vacation and find a stable that says they do trail rides and go out and walk the trail for an hour no thats not a sport you did nothing. but if you're in the arena or something like an arena (cross country course, a field whatever) actually working yes it's a sport and i get mad when people tell me that is not a sport because it is you're using muscle and working and i put so much of my life into that arena and cross country course that its annoying when people want to say its not and that all im doing is sitting on a horse kicking and its easy. but i would also be the first to agree walking around on a trail is what alot of non-horsey people consider riding to be and that is not a sport and i have no problem saying that or hearing someone say it. the only time i get annoyed is when people know i ride hunter jumpers and eventers and say that all im doing is sitting and kicking and leaning foward over a jump and its easy and its not in any way a sport because they have no clue what is really involved. thats what makes me more mad - people saying something with no proof of never trying it, then people actually saying its not a sport.
 
The definition of a sport is "an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature". So by definition riding is a sport. It's an athletic activity thy requires skill and
is often competitive. Even when it's not competitive, it's still a physical activity that requires skill.

Riding is also in the Olympics. The Olympics is made up of sports. Therefore riding is a sport. I get defensive when people say "all you do is sit there" or "the horse does all the work". Hardly. If that were the case therapeutic riding for physical benefits would cease to exist. The horse's walk mimicks our own and when we ride, it stimulates the muscles as if we were walking. Riding also improves our balance and core strength. Riding is exercise. By it takes a lot of physical work on our part to do. So even just walking on a horse is exercise and if you don't believe me, research therapeutic riding.

So by definitions and science riding is both exercise and a sport. Period.
 
I am an "athlete" (volleyball softball) and a rider, and I do not consider riding a sport. Sure, its a competition but not a sport. I know how people get upset about but I just can't consider it a sport. Its like forensics or any educational competition. They aren't considered sports but they still receive awards and compete at different levels.
 
I think it's a lot about most riders put SO much time into riding and working with their horses and maybe don't play that many more sports so i can see how it would be offensive to some riders if you told them their sport wasn't really a sport. Doesn't bother me :) lol
 
Because most of use work our buts off to get anywhere in the horse world, we ride in the blistering hot heat in the summers, deal with our horses bad days, go through tough losses just like any other sport. So yes of course people are going to be defensive about it, and im one of them. We work way to hard for people to say its not a sport. And the people that say that are the ones that dont know how many hours we put in a day to become succesful later on. And dont know the sacrafices we make.
 
Because all riding, whether it is a hack or jumping 5' takes practice and hard work. Your comparing running 500 in the olympics to jogging, just because one is harder, doesn't mean the other isn't a sport. Riding is hard work, and I only pleasure and trail ride, you would have no idea how long it took me to build up the stamina for a 2 hour ride. If your walking on a bombproof horse for 10 minutes, that's still a sport, it might not be hard, but isn't walking classified as a sport? That's about as easy as you can get it, that's our natural mode of transportation, and I don't find putting one foot in front of the other hard, but it's still a sport, riding horses, is harder than walking, and it takes practice and effort and hard work.You can't just jump on any horse and ride if you have never ridden before. You are entitled to your opinion, but everyone else is entitled to theirs, it's like me asking -
"Why do people post questions on Yahoo that they know will aggravate others?"

I have a mare who is pretty much bombproof, but it still takes control and skill to ride her, it's not like a horse will always behave perfectly, I'm also breaking in a horse at the moment, that takes effort too. It takes effort to ride any horse, some are easier than others, but that's not the point, you can ride a horse poorly or badly, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a sport.

Horse riding is the second most dangerous sport in the world, after motor sports. That, to me, just proves that it's a sport, it's not like you can just sit there and the horse will read your mind, you have to know what to do, there are aspects of horse riding that are easy, and there are aspects that are hard. But I still think it's a sport, because there is a lot of skill and effort that goes into it, regardless of what discipline you preform.

I personally, only consider riding a sport when you actually use muscles, but technically, riding is a sport regardless of what your doing. I don't think that sitting a 4 year old on a 20 year old bombproof horse and leading them around really SHOULD be considered a sport though, IMO if you use muscles, regardless of how much you use them, it's a sport. If your sitting there not moving, I wouldn't consider that a sport.
 
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