Students' Stamp on GHS -- First Quarter
Students' Stamp on GHS
Extremely Equestrian
by Bayley Davis, '11
by Bayley Davis, '11
Why do some think that riding horses isn’t a sport? Riding horses is very difficult and it takes a great deal of strength and training. Meanwhile, it's expensive and takes a lot of time and commitment. People don’t take the time to understand this hobbie and just assume it’s easy. It's not.
People try telling me all you have to do is jump on the horse and kick it to go. Realistically, if you did that you would probably end up on the ground. I’ve been riding for all most ten years and I’m still learning and making mistakes. It is a very challenging sport because you’re dealing with an animal with it’s own state of mind. Horses are just like any one of us, they have feelings also. If the horse doesn’t want to do what your asking you need to be prepared for how that horse may react. It really takes an extreme amount of skill to prepare yourself for anything that horse might do.
Riding horses also takes a lot of body strength. You need to use your upper body to help support the horse, and to help balance the horse. Your lower body strength is also very important. Your thighs become very muscular because you need to keep your legs snug to the sides of your saddle and make sure your legs aren’t slipping. You use a lot of lower body strength while riding.
Posture is another very important factor when riding. Slouching causes the horse to perform badly. Horses tend to mirror your body; if your body moves one way they move that way also. You need to be very tuned in to your own body in order to help your horse preform well. If you aren’t used to riding you will definitely feel it the next day because you are using many different muscles your not used to using.
I could go on and on about the many difficulties to being an equestrian, but that would take about three more pages. I want people to know that I work extremely hard at what I do and I give it a hundred and ten percent. I have my own job to help put towards my horse and competing in competitions. Just because you can’t ride horses as a school sport doesn’t mean its not a sport. Riding horses is one the main events in the summer Olympics.
