Horseback riding........sport, right?

Invite him to come see your horse and lets see if it is still not a sport! If it wasnt a sport... why do people spend thousands of dollars yearly for it?

YES!!! A lot of people at my school give me the same crap cause they think I'm weird, and you know what I say? "It's in the Olympics, so it counts as a sport." or "Have you ever actually ridden a horse? And I don't mean on a trail at a camp or something, I mean ridden it ridden it." or "People bring home gold medals for it. Of course it is a sport." Good luck with that!!

Hello! When you play a sport you have to condition and train just yourself. When you are riding you have to train and condition two minds and two bodies! You and your horse! It is so much harder than non horsemen realize. Dedication and Hard work. The hardest sport I have ever played!

has he ever ridden a horse? i don't mean a little trained trail pony that just follows all the others. (not that, that isn't fun) to actually ride you need strength, balance and quick reflexes. i don't think they would put riding (dressage... and possibly reining) in the Olympics if it was not a sport that required skill.

People like that make me so mad. lol. It uses every muscle in your body just to hang on. Besides swimming, it's the only sport that uses all your muscles all the time. Besides hanging on, you need to use even more muscles, harder, to keep correct equitation while using your whole body to give the horse cues. You also use a lot of muscle just to move with the horse. You control the horse with your ankles, calves, thighs, hands, arms, and body weight position. Riding builds muscle all over your body and is proven a great cardio workout as well as an excellent muscle workout. It builds most muscle in your calves, thighs, butt, stomach, back, and shoulders. Riding requires agility, balance, coordination, speed, fast reaction time, and power/strength. According to an equestrian fitness book, it burns quite a good amount of calories. You can't go off of websites, as most only record calories burned while walking a trail - real riding is nothing like just sitting on a trail horse. For the average female rider, who is not a beginner, she would burn approximately this many calories riding western - no speed events involved... 22 calories walking for 10 minutes 177 calories trotting for 30 minutes 148 calories cantering for 20 minutes If she were riding english, jumping, working the horse in a speed event, etc... she would burn a lot more calories. She would also burn 207 calories grooming the horse for 30 minutes. Plus barn work burns a lot of calories. I used to burn over 3,000 calories when I was working three green horses a day. I was super skinny and fit. Not only that, but it's dangerous. You can easily get severely injured or killed within seconds. Do people get killed in football? No. Saying it's in the olympics just isn't enough. Table tennis is in the olympics yet a lot of people say that isn't a sport either.

the olympics are for sports right? well, then, if horseback riding isn't a sport, then why is it in the olympics? (dressage and jumping are as far as i know) definition of sport- an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc. as far as i'm aware, riding is an athletic activity requiring skill AND physical prowess and IS competitive (when at shows)

He wouldn't think it was a sport. He probably think it isn't a sport because he think that that he works hard playing like soccer. I will admit that soccer is a LITTLE hard but seriously...horseback riding is way harder and more fun! He is sooooooooooooo wrong horseback riding id a sport! P.S. I would laugh if this guy got on a horse thinking that it would be easy and couldn't walk the next day because his legs hurt so much!

LOL, some radio announcer in Australia was saying that... he was complaining about the fact that we have dressage and showjumping in the olympics. They tried to get him to do it for a month and see if he changed his mind. Not surprisingly, he declined. But yes, it's definitely a sport. People who don't have strong muscles tend to be terrible riders. It's an Olympic sport and it's a lot more challenging than most sports because there is mental as well as physical difficulty. I am on my college's equestrian team. It is considered a sport here and we get funding just like any other sports team. It burns a ton of calories... just show him this chart! http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/info/caloriesburned.html

Yes horseback riding is a sport, but why is it so important for you to prove that to him. mean they have various aspects of horseback riding on ESPN sport channel. Horse racing is called the "sport of kings"! My high school had an equestrian team and it was considered just as valid as any other high school sport and had state finals and all that. It obviously is a sport, but not one David respects. I can understand you being offended by this since it is a sport of interest for you and being disrespected always sucks. I really doubt saying something on facebook is going to change david's opinion though. Just face it.....you can not control his opinion and trying is a waste of time and energy.