Why don’t the horses get the Olympic medals?
I’ve been riding from a young age, and it’s sometimes hard to say why. Waking up early in the morning to feed a monster that can be erratic and then going to bed late at night after said monster tries to hurl you from the saddle isn’t my favourite part of horse riding. However, one thing guaranteed to get my blood boiling is the question “why is Equestrianism an Olympic sport?”
No doubt it’s a reasonable query: in comparison to other sports such as 100m sprint or the hurdles, the person arguably doesn’t have to be in peak health. For example, at Rio 2016 the British showjumper Nick Skelton was 58 years old and won a gold medal. In fact, however, you do have to be reasonably fit, as horse riding is known for reliance on a good core, stamina and balance.
Furthermore, what the critics tend to forget is that the rider depends on an animal that is similar to humans: horses also have bad days . Above is a photo of me jumping, and as you can see the horse is jumping too early. He’s already peaked in height. In a situation like this, there are two main things that could happen:
- He jumps it too short, I hit his neck and fall off. Most likely I get kicked by him as well.
- He jumps it as well as he could in this situation. I regain my balance and focus on the next jump.
Luckily for me, Kevin is a former professional showjumper. I’m no Olympic champion nor do I aspire to jump 1.60m like Kevin used to do but similar to these brave people, I’m confident enough to admit that every time I’m in the saddle I’m afraid. Unlike (except in extreme and rare cases) football, running and hurdles, the athletes face the fact that they could die while competing. Bikes don’t suddenly start to buck or stop short at a jump. They don’t fear the crowds, the noise, the bright colours.
It’s true that the horses do majority of the work, and some people have abused them because horses can’t say when they are exhausted. However, the riders are riders, not passengers: if they sat like a lemon on their mounts they would fall off as soon as the horse acted up. Also, if they didn’t push the horse on, reassuring the horse that the drop fence (photo below) is nothing to be afraid of, then they would also finish on the floor.
So next time you complain about horse riding being in the Olympics, I suggest you get on a horse and try a cross country course before opening your mouth. You’ll find yourself exhausted, sweaty and breathless.
That is, if you stay in the saddle.
