Dressage

Dressage

Its fundamental purpose is to develop, through standardized progressive training methods, a horse's natural athletic ability and willingness to perform. The rider will be relaxed and appear effort-free while the horse willingly performs the requested movement.

The dressage training scale is arranged in a pyramid or sequential fashion, with “rhythm and regularity” at the start of the pyramid and “collection” at the end

Rhythm and regularity Rhythm, gait, tempo, and regularity should be the same on straight and bending lines, through lateral work, and through transitions. Rhythm refers to the sequence of the footfalls, which should only include the pure walk, pure trot, and pure canter. The regularity, or purity, of the gait includes the evenness and levelness of the stride. Once a rider can obtain pure gaits, or can avoid irregularity, the combination may be fit to do a more difficult exercise. Even in the very difficult piaffe there is still regularity: the horse "trots on the spot" in place, raising the front and hind legs in rhythm.

Relaxation The second level of the pyramid is relaxation (looseness). Signs of looseness in the horse may be seen by an even stride that is swinging through the back and causing the tail to swing like a pendulum, looseness at the poll, a soft chewing of the bit, and a relaxed blowing through the nose. The horse makes smooth transitions, is easy to position from side to side, and willingly reaches down into the contact as the reins are lengthened.

 Contact The third level of the pyramid—is the result of the horse’s pushing power, and should never be achieved by the pulling of the rider’s hands. The rider encourages the horse to stretch into soft hands that allow the horse to lift the base of the neck, coming up into the bridle, and should always follow the natural motion of the animal’s head. The horse should have equal contact in both reins.

Impulsion The pushing power (thrust) of the horse is called impulsion, and is the fourth level of the training pyramid. Impulsion is created by storing the energy of engagement (the forward reaching of the hind legs under the body).Impulsion can occur at the walk, trot and canter. It is highly important to establish good, forward movement and impulsion at the walk, as achieving desirable form in the trot and canter relies heavily on the transition from a good, supple, forward walk. Impulsion not only encourages correct muscle and joint use, but also engages the mind of the horse, focusing it on the rider and, particularly at the walk and trot, allowing for relaxation and dissipation of nervous energy.

 Straightness  A horse is straight when the hind legs follow the path of the front legs, on both straight lines and on bending lines and the body follows the line of travel. Straightness allows the horse to channel its impulsion directly toward its centre of balance, and allows the rider’s hand aids to have a connection to the hind end.

 Collection. Collection requires great muscular strength, so must be advanced upon slowly. When in a collected gait, the stride length should shorten, and the stride should increase in energy and activity. When a horse collects, more weight moves to the hindquarters. Collection is natural for horses and is often seen during pasture play. A collected horse is able to move more freely. The joints of the hind limbs have greater flexion, allowing the horse to lower the hindquarters, bringing the hind legs further under the body, and lighten and lift the forehand. In essence, collection is the horse's ability to move its centre of gravity to the rear.

Driving

Driving

Horses can race in harness, pulling a very lightweight one-person cart known as a sulky. At the other end of the spectrum, some draft horses compete in horse pulling competitions, where single or teams of horses and their drivers vie to determine who can pull the most weight for a short distance.

In horse show competition, the following general categories of competition are seen:

Combined driving  An internationally-recognized FEI competition where horses compete in one, two, and four-horse teams, pulling appropriately designed light carriages or carts. They are expected to perform an arena-based "dressage" class where precision and control are emphasized, a cross-country "marathon" section that emphasizes fitness and endurance, and a "stadium" or "cones" obstacle course.

Draft horse showing Most draft horse performance competition is done in harness. Draft horses compete in both single and multiple hitches, judged on manners and performance.

Carriage driving using somewhat larger two or four wheeled carriages, often restored antiques, pulled by a single horse, a tandem or four-in-hand team. Pleasure competitions are judged on the turnout/neatness or suitability of horse and carriage.

Eventing

Eventing

It comprises of dressage, cross-country and show jumping and has its roots as a comprehensive cavalry test requiring mastery of several types of riding. It has three main formats, the one day event (ODE), two day event and the three day event (3DE), which in reality now runs four days at some competitions. The sport was once referred to as "Militaire", and there is such a format that riders complete all three events in one day, a "horse trial". There is also a "combined test" which originates from eventing which encompasses dressage and show jumping, but leaves out the cross country phase.

Before the beginning of a three-day event, and also before the last phase, horses are inspected by a vet to ensure that they are fit to compete further. It is usually a very formal affair, with well-groomed and braided horses, and nicely dressed riders. It is also a very nerve-racking time, as the "pass" or "fail" determines whether the horse may continue with the competition. A vet can request that a horse is sent to the holding box, when it will then be re-assessed before being allowed to continue.

In lower levels of competition the horse's movement may be analysed as they finish the cross-country, where they will be asked to trot briefly after crossing the finishing line to satisfy the vet of their soundness.

An event horse must be very responsive to succeed, as a horse that will not listen to a rider on the cross-country phase may end up taking a fall at a jump. The horse should be calm and submissive for the dressage phase, with good training on the flat. For cross-country, the horse must be brave, athletic, and (especially at the higher levels) fast with a good galloping stride and great stamina. The horse does not have to possess perfect jumping form, but should be safe over fences and have good scope. The best event horses are careful over jumps, as those who are not tend to have stadium rails knocked down on the last day. The horse also needs to have sound conformation and good feet

Hacking

Hacking

Hacking refers to the relaxed riding of a horse it is ideally suited to group outings and even the less experienced riders can easily keep up. You can do this in the countryside, on paths and bridleways and also on the roads. 

Show Jumping

Show Jumping

 This is a well-known international equestrian sport enjoyed at local clubs to big international competitions worldwide. A meeting was arranged in 1923 which led to the formation of the BSJA in 1925. Jumping penalties are assessed for refusals and knockdowns, with each refusal or knockdown adding four faults to a competitor's score; time penalties also apply. A show jumping horse must have the scope and courage to jump large fences as well as the athletic ability to handle the sharp turns and bursts of speed necessary to navigate the most difficult courses.

The international governing body for major show jumping competitions is the Federation Equestrian Internationale (FEI). The two most common types of penalties are jumping penalties and time penalties.

Jumping Penalties: Jumping penalties are assessed for refusals and knockdowns, with each refusal or knockdown adding four faults to a competitor's score.

Penalties for knockdowns are imposed only when the knockdown changes the height or width of the jump. If a horse or rider knocks down a bottom or middle rail while still clearing the height of the obstacle, providing the rails are directly underneath the top rail, they receive no penalties. Penalties are assessed at the open water when any of the horse's feet touch the water or white tape marking its boundary. If a rail is set over the middle of the water, faults are not accumulated for landing in the water.

Refusals: Refusals  are penalised four faults, up from three. Within the last several years, the FEI has decreased the number of refusals resulting in elimination from three to two. A refusal that results in the destruction of the integrity of a jump (running into the fence instead of jumping it, displacing poles, gates, flowers, or large clumps of turf or dirt) will not receive four faults for the knockdown, but instead the four faults for a refusal and an additional penalty while the timer is stopped for the repair or replacement of the jump. A refusal inside a combination (a series of two or more fences with one or two strides between each element) must re-jump the entire combination.

Time Penalties:  Each second or fraction of a second over the time allowed would result in 1 time penalty (e.g. with a time allowed of 72 seconds, a time of 73.09 seconds would result in 2 time faults).

Combinations: A refusal at any of the jumps in combination results in the horse having to repeat the entire set of obstacles, not just the element refused. So a horse may jump "A" and "B" without issue, but have a refusal at the third fence (C), at which time the rider would have to circle and return to jump fence "A" again, giving the horse a second chance to refuse or knock down "A" and "B". Despite being considered one obstacle, each element may result in penalty points if knocked down. Therefore, if each of the three fences in a triple combination were knocked down, the rider would receive 12 faults (4 per fence, instead of 4 faults for the entire obstacle.

Many breeds of horses have been successful show jumpers, and even some "grade" horses of uncertain breeding have been champions. Most show jumpers are tall horses, over 16 hands, usually of Warmblood or Thoroughbred breeding, though horses as small as 14.1 hands have been on the Olympics teams of various nations and carried riders to Olympic and other international medals. The most famous example was Stroller, who only stood 14.1 but was nonetheless a medal winner for the United Kingdom's show jumping team in the 1968 Summer Olympics, jumping one of the few clean rounds in the competition.