PonyPotato

*angry noises/fists of fury* Have you ever RIDDEN A HORSE? Gah, I can't believe I'm reading this. Equestrian sports are some of the oldest in the world, and are indeed extremely difficult and require a lot of skill. The riders who get there don't just get on horses they haven't worked years to train and go at it.. it generally takes at least a year of competing at the top level to qualify for the olympic team, often longer.

Equestrian events are some of the only sports in the world in which experience and training is more important than raw athletic ability. Racing is totally different from dressage and show jumping - a jockey tries to stay out of the way and encourage a horse to go faster, while a dressage or showjumping rider has to train and convince the horse to do extremely difficult physical movements in sequence.

I can (and will) argue that the horses in the Olympics are all of pretty much the same caliber, and the difference in score/clean rounds comes from the rider's ability. Riders have to be able to peak their horses for the Olympics - have a crappy training program, have a tired horse.

I would like to see Reining added to the equestrian events, and perhaps something like IHSA or IDA for dressage/equitation competition. The problem is finding horses that can handle different riders and still compete at a high level - I felt horrible for some of the poor horses in the pentathlon. Those people truly would benefit from more riding experience.

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