Argumentative Essay: Is Horseback Riding A Sport?

“Horseback riding isn’t a sport.” I can’t tell you how many people I have heard say that very statement, and to me it is quite offensive. What people don’t realize is that, that simple statement is only partially true. The very definition of a sport is competing as an individual or team against another. Pay close attention to the word, “competing,” and that’s where people who say horseback riding isn’t a sport, are only partially wrong. The people who have horses and trail ride or simply ride for the pleasure of it, in my own opinion, for them horseback riding isn’t a sport because they aren’t competing or being competitive at all. Now I stand with the people who compete and are very competitive in competition with their horses. So for me, horseback riding is very much a sport because I compete against others and if you know me you should know that I am a very competitive person.

When riding, you have to put your full trust into a 1200+ pound animal with a mind of it’s own and if the horse doesn’t want to go for a ride that day they let you know and typically the let u know the hard way, by putting you on the ground. In other sports if you fall most likely you weren’t moving very fast and more or less you didn’t fall very far, when it comes to a horse, on average in a jumping course you are moving at 10-17 mph and when you fall you fall from high up and you hit hard. I would know, my horse Dusty used to spook then take off galloping full speed and dump me all the time, in fact one of my falls broke my helmet in the middle of a stadium jumping course at a show. Competing on a horse is the only sport that actually requires you to have a medical armband in the event of a fall, no other sport requires that, which goes to show how dangerous our sport