Horse Sports - introduction

So.. it's time for horse sports...

Horse riding is sport with very long past... People has started horse riding in ancient Greece, first horse riding school was built in 1773 year, first horse riding competitions started in 1902 in Turyn (Italy). This sport is very interesting and varied.

In next months I'll write about dressage, show jumping and eventing (which are olimpic disciplines), reining and equestrian vaulting.

Horse colors

There are four basic coat colors:

•Chestnut - Reddish or light brown body, mane, tail without black.

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•Black - Black body, tail and mane.

•Bay - Brown hair, black mane, tail and lower legs.








•Gray - Horse with white mixed with black hair. Gray horses can be born any color, lighten as they age.

Some other coat colors:



Pinto - a multi-colored horse with large patches of brown, white, and/or black and white.




•Brindle - One of the rarest colors in horses. Characteristics are any color with "zebra-like" stripes, but most common is a brown horse with faint yellowish markings.





•White - One of the rarest colors, a white horse has white hair and pink skin.

Horse gaits

There are four basic gaits:

•Walk - very slow (4 mph) four-beat gait. When walking, a horse's legs follow this sequence: left hind leg, left front leg, right hind leg, right front leg. At the walk, the horse will always have one foot raised and the other three feet on the ground.

•Trot - faster than walk (8 mph) two-beat gait. In this gait, the horse moves its legs in unison in diagonal pairs. A very slow trot is sometimes referred to as a jog.

•Canter - faster then trot (10-17 mph) three-beat gait. In the canter a horse's legs follow this sequence: outside hind leg, inside hind and outside front legs together.

•Gallop - the fastest horse gait known as racing canter (25-30 mph). Legs sequence: left hind, right hind, left front, right front, where is a moment when all legs are off the ground.

There are many other gaits used in dressage and reinig about which I'll write later.