26 articles
Buster Welch
Buster Welch (1928–2022), Texas cutting horse trainer and rancher, won the first NCHA Futurity in 1962 and four more, trained world champion Marion's Girl, worked for King Ranch, and appeared in Yellowstone season 4.
Campdrafting
Campdrafting, a uniquely Australian equestrian sport from 19th-century cattle mustering: a rider cuts one beast from a mob, then works it around pegs in 40 seconds; scored 70 horse work, 26 cut out, 4 course.
Cutting (sport)
Cutting (sport): Western equestrian discipline, also called cutting horse competition, where a horse independently separates one cow from a herd. First advertised contest 1898 Haskell, Texas; governed by the NCHA since 1946.
Endurance riding
Endurance riding is a long-distance equestrian sport over 25-160 km trails, governed by the FEI (since 1982) and AERC (1972), decided by mandatory veterinary gate checks where horse welfare, not speed alone, determines completion.
Equestrian vaulting
Equestrian vaulting, gymnastics on horseback, also called Voltigieren: athletes perform compulsory, freestyle, and technical tests on a cantering horse lunged on a 15-metre circle; FEI-recognized since 1983, contested at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics.
Equine-assisted therapy on autistic people
Equine-assisted therapy (EAAT, equine-assisted services) uses horses in hippotherapy, therapeutic riding, or equine-assisted psychotherapy for autistic people; reviews report gains in social cognition, communication, irritability, and hyperactivity, with inconsistent subdomain results and no low-risk-of-bias trials.
Equitation
Equitation is the horse-show discipline in which the rider, not the horse, is judged on position, aids, and accuracy. Also called horsemanship in western showing; held mainly in the US and Canada across hunter, saddle seat, western, and dressage seat divisions.
Gina-Maria Bethke
Gina-Maria Bethke, née Schumacher (born 1997), daughter of Michael Schumacher, is a German non pro reining rider; 2019 European team champion, 2025 World Reining Championship team gold, married to Iain Bethke.
Gymkhana (equestrian)
Gymkhana (equestrian) is a timed horseback competition of speed-and-agility pattern games such as barrel racing, pole bending, and keyhole; the term originated in British India and spawned mounted games.
Hippology
Hippology is the study of the horse (Greek hippo + ology), best known as a 4-H youth contest with four phases: written and slide exam, identification stations, horse judging, and team problem solving.
Horseball
Horseball (horse-ball) is a team equestrian sport from Argentine pato, codified in France in 1979: four riders a side pass a six-handled ball and score through a 3.50 m ring; FEI-recognised since 2004, FIHB-governed, France dominant.
Lady Araminta Spencer-Churchill
Lady Araminta Spencer-Churchill, British junior eventing rider, daughter of the 12th Duke of Marlborough; rides Neds Legacy, won 2024 Junior European team bronze and the Osberton 2, debuted at Le Bal 2025.
Louis Finet
Louis Finet (Louis Casimir Finet, born 5 March 1894) was a Belgian Olympic equestrian who won team gold and individual bronze in equestrian vaulting at the 1920 Antwerp Summer Olympics.
Maurice van Ranst
Maurice Van Ranst, Belgian equestrian vaulter at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics; fourth individually in vaulting (28.000 points) and team vaulting gold medalist with Bouckaert and Finet.
Mounted games
Mounted games (Pony-Games) is a team equestrian sport of fast relay races on ponies over a 54 m course, devised by Prince Philip in 1957; governed internationally by the IMGA (formed 2003) with 30-plus races, no spurs or whips, and riders of all ages.
Para-equestrian classification
Para-equestrian classification assigns riders with physical or vision impairments to five FEI Grades, I to V, based on muscle power, joint range, and coordination, determining gait and test difficulty in Para dressage.
Pato
Pato (juego del pato) is Argentina's national sport, a horseback game with a six-handled leather ball thrown through a 2.70 m hoop, declared national sport by Perón's Decree 17,468 in 1953.
Pole bending
Pole bending, also known as the Nez Percé Stake Race, is a timed western riding competition in which a rider weaves a horse through six poles, fastest faultless run winning.
Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship
PATH Intl., formerly the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (founded 1969, renamed 2011), is the US 501(c)3 standards, certification, and accreditation body for equine-assisted services, with 721 member centers and NCCA-accredited CTRI credential.
Reining
Reining is a western riding competition in which the horse performs circles, spins, rollbacks, and sliding stops, judged on precision and willingness; it is often called "Western dressage."
Saddle
Saddle: a rider's seat strapped to a horse's back, built around a rigid tree. Western (Moorish-derived, horned, heavy) and English (Hungarian-derived, paneled, light) traditions; fit governs pressure distribution and welfare.
Sidesaddle
Sidesaddle: a saddle for riding with both legs on one side of the horse, used by European women from about 1400, taking its modern form in the 1830s, declining by the 1930s, and revived by bodies such as the Side Saddle Association (1974).
Spur
Spur (equestrian): metal heel fitting on a rider's boot, prick or rowel type, used to signal the horse. Known since Celtic Iron Age; rowel spurs from 9th-century Spain; FEI and national rules cap length and ban serrated rowels.
Techniques de Randonnée Équestre de Compétition
Techniques de Randonnée Équestre de Compétition, or TREC, is an equestrian trail sport created in France in the late 1980s, testing horse and rider over three phases.
Working cow horse
Working cow horse, also called reined cow horse or stock horse, is a western equestrian sport judged in herd work, rein work, and cow work, governed since 1949 by the NRCHA and scored from a 70 average.
Working equitation
Working equitation (WE) is an equestrian discipline founded in 1996 by Italy, France, and Spain, joined by Portugal in 1997, combining dressage, ease of handling, speed, and cattle trials under WAWE, founded 2004.