Equestrians are Athletes and Riding is dangerous!
All sports have their own way of being dangerous. Cheerleading, you're getting thrown up in the air. You fall and smack that ground in and awkward way, you can break your neck. Soccer, you fall and kicked or stepped on, you could break your neck. Football, a simple to strong of a tackle can break your neck, and so on. But, horseback riding does deserve its place in 1st.I'm so sick and tired of non-riders saying that it isn't a sport, it isn't dangerous. They say we just sit there, but they're watching the wrong thing then. They're probably watching normal trail riding. They should try watching show jumping, hunter/jumper, dressage, eventing, barrel racing, western pleasure, steeple chasing, racing, etc. They're all very dangerous! This one little girl, named Brianna Lynn Walker, was 4 when her horse fell on her. Her and her mother were riding back to their house when her horse spooked. He reared and fell ontop of her and unfourtantly killed her. My heart goes out to that family, even if it happened years ago. That was just riding back to the house!
Soccer, football, tennis, etc. are all played with an object that isn't living. A horse has a mind, body, and soul of its own. They can kill you with their own body at any second. Another example is a girl who was amazing at juming. They went over a jump a few times perfectly, but then one time the horse fell and so did she. She ended up snapping her neck, and again dying. It's very sad and heartbreaking. These aren't even in competeitions. My teacher, had a jocky friend who lost his friend during a race. His friend had fallen off his horse during the race, he looked back to see the horse's hoof go straight through the man's head. Killing him instantly. The actor who played superman, did jumping. He fell and ended up breaking his neck, but lived. He was paralyzed from his neck down.
My friend was thrown off her horse and was slammed into the medal gate. She broke three ribs, sprained her wrist and got a concussion. Couldn't go to school for a week and three days. Breaking in a wild horse isn't a competition, but it's training them. Just leading them to a pasture can be life threatening. Walking with your friends to the gym to practice won't kill you.
Cheering is dangerous, but at least you can TALK to your partners. We can't! We have a silent bond that keeps us connected. Helps us understand each other. You have to have a 200% bond with your horse, sometimes that doesn't even work!! Think about all those children and adults that were paralyzed or killed while riding. Then tell me, it isn't a sport, we aren't athletes, that it's not dangerous.
Comments
I agree 100% - visitor