An equestrian drill team is a group of horses and riders performing choreographed maneuvers to music. Teams typically perform at rodeos, horse fairs, parades, benefits, and drill team competitions. Drill teams are intended to entertain, show sportsmanship, horsemanship, teamwork and dedication. Competition drill at the national level is a controlled ride and has continuous forward motion. Some competition venues have set up special divisions of competition to provide for novice, rodeo, youth, gaited and special effects (as allowed at the venue) such as theme and drama. Theme drill provides a division that allows teams to showcase their uniforms, horse ability, music, and inclusions of trick riding or other variations.
Members must have a uniform appearance, including outfits, hats, tack, and flags (if used). Horses should be of the same type, e.g. stock type, gaited, or miniature, however matching horse colors or breeds are at the team's discretion. Teams can range in size from four horses (Quad team) to 20 plus horses.
At competitions, a drill team is judged on ability, including spacing and alignment, timing and coordination, originality, difficulty, and attractiveness of patterns, speed, horsemanship, uniformity, manners of the animals, music, and crowd appeal. Categories can include Novice, Youth, 4-H, Gaited, Theme, Rodeo, Quad, or Open.
The United States Equestrian Drill Association (USEDA) is the governing body for mounted drill and color guard competitions in the United States. The USEDA sanctions competitions throughout the United States. The United States Equestrian Drill Championship (USEDC) is held each June at the Texas Rose Horse Park near Lindale, Texas as part of Super Ride - an International Festival of the Equestrian Arts.
The USEDA was developed after the Washington Ladies Riding Club Association was officially established in 1980. Currently the WLRCA hosts yearly competitions, leads clinics and helps establishes rules and guidelines for other teams to learn by. Participants from WLRCA fly all over the United States, providing clinics, judging, or offering insight to this wonderous world of drill.
Equestrianism, more often known as horse riding or horseback riding, includes the disciplines of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses. This broad description includes the use of horses for practical working purposes, transportation, recreational activities, artistic or cultural exercises, and competitive sport.
Rodeo is a competitive sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later Central America, South America, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros in the charreria and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States, western Canada, and northern Mexico. Today, it is a sporting event that involves horses and other livestock, designed to test the skill and speed of the cowboys and cowgirls. American style professional rodeos generally comprise the following events: tie-down roping, team roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, bareback bronc riding, bull riding and barrel racing. The events are divided into two basic categories: the rough stock events and the timed events. Depending on sanctioning organization and region, other events such as breakaway roping, goat tying, and pole bending may also be a part of some rodeos.
Bull riding is a rodeo sport that involves a rider getting on a bucking bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal tries to buck off the rider.
A horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days, sometimes longer for major, all-breed events or national and international championships in a given discipline or breed. Most shows consist of a series of different performances, called classes, wherein a group of horses with similar training or characteristics compete against one another for awards and, often, prize money.
Reining is a western riding competition for horses where the riders guide the horses through a precise pattern of circles, spins, and stops. All work is done at the lope, or the gallop. Originating from working cattle, reining is often described as a Western form of dressage riding, as it requires the horse to be responsive and in tune with its rider, whose aids should not be easily seen, and judges the horse on its ability to perform a set pattern of movements. The horse should be willingly guided or controlled with little or no apparent resistance and dictated to completely. A horse that pins his ears, conveying a threat to his rider, refuses to go forward, runs sideways, bounces his rear, wrings his tail in irritation or displays an overall poor attitude is not being guided willingly, and is judged accordingly.
The Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA) is a nonprofit organization composed of men and women of all riding levels and offers individual and team competition in hunter seat equitation, Western horsemanship and reining at more than 400 member colleges and universities. Members of IHSA participate at horse shows, regardless of their experience or financial status. Students compete at eight levels from beginner through advanced with provided horses, eliminating the expense of horse ownership. Founded in 1967 by Bob Cacchione, it is the oldest and largest intercollegiate equestrian organization with 10,000 members in 47 states and Canada. IHSA college and university team participation is represented through a variety of programs including varsity athletics, academic departments and club sports. IHSA offers hands-on experience and professional development in multiple facets of the equine industry. Many IHSA teams participate in service projects, giving back to their communities.
Equitation is the art or practice of horse riding or horsemanship.
Equestrian vaulting, or simply vaulting, is most often described as gymnastics and dance on horseback, which can be practiced both competitively or non-competitively. Vaulting has a history as an equestrian act at circuses, but its origins stretch back at least two-thousand years. It is open to both men and women and is one of ten equestrian disciplines recognized by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports. Therapeutic or interactive vaulting is also used as an activity for children and adults who may have balance, attention, gross motor skill or social deficits.
Saddle Seat is a style of horseback riding within the category of English riding that is designed to show off the high action of certain horse breeds. The style developed into its modern form in the United States, and is also seen in Canada and South Africa. To a much lesser extent, it is ridden with American action horse breeds in Europe and Australia. The horse breeds mainly used for this flashy style are typically the showy Morgan Horse, and the high stepping American Saddlebred.
Western riding is considered a style of horse riding which has evolved from the ranching and welfare traditions which were bought to the Americans by the Spanish Conquistadors, as well as both equipment and riding style which evolved to meet the working needs of the cowboy in the American West. At the time, American cowboys had to work long hours in the saddle and often over rough terrain, sometimes having to rope a cattle using a lariat, also known as a lasso. Because of the necessity to control the horse with one hand and use a lariat with the other, western horses were trained to neck rein, that is, to change direction with light pressure of a rein against the horse's neck. Horses were also trained to exercise a certain degree of independence in using their natural instincts to follow the movements of a cow, thus a riding style developed that emphasized a deep, secure seat, and training methods encouraged a horse to be responsive on very light rein contact.
The Pony Club Association of New South Wales is the controlling body for Pony Clubs in New South Wales (NSW) where young people can ride and learn all disciplines of equestrian sports. The Association co-ordinates, develops and promotes Pony Clubs in New South Wales and instruction for its members.
Competitive trail riding (CTR) is an equestrian sport where riders cover a marked trail for a distance that is usually between 40 miles (64 km) per day. Some rides are only one day long, others may run as long as three days. One-day six-mile events have also become popular. The goal of the competition is to demonstrate partnership between horse and rider. Unlike in endurance riding, factors other than speed are considered. If the ride is timed, it is a form of pace race; otherwise it is a judged trail ride. In a timed ride, horses may not come in under or over a certain time, and veterinary checks, rider behavior and other elements play a role in the placings. The horse is evaluated on performance, manners, and related criteria. "Pulse and respiration" stops check the horse's recovery ability and conditioning.
Stacy Westfall is a professional horse trainer who specializes in reining. She was the first woman to compete in and win the Road to the Horse competition. In 2006 she won the All American Quarter Horse Congress Freestyle Reining competition on the black mare, Whizards Baby Doll, riding both bridleless and bareback. The video of this ride went viral on the internet and brought Westfall to the attention of the non-horse world.
Ranch sorting is a western-style equestrian sport that evolved from the common ranch work of separating cattle into pens for branding, doctoring, or transport. Ranch Sorting is an event that pits a team of two riders on horseback against the clock. Teamwork is the key with both riders working in harmony to cut out the correct cattle and drive them to the pen while keeping the wrong numbered cattle back. There are several variations of ranch sorting with one, two or three riders on the team, but all require sorting the cattle from one pen to the other in the correct order.
In 1998 the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) and Committee on Women's Athletics (CWA) identified Equestrian and an emerging sport for women in all three NCAA divisions. The National Collegiate Equestrian Association, formerly known as Varsity Equestrian, was created as the governing body for NCAA Equestrian teams. The NCEA is headquartered in Waco, Texas. Currently the NCEA has 24 official member colleges and universities that sponsor women's equestrian teams that participate in intercollegiate competition as a varsity sport.
Cowboy mounted shooting is a competitive equestrian sport involving the riding of a horse to negotiate a shooting pattern. Depending on sponsoring organizations, it can be based on the historical reenactment of historic shooting events held at Wild West shows in the late 19th century. Modern events use blank ammunition instead of live rounds, certified to break a target balloon within twenty feet (6 m).
Martha Josey is the professional World Barrel Racing Champion for 1980. She has been in active rodeo competition since 1964. She has earned numerous titles at competitions such as the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) and events sanctioned by the National Barrel Horse Association (NBHA), and Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA). She also competed in barrel racing as an exhibition event during the 1988 Calgary Olympics, and is the founder and co-owner of the Josey Ranch Barrel Racing Clinic. She was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame of the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1985. She and her husband, R.E. Josey, were jointly inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2002, and the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2007. She was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 2011.
Craig Cameron is an American horse trainer. He won the Road to the Horse colt-starting contest in 2010 and has been inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.
The 1st Cavalry Division Horse Cavalry Detachment is a United States Army equestrian military unit. Posted at Fort Hood, Texas, it was activated in 1972 and is a subordinate unit of the 1st Cavalry Division.
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