RIDING DISCIPLINES

Riding Disciplines

Welcome to Riding Disciplines which covers every English and Western riding style! The English riding covers Dressage, a ballet on horseback, Driving which features both the beautiful horses and the carriages they pull, Foxhunting, Eventing, Jumping, Saddle Seat, and even the sport of Polo.

The Western riding category includes Pleasure, Reining and all Rodeo events involving a horse, so look for Barrel Racing, Bronc Riding, Chuck Wagon Racing, Cutting, Pole Bending and Roping.

Want to know the date of your favorite horse show or rodeo? Don’t miss it! Dates and locations are included in the in both the Calendar of Events for English Riding and the Calendar of Events for Western Riding. Are we missing a category or event? Please use the useful feedback link and let us know!

Pieres and polo ponies go together like bread and butter. Since the legendary Gonzalo Pieres founded Ellerstina with the inimitable Kerry Packer, the Pieres’ have not stopped breeding horses. The quality of the horses has improved every year, and today, the Pieres’ own some of the best polo ponies in the world. Their horses are fast and nimble, and they have been prized by associations around the world, staring with the fabulous Luna that Gonzalo played in the glory days of Ellerston and La Espadaña. Today, the mare holds a place in the Argentine Association of Polo Breeders’ Hall of Fame.

Gonzalo’s sons, current members of Ellerstina, continue the family legacy, playing horses from the Pieres family breeding program in both Argentina and abroad. Gonzalito Pieres, recent finalist of the San Jorge Open and winner of the Jockey Club Open, spoke to PoloLine about horses, a passion which has tied the family for over three decades.

Can you describe your perfect polo pony?

The perfect horse has to be easy to ride, have a soft mouth, be fast to turn, and be able to accelerate quickly over a short distance.

What is the most important characteristic of a good polo horse?

A good head, those horses that are quick learners, and good height. In my case, the horse must be medium sized, not too big. And overall, the horse must be docile.

10 Tips for Returning to Horseback Riding

by Louise Dando

Horses have always been a big part of my life.

I had my own during my teenage years. However, despite riding my friends horses, having a few different horses on part loan and taking riding lessons there have been large chunks of my adult life that have been horse free for one reason or another.

So I am going to share with you my 10 top tips for returning to riding!

1. Decide what you are aiming for.

Are you looking to buy a new horse or just take lessons? Are you looking to compete or are you happy trail riding?

Deciding this will be helpful when making decisions about everything later on. Like where to take lessons, what sort of horse to buy, where to board your horse & what your budget for all these things should be.

The cracker cattle were descendants of the seven Andalusian cattle first brought from Spain by Ponce de Leon when he made his second voyage to Florida in 1521.

Photographer: Carlton Ward, Jr. | Writer: Derek Herscovici

To a Florida native, being called a “Cracker” is a compliment.

It recalls the grit and tenacity of laboring cowboys who came generations before them, from which the nickname, Florida Cracker, is derived. Many associate the cowboy with the Wild West, but few know that these bullwhip-toting ancestors shaped the landscape, history and economy that make Florida what it is today – and we’re proud to share the story of the term’s roots.

Spain’s attempts to colonize the interior of Florida were abandoned by the early 1700s. Spanish colonists retreated to the fortress towns of St. Augustine and Pensacola or departed for their Caribbean holdings in Cuba and Hispaniola (the island now made up of the Dominican Republic and Haiti), leaving behind massive herds of Andalusian cattle, an ancestor of today’s modern Texas longhorn. Prized for the hardiness and resistance to parasites the breed had developed living in Florida, these cattle were turned loose or escaped their enclosures, multiplying and spreading across North America in record numbers. The cattle drove Florida’s economy for much of the 19th century and helped create today’s state economy. Without these cattle, the cracker cowboy, the most mythic of the Florida frontiersmen, would not have existed. Their descendants, the cowboys who moved out west, might not have either.

Prescott Frontier Days 2019: World’s Oldest Rodeo

by Stacey Lorton

If you’re trying to decide what to do for the 4th of July weekend, we know the place to be! Prescott Frontier Days – World’s Oldest Rodeo has occurred annually over the 4th of July weekend since 1888 and has become one of the most famous rodeos in the states, most recently being nominated by USA Today as a contender for the best rodeo in America. Learn all about how the World’s Oldest Rodeo came to be, what to expect, and events you can’t miss during rodeo week!

Can We Ride for the Fun of It? - Excerpt from "Dressage for No Country"

by Paul Belasik

When we were young, my siblings and I could get into some pretty vicious games. I can’t remember how many times my father would head out into the yard to calm things down. We would always hear the same refrain: In exasperation, he’d shout,

“Can’t you kids do anything without keeping score? Just play the game for the fun of it!”

When you see certain trends in your personality repeat, you wonder how much of this was deep inside you, written in your own DNA, and how much was trained into you. The more I became involved in dressage, the more I came to understand what my father had been trying to say. My affinity for concepts of Zen Buddhism seemed to take more hold. Early in college, when I first became aware of Zen advice—maybe because of the way I was raised, maybe because of who I was—it resonated deeply with me. Do a thing for the love of doing it. It seemed to validate my natural curiosity and give me a reason not to be too concerned with approval.