It's All About Communication or "Plays"

During sports, the teammates have to communicate back and forth to make sure everything runs smoothly. This is done through yelling to each other or relaying plays from the coach. During horseback riding we have our own "plays" or ways of communication with our teammate. A slight complication would be if the team spoke different languages. Or if the team couldn't speak at all. This is how it works in horseback riding. We have different ways to communicate with each teammate.

With horses, every single one has a different way of communication from the rider. Whether it's preference or simply the way they were trained. For example I use the differences between my two horses. With my horse John John, to ask him to move forward you squeeze with your calves, sit back, and pull slightly back on the reins. With my other horse Sassie, you squeeze with your calves, lean forward, and loosen the reins. So every time you get a new teammate, your "plays" or forms of communication will change.

This typically doesn't happen with other sports. Every team will come up with it's own set of plays but they don't normally change with every practice or game. That's why horseback riding is a little different.