Oh..It Involves Communication?

During many sports, the teammates have to communicate back and forth to make sure everything runs smoothly during their game or competition. This is done through yelling to each other or relaying plays from the coach’s direction. In horseback riding, we have our own "plays" or ways of communication with our teammate and in this case the teammate is the horse. A slight complication would be if the team spoke different languages, or if the team couldn't speak at all.

There are different ways to communicate with each teammate. With horses, every single horse has a different method of communication from the rider whether it is because of preference or simply from the way the horse was trained. For example, with my horse John-John, you ask him to move forward by squeezing with your calves, sitting back, and pulling back slightly back on the reins. With my other horse, Sassie, you squeeze with your calves, lean forward, and loosen the reins, nearly the opposite directions from John-John. Therefore, 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 its own set of plays but they don't normally change with every practice or game.

The “plays” are constantly changing in horseback riding due to the switching combinations of riders and horses. If a “play” is communicated incorrectly during a sport such as football, the main consequence is that the game would be lost or the other team would score a touchdown. While jumping a horse, if there is an incorrect signal from the rider, the consequence could be deadly.