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Jul 2021
7:12pm, 26 Jul 2021
6,194 posts
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Metro_Nome
Stepping aside from the controversial bits, interesting to see about the differences for men/women in archery. Watched the mixed doubles the other day and remarked to my hubby it must be one of the few sports where gender really didn’t matter- I stand corrected.
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Jul 2021
9:16pm, 26 Jul 2021
8,599 posts
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Fragile Do Not Bend
[Is equestrianism the only Olympic discipline where men and women compete against each other? Apart from the sports with mixed doubles, that is]
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Jul 2021
9:53pm, 26 Jul 2021
1,315 posts
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RooA
[I believe so, yes]
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Jul 2021
10:31am, 27 Jul 2021
15,774 posts
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MarkyMarkMark (3M)
[That's presumably because it's really the horses doing the actual competing.... And I'd imagine the biological gender of the horse matters less, since they're not so significantly dimorphic. Not sure why it's an Olympic discipline, really <Ducks for cover!> ]
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Jul 2021
10:37am, 27 Jul 2021
61,638 posts
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Diogenes
[yeah, they never give the poor bloody horses a medal, do they?]
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Jul 2021
10:52am, 27 Jul 2021
1,316 posts
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RooA
[Have you ever ridden a horse, 3M? Try riding a piaffe or 10... or a cross country round... and tell me again that the horse does all the work. As to the horse doing the competing, kind of, but someone like Mark Todd could probably ride a actual donkey round Badminton and put in a competitive performance. Carl Hester was struggling with Valegro before handing off the ride to Charlotte and she went on a smashed records with him. It's a partnership and it takes a great deal of skill to bring out top performances from top horses. A non-rider sitting on an Olympic dressage horse would probably end up learning to fly very quickly.
Horse sports are not like other sports but they are definitely sports.
I am sympathetic to the idea that they perhaps shouldn't be competitive sports because there are ethical question marks over that for me. But the act of riding a horse is one that requires physically fitness and skill in similar doses to many other sports. The horse's physicality just levels the playing field enough for both sexes to compete together.
Interesting that you get some differences in outcome still. Men tend to dominate in showjumping, whereas women edge things in dressage I think. At least it is more even. However mares do not do so well at dressage and it tends to be dominated by shorter backed and more emotionally predictable geldings and stallions. In fact male horses are more common at the top levels in all three disciplines I think. Mares are less predictable and consistent (although a good mare on a good day is the best horse you'll ever get). There's enough dimorphism even in horses to make a difference to performance outcome. Especially in the days before they used surrogate mares to breed from top performance mares.]
What grinds my gears? People being disrespectful about a sporting endeavour I pour all my time, money and passion into even though I'm basically shit at it.  don't tell me it's easy!
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Jul 2021
11:06am, 27 Jul 2021
15,778 posts
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MarkyMarkMark (3M)
[I never said it was easy, RooA! It's still not quite a "human-competitive" sport in the same way, though, as most other athletic sports. By your own admission, it depends a lot on how the horse is trained/behaving/cooperating with the rider, as much as the rider.
Horses (and most equines) are undeniably fairly clever, beautiful, powerful animals and our pre-Industrial civilisation was built on a lot of their abilities in partnership with people. We owe them a lot as a species. We probably owe them better treatment than making them compete for our pleasure, I'd say!
FWIW, I feel the same way about motor racing - I'm not sure it's a sport, exactly. Although the restrictions around the car specifications does level the playing field somewhat.
I'm a little bemused about the inclusion of skateboarding, although I do get the fact that it's a physical and mental skill! But to have 13 year olds competing against adults feels wrong - although the fact they outperformed most of the adults yesterday makes me think there's a bigger advantage in childhood games than Olympic ones! ]
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Jul 2021
11:33am, 27 Jul 2021
1,317 posts
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RooA
It is human competitive. It is just not focused on male strength and speed like other sports. There's a huge communication element. Women tend to be better at that part. Which offsets the difference in physical strength. Alongside the involvement of the physicality of the horse it is enough for a parity of outcomes.
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Jul 2021
12:20pm, 27 Jul 2021
14,718 posts
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JK *chameleon*
[I once made the mistake of slagging of dancey horse time on Facebook. I was told, in no uncertain terms, how much skill is involved by a lovely friend who I greatly respect (also happens to be a Fetchie)
The moral? Don't piss off horse-people. They will school you ]
PS I still don't get the appeal of the sport. But it's marginally more entertaining than the Taekwon-Do was, described by housemate as "bouncy dancy, hug each other" - very accurately!
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Jul 2021
12:22pm, 27 Jul 2021
26,333 posts
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fetcheveryone
[I've been enjoying the taekwondo - anyone who can simultaneously give you a hug whilst kicking you in the back of the head deserves respect ]
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