Equestrianism concerns on the skill of driving or riding horses, the very same skill required in equestrian sports.  However, this description is broad, which includes the use of horse for various reasons such as working purposes, practical, competitive sports and recreational activities. 

For equestrian activities, the horses used are very well trained.  Some of these galloping animals are intended for working purposes like the police works and ranch or farm work such as controlling herds.  Equestrian as competitive sports include, but surely not limited to these only, are endurance racing, reining, dressage, eventing, show jumping, vaulting, tent pegging, rodeo, horse racing, driving, and polo.  The more popular forms of these competitive sports are grouped at horse shows wherein a horse has to perform different disciplines.  Horses, like the other equids like donkeys and mules, are taken as important part of non-competitive and recreational riding such that of trail riding, hacking, or fox hunting.  Horse trails can be accessed in public places such as parks, public stables and ranch, although, not all of these offer such amenity.  Apart from being used in equestrian sports and other equestrian activities, horses too may serve some therapeutic purposes, both for emotional development and in special paraequestrian competition.

Equestrian events first took part during the 1900 Olympic games.  Twelve years later, three Olympic equestrian disciplines were incorporated in the game.  These three disciplines are still very much existing even up to the present.  These are the dressage, show jumping, and eventing.  The dressage or otherwise referred to as “training” in French, involves a progressive horse training to levels of collection, obedience and impulsion.  In competitive dressage, the goal there is to showcase the horse that carries out, upon request, its natural movements that are naturally done impulsively while on the loose.  A certain dressage master once pointed out that dressage is like giving the horse its freedom while carrying its rider.

The second discipline known as show jumping is a timed event fairly judged based on the rider and the horse’s ability to jump above series of different obstacles, given a particular order with the least knockdowns of the obstacles.  And meanwhile, the third which is eventing is also called as horse trails, the Military, combined training, the complete test, or the three-day event, is a combination of dressage added with the athletic ability to show jump and the fitness needed for cross-country jumping.  In eventing, during the last leg, the horses have to jump over some fixed obstacles like stone walls, logs, water, ditches, or banks, as they try to finish the entire course with the “best time.”

Additional event are also added, as part of the international disciplines are reining, equestrian vaulting, combined driving, paralympic competition and endurance riding.  Though these events are globally recognized and already taken their part in the FEI World Equestrian Games, none of them yet took part in the Summer Olympics.

Furthermore, equestrian has been taken with innumerable forms, either a sport or plain horseback activity, as well as competitive events and pure pleasurable rides.  The cowboy polo and arena polo, Charreada, equestrian vaulting, gymkhana, and reining are all classified as equestrian under arena sports.  Charreada is the highest level of Mexican horsemanship that relied on the combination of the Native traditions and the Spanish.  While the gymkhana or also referred to as O-Mok-See is renowned in the western part of the United States.  Besides all the horse-related activities mentioned, there are also horse sports that make use of cattle, such as Chilean rodeo, team penning, bullfighting, camp drafting, and cutting.  The camp drafting is one of Australia’s cattle-working competitions.

Most, if not all, of the equestrian riders are after the welfare and overall well-being of their horses.  In fact, some of them are allied with animal welfare and safety organizations.  And also, most of the competitive events have their own sets of well-established regulations and policies in favor of the animals involve, as well as to motivate ethical behaviors.