Horse Riding

Horse riding is a sport that has ancient origins, infact the horse is one of the many animals that entered the life of man already in the Roman and Greek times.

History:

In the middle ages the horse began to be used not only for means of work and war but also for purposes of pleasure and entertainment as is done in modern times. Riding became the favorite sport of the aristocrats, and training soon became an obligation to be fulfilled for all aristocrats.  The main sports on horseback in the middle ages were tournaments, that is, competitions that required a good trained horse and a good rider very skilled in conducting it, these types of sports attracted many people.                                                            

During the Renaissance in many courts of Europe the first riding schools began to be born. The first was the academy of Naples, which became very famous in the 16 th century thanks to Giovanni Battista Pignatelli.

Benefits

Horse riding is a sport that can bring many physialogical and psychological benefits : from a physical point of view it is an activity that is able to work all the muscles of the body. Horseback riding develops balance and improves posture and motor coordination and increases reflexes by stimulating the cardiivascular system. Instead from a mental point of view, horse riding gives a lot of comfort even in the saddest moments because a very strong bond of friendship is created between you and the horse and, the relationship that is established is truly spiritual capable of enriching the soul of the knight.

Foundamentals of sport: horse’s gaits

The horse’s gaits are 3 : the walk, the trot and the gallop.

1 the step is the slowest gait of the horse and reaches a speed of 5-7 km/h, this type of gait is defined as symmetrical because the support of the 2 front legs accurs according to regular time interval.                                    

2 the trot is a jumped gait in 2 diagonal bipeds succession, at this gait the speed that the horse can reach varies from 10 to 55 km/h.                                                                             

3 the gallop is a faster natural gait and takes place in 4 times, the pure English blood launched at a gallop can reach 70 km/h even in only for a few minutes.