Sports

The definition of a sport is: “an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively,” according to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport. Now many people would argue that various activities are not considered to be sports, such as horseback riding. Depending on who you are, it may or may not be defined as a sport. If you are a person who simply trail rides for the fun of it, then technically you are not participating in the sport of riding. But the same goes for any other activity, if you are simply running for the fun of running, then it is not a sport or if you are passing a basketball back and forth, it is not a sport. It becomes a sport when you involve rules and regulations into your activity. So for running, once you add a certain time limit or distance, then it becomes part of track or cross country. As for basketball, when you add a team and the “no traveling” rule, then it becomes a sport. It’s the same situation for horseback riding, when you add the rules and techniques, it is a sport.

When you ride competitively you have a “referee” just like any other sport, only your referee is called a judge. They look at how you ride, make sure you follow the time limit and don’t go out of the arena. They make sure you follow the rules, just like any other referee. Another agreement for claiming that riding is a sport is if it wasn’t a sport, why would it be in the Olympics? Yes, they are called the Olympic Games, but the majority of the activities are known as sports according to our original definition. In all the activities played in the Olympics time and training is required to become successful at any competition. If you put the energy and hard work into an activity that follows written regulations, it is a sport.