Recently a user mentioned something called Horse Boarding. At first I thought she was talking about boarding horses, like in a stable, but she was actually referring to an activity that's popular, especially in the UK.
What exactly is the sport of horse-boarding? How is it done? Is it only in the UK, or in other parts of the world?
Horse boarding is a sport similar to kite boarding / kite surfing where one uses wind power via a kite to pull oneself along on a long-board type skateboard or surfboard.
With Horse Boarding you are pulled along by a horse and rider. This gives added complexity - one because you're doubling (tripling if you include the horse) the number of participants.
It is considered an extreme sport in a similar way to 3 day eventing (people die doing cross country where jumps go wrong). The idea being to run a course at the fastest time with least faults - same as all horse events, lowest score wins.
DESCRIPTION OF ARENA BOARDING
8.1 Teams compete against the clock around a course defined by a series of gates and obstacles.
8.2 The course comprises a series of gates that should be 4 m wide, other obstacles, and designated Start and Finish.
8.3 Teams wait in a collecting or pits area, and enter the main part of the arena when called by the pits officials.
8.4 The competition comprises runs over Course A and Course B. Course B is the reverse of Course A.
Full rules below as there are a lot!
It is international!
Horseboarding International has been set up by Horseboarding UK to promote and develop the sport of horseboarding worldwide.
Managed by the founder of the sport in the UK, Daniel Fowler-Prime and together with his highly experienced Horseboarding UK team, it aims to promote and encourage the development of the sport through the establishment of national organisations within individual countries, under a standard system of rules, procedures and values.
There are also a number of complicated rules that you have to pass in order to be able to compete, these include rules for the horse rider, for the board rider, and for the horses welfare:
http://www.horseboardinguk.org/images/downloads/Horseboarding-UK-General-Rules-2017.pdf
I never got to do this as it's more recent than my riding career but I have watched it at country shows and it is a lot of fun (also lead to me kindly asking my dad 'Daddy I need another pony!' for a laugh).
