• Zagorath@aussie.zoneOP
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      10 months ago

      I understand that viewpoint, but from what I’ve seen, Olympic-style equestrians treat their horses extremely well and develop a bond with the animal. And while I don’t find the sports very interesting to watch (dressage especially just shouldn’t be classified as a “sport”—but then I’m not a fan of any sports where judges deciding scores is the primary way you decide a winner), I think it would be a shame if it stopped existing.

      This is different from the old Modern Pentathlon format which included horse riding. That’s a sport where they deliberately didn’t have a bond with the animal (they literally got given a horse at random per event), and from what I’ve heard they tended to not be very well trained in horse jumping compared to the other 4 legs of the race. Getting rid of the horse there just made sense.