If you go to a riding school you will see more girls than boys. If you look for the data, you will find that 73% of the federal licenses of equestrian In Spain they have been opened by women. And if you look for a sport in which men and women can compete equally, you will also find a horse in the middle. And at the management level? “I don’t think there is a sport more equal than ours. In this sense, it is quite exemplary,” he proclaims. Álvaro Arrieta, president of OXERthe company he presides over and which is responsible for organizing the largest equine events in Spain, including the Madrid Horse Week (MHW)which is celebrated at the end of November.
In these times of powerful demands for equality in the training and competition conditions commanded by Spanish international football, the world of horse riding is positioned as an example. By practitioners, by the importance of management positions and, to expand on the subject, even by animals: riders increasingly turn to mares more than horses. This happens at least in some of the three Olympic disciplines: dressage, eventing and show jumping, the latter the queen event (Jessica Springsteen, the daughter of the ‘Boss’, is surely the best-known Amazon). In all the competitions, men and women fight against each other, a unique case.
We ask Beatriz Ferrer-Salat the reason for the success of horse riding among the Female gender. She is the most successful horsewoman in Spain. He has participated in five Olympic Games, awarded with two medals. He has just won the Copa del Rey in Madrid and is already preparing Paris-24. “I guess it takes a lot of sensitivity with the horse. And it has a point of elegance and femininity, at least classical dressage, my specialty. Although many men also practice it, it requires a very strong connection with the animal in which perhaps we are capable of investing more time and emotion,” reflects the daughter of Carlos Ferrer-Salatwho was president of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE).
Sensitivity issue
Go deeper into it Alvaro Arrieta. “Any of the disciplines requires complicity, sensitivity and coordination. The horse feels you. And in this aspect, women are more sensitive than men, both on top of the animal and on the ground. Notice that at a professional level, there are more caregivers than caregivers. This relationship with the animal is fundamental. Even the veterinary part, very important in this sport, is quite equal, there are surely more women now.”
Another thing, it is worth clarifying, are equestrian races, more associated with testosterone, fury, bravery and also weight. “On racetracks, if you have to choose between yoqueis and yoquetas, with equal weight, men would be chosen,” he says. the journalist José Ignacio Castellóone of the great specialists of world of horses in Spain.
Women’s triumph in the Grand National
This expert remembers an illustrious exception: a couple of years ago a woman won the Grand Nationalthe most famous obstacle course in the world: Rachel BlackmoreIrish who at the age of 31 was crowned in the racecourse from Aintree (Liverpool).
Amateur life ends at age 21 and from there, everything becomes equal. Even so, in classical dressage, which would be like rhythmic gymnastics on the back of an animal, female preponderance is maintained. In fact, the last podium in the European championship went to three women.
Ferrer-Salat indicates that in his discipline the horses on mares, despite its strength. “And there are more geldings than intact ones. Geldings are more stable, less difficult to manage. If a mare passes by he is not so distracted. “It is a question of behavior, very important when coordination and precision are essential,” he illustrates.
In jumps things vary. “In recent years, there are many winning mares. Less elephant animals are needed, with less muscle, and the modern horse format leans toward specimens with great agility, light, fast and clean in jumping, and many mares fall into those parameters,” explains Arrieta.
Once the concepts of licenses, of riders and horsewomen and even of horses and mares have been established, let’s look at the management positions. Arrieta claims not to have “the feeling that it is a sport run by men. There are great competitions organized by women. And the International Federation is chaired by a man (the Belgian Ingmar de Vos) but the one who cuts the cod is a woman. “We are a fairly exemplary sport,” he reiterates.
Illustrious surnames
It is remembered that Pilar de Borbón, sister of the king emerituswas president of the International Equestrian Federation (1994-2005) and honorary member of the Spanish, which gives the feminine dimension that equestrian has historically had. Now the president of the La Zarzuela Racecourse is Maritcha Ruiz Mateosas it was a few years ago Faina Zurita Ussía (cousin of the emeritus). According to Castelló, “the involvement that they have always had, in this case governing the organizations of this sport, confirms that the communion of women with horses goes beyond competition.”
Related news
Names that evoke an exclusive and elitist sport, a stereotype that the president of OXER tries to reject. “The royal houses have historically been very involved in horses and have given an elitist image. Let’s see, I like that Infanta Elena is a great ambassador of the sport, but you don’t have to be from a royal house to ride horses on Saturdays in a riding school and take classes. It is more expensive to go skiing. There are some sambenitos that we have to remove because they are not real, he emphasizes.
All the parties consulted agree that there is an absolute peak in equestrianism: in terms of licenses, numbers of horses, numbers of competitions and attendance. There is a growing young audience. It is noticeable in these weekend classes at any riding school or in attending events such as Madrid Horse Week, which boasts the presence of the most powerful riders and horsewomen in the national and international ranking, from November 24 to 26. . “Every year we sell more tickets and we see more and more young people who are hooked,” says Arrieta. In other words, the sport in question is galloping.