RIDING DISCIPLINES

Riding Disciplines

Welcome to Riding Disciplines which covers every English and Western riding style! The English riding covers Dressage, a ballet on horseback, Driving which features both the beautiful horses and the carriages they pull, Foxhunting, Eventing, Jumping, Saddle Seat, and even the sport of Polo.

The Western riding category includes Pleasure, Reining and all Rodeo events involving a horse, so look for Barrel Racing, Bronc Riding, Chuck Wagon Racing, Cutting, Pole Bending and Roping.

Want to know the date of your favorite horse show or rodeo? Don’t miss it! Dates and locations are included in the in both the Calendar of Events for English Riding and the Calendar of Events for Western Riding. Are we missing a category or event? Please use the useful feedback link and let us know!

With a history dating back more than 200 years, it is fair to say that horse racing has established itself as one of the most popular sports in Australia.

The country stages some of the most famous events in the world including the Melbourne Cup – widely known as ‘the race that stops the nation’.

Given Australia’s passion for horse racing, it naturally follows that it is home to some of the finest jockeys on the planet. Read on as we look at four of the best.

James McDonald

Horse racing and betting are intrinsically linked – a factor which makes it imperative for every punter to understand which jockeys are worth following.

For anyone just learning how to bet on horses in Australian racing, a good start point is to wager on any fancied runners ridden by James McDonald.

The New Zealand born jockey is rated by many respected pundits as the best rider in the world and it is difficult to argue with that viewpoint.

McDonald has had Group 1 successes in several major racing jurisdictions including Australia, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

The Kiwi star famously won the Melbourne Cup aboard Verry Elleegant in 2021 and has become closely associated with winning machine Romantic Warrior in recent times.

Mark Zahra

Mark Zahra has developed into one of the most sought-after jockeys in Australia over the past few years, particularly whenever Group 1 races are staged.

He went under the radar a little during the early part of his career, but sprang to prominence when winning the Turnbull Stakes and Caulfield Cup aboard Verry Elleegant in 2020.

However, the Aussie jockey took things up a notch a couple of years later when steering Gold Trip to victory in the 2022 Melbourne Cup.

Zahra demonstrated his ability to make big calls when he rejected the ride on Gold Trip in favour of piloting Without A Fight in the 2023 edition of the race.

That decision was vindicated when Zahra guide Without A Fight to an easy victory. Gold Trip was unable to repeat his heroics from the previous year as he finished 17th.

Damian Lane

With numerous Group 1 successes on his CV, Damian Lane is undoubtedly one of the best jockeys produced by Australia in recent years.

The 29-year-old has won numerous top-class races in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong to highlight why many respected judges rate him as the man for the big occasion.

Lane famously won the Japanese Derby aboard Tastiera in 2023, making him the first jockey from the southern hemisphere to win one of the classics in Japan.

There have been rumours that he will eventually join the ranks in Japan permanently, although Australian racing will be eager to retain his services.

Although Lane is yet to win the Melbourne Cup, it would be a major surprise if he failed to achieve the feat at least once in his career.

Craig Williams

Having ridden more than 2,000 winners during his illustrious career, Craig Williams can rightly lay claim to being one of the finest jockeys Australia has ever produced.

Williams notably had a stint with trainer Mick Channon in the United Kingdom earlier in his career – a spell that including winning the 2000 Dewhurst Stakes aboard Tobougg.

He came close to recording an historic treble in 2011. After winning the Caufield Cup and Cox Plate, Williams was scheduled to ride Dunaden in the Melbourne Cup.

However, he picked up a suspension in the run-up to the race and had to watch from the sidelines as replacement Christophe Lemaire steered the horse to a memorable victory.

The Australian jockey rode 18 Group race winners last season to demonstrate why he is ranked so highly by his peers.

El Overo Indigena - The 10-year-old bay mare owned by Park Place, El Overo Indigena won the Best Playing Pony in last year’s C.V. Whitney Cup. Juan Britos will be playing her again this year and counts her among his favorites.

BEST OF THE BUNCH Some of the most talented equine athletes on the field.

The most talented polo athletes are making last-minute preparations for this year’s Gauntlet of Polo series. Starting this month and being played until April 23, the series includes the C.V. Whitney Cup, the USPA Gold Cup and the U.S. Open Polo Championship.

As the most prestigious polo tournaments in the U.S., the players are pulling out all the stops to fortify their polo strings, gathering some of their most valuable horses to give them the best chance to take the titles.

With each team bringing a minimum of 40 horses, over 500 horses are expected to compete in the Gauntlet this year, and only the best will do.

This season promises to be as exciting as ever, with some of the top players counting on their favorite horses to get them to the trophy stand. Some of these horses have played in the Gauntlet before, while others are making their debut.

Some players keep their horses in the U.S., while others will keep their best horses with them, flying them to whatever country they are playing in, or they may keep them in one country to get more polo miles and bring them to the U.S. when they have matured.

Last-Minute Switcheroo for USA … Switcheroos Galore

Show Jumping saw a dizzying scramble of substitutions before the team competition began, notably McLain Ward going back in for the USA, after the five-time Olympian had been shockingly named as alternate during the first horse inspection. He and Contagious swapped in for Kent Farrington on Gazelle. U.S. Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland claimed “that has always been the plan,” citing tremendous internal team spirit along the way.

Tokyo Olympic Equestrian Competition (CREDIT--FEI-CHRISTOPHE-TANIERE)

By: Sophia Wilbourn

I began my dancing career at the age of five with music by great composers like Tchaikovsky and Claude Debussy. As the years flew by, I changed, but the music did not. In the same way that ballet music hasn’t changed, dressage music has remained stagnant for years, recycling the same dozen classical composers’ works. It’s no surprise that dressage attracts so little viewership considering humans lose interest in any piece of media regardless of the content if the sound is not good within eight seconds.

But all of that is changing. New music is reviving dressage in the public eye. Much like what happened to figure skating after the Olympic Committee began allowing music with words, dressage is experiencing extra attention.

While not nearly as viral or “pop music like” as the following two performances, Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro’s World Record Breaking Freestyle Test at London Olympics has my heart. The pair performed to a Tom Hunt’s remix of “This Is Berk”, an original score by John Powell for the 2010 Dreamworks film, How to Train Your Dragon. Not only will this performance go down in history for the stunning art and skill executed, but it also serves as one of the first popular routines to a relatively famous score taken from an extremely successful movie, setting the stage for using new music.

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