Why Do We Show Horses?

By: Emily Tuma

Why do we show horses?

Like really, what is it?

I’ve been thinking about this question more lately. Maybe it’s because I’ve been explaining my love for showing horses to random strangers on airplanes or my co-workers. Maybe it’s because I just left a horse show where I’m surrounded by the joy and absurdity of the entire sport.

Think about it.

We pay a lot of money, get up early, often have little time to even shower or eat, and yet we choose to do it. Usually, the only bait dangling in front of us is a title or a buckle or some other “thing” to validate our choice to be there.

Yet somehow, being at that first show of the season, I felt peace and joy in every fiber of my being.

I made mistakes. I made progress in other areas. I saw old friends and made new ones. I was freezing cold at times. I laughed.

I think we show because we’re competitive. It’s because we enjoy the sweet wins and we’ve felt the hard losses.

There is something else though- a love, a fire, a passion that’s intangible to anyone that doesn’t have “it.” We do the crazy things we do because it’s what we know, and we don’t want to imagine a life without it. The love for our equine partners can’t be described in enough words.

I leave the last show, and all I want to do is get to the next one. I want to get the obstacles and patterns set up and put in the work so that next time I can see the tiny victories. And also, day dream about the day Mabel, my new foal, gets to come to the shows also.

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