Photos courtesy of the Horse Agility Club

Horse Agility is a relatively new equestrian sport, and it’s predominantly a non-ridden one. 

The goal is to work your horse at Liberty around an obstacle course ... much like dog agility, only with horses.

Horses are trained using body language and verbal commands, and the sport attracts a lot of positive reinforcement trainers. As it may take horses a while to recognise and understand verbal commands and signals, training initially starts with the horses on a 12ft long lead rope.

The ridden form of this sport is known as Equagility, and it is promoted by The International Horse Agility Club. Established in 2010, it is growing in popularity with competitions and training events taking place in the UK, much of Europe, Australia and North America.

According to those in the know, there are numerous benefits to be gained from horse agility including: bonding, confidence and trust building: groundwork skills; focus and concentration; coordination and body awareness; problem-solving and adaptability; fitness and conditioning; recovery; and fun.

The International Horse Agility Club supports learning via monthly competitions or through a selection of certificate courses to be completed at your own pace.

There is a walk only league for any horse or handler who has a temporary or permanent limit to their mobility as well as a Junior league for those under 17.

To find out more, check out www.thehorseagilityclub.com