Go Horse – Horse ball… but what kind of sport is it?

Horse-Ball is an equestrian team sport . Initially, it was nothing more than a riding exercise , invented by Captain Clave in France in the 1930s. Even today, in fact, we find, in this discipline, the pedagogical and playful values used in every French and foreign equestrian center and poney club. Discover now all our trips, tours, holidays and horse trekking in France. This allows you to discover another form of horseback riding, for the little ones as well as the older ones. Fair play , the sporting spirit, is among the essential principles of Horse Ball , which brings it closer to the values developed by rugby. Ethics and respect for horses govern all the conduct of competitions as well as the rules of the game. The obligation to make 3 passes between 3 different players of the same team, before being able to score a basket , makes it a real collective sport: this is what makes the difference between Horse Ball and other equestrian sports. A lot of national and international competitions are organized today in Europe and beyond. These meetings gather more and more participants and spectators and more and more young people.

In fact, the Horse Ball is accessible to everyone , regardless of the age and equestrian level of the riders: there is the very young category, for 5-6 year-old children, the beginners category 9-12, students 12-14, cadets 14 -16 and finally the senior category. The game, which is played on a field between 60 and 75 meters long and between 20 and 30 meters wide, is divided into two halves of 10 minutes each , separated by an interval of 3 minutes. Each team can request, in each of the two halves, a “dead time” lasting 30 seconds. The ball, made of leather and with a circumference of 65 cm, is enclosed in a net made up of six leather handles . Teams are made up of a maximum number of 6 players: of these, from a minimum of three to a maximum of four can be present on the pitch. For each team there must be a defense and an attack formation. The team that starts first (drawn by lot by the jury / referee), will represent the attack, and the second one, therefore the one not named, will instead be called defense. The defense, at the beginning of the game, is placed behind the attacking team. There is no limit to the number of substitutions that can be made. The team with the highest number of baskets wins the game and in the event of an equal number of baskets, the game is tied.

The basket is valid if the ball entirely passes the basket circle. The two baskets are positioned in the middle of the short sides and their opening is arranged vertically, at a height of 4.50 meters. There are some fundamental rules to make the game clean and not dangerous: it is forbidden to go in the opposite direction of the ball , if this happens, the referee (one on horseback in the field, one on the sideline) will declare a penalty one , which consists of a free throw from 10.15 meters from the basket, or a penalty two , throw-in by the team that was “against traffic”, it is forbidden to carry the ball for more than 10 seconds per player , if this happens, the referee will award a penalty three, the fallen ball must be retrieved from the horse, without setting foot on the ground and at any pace, retrieval on a stationary horse is forbidden, finally the player who retrieves the ball (called “ramassage”) cannot be disturbed . In the harness of the horse there is also the “ramassage belt” : a belt that joins the two stirrups to allow the player to bend down and collect the ball on the ground.