They walk the dog around little obstacles, except in horse jumping youre riding a real big dog, not a sport.
A 1200 lb. "dog". With a brain not much bigger than a dog's, and instincts that make focused concentration difficult. At least on the animal's part. A good rider makes a huge difference. But it takes YEARS of training to be good.
Racing at up to 20 miles an hour. Over fences 4 feet tall, where timing and skill and strength and balance and eyesight and split-second decisions and strategy and plain old fashioned guts
count. Where mistakes are potentially deadly. Christopher Reeve was paralyzed jumping horses. And he's not the only one I know of. Anyone you know been paralyzed trotting Fifi around the show ring?
It's timed, for an objective measurement, and tenths of seconds count. If you tie with someone else? They raise the jump heighth, and you do it again. If you can.
Olympic jumpers jump fences up to SIX FEET TALL. That's insanity. Horses who physically can do such a thing are rare. Horses who can physically do such a thing and then be trained to do it well are
freaks. People who will ride these powerkeg giants over such amazing courses are... well, they're just
crazy.
It's a bit different than walking the poodle around little obstacles.