Centro Equestre Vale do Lima

What is the Horseball and how to play

 

By the way of the Horseball World Cup witch takes place in Ponte de Lima with 30 teams from 14 countries.

The name says a lot about this sport, but only little bit about its origin. Despite the English name, the horsetail was born in France in the 70's and expanded later to other countries by 1990 - mainly European, but not only.

The origins of this sport will be, however, much older, dating back to training horses and riders for the wars and the dynamic that reinforced the team spirit among soldiers.

That the horsetail joins a ball and riders we already know, but how it is organized? Well, the horseball games are fought between two teams of four players / riders each one. The riders cannot dismount the horse, neither when they need to pick up the ball from the ground (this act is referred to as 'ramassage', and must be done with the horse moving).