Home / Equestrian sports / Gymkhana
For everyone: leisure and amateur
Gymkhana is a set of fun speed and skill games on horseback: racing around barrels, weaving between poles and flag relays. It is often a child's first competition.
| Group | For everyone: leisure and amateur |
|---|---|
| Also called | O-Mok-See, playday, mounted games, speed games |
| Olympic | no |
| Where it is popular | The word gymkhana is used in the UK, Australia and the USA; in parts of the western USA the same events are called O-Mok-See. Pony Clubs often run gymkhanas. |
Each game is a short timed run over a set pattern. Typical tasks are circling barrels, weaving through poles, moving a flag or riding the keyhole. Faults add penalties, and the fastest clean rider wins. There is also a team version, mounted games, where teams race against each other in relays.
It takes quick, agile and obedient horses and ponies that turn and accelerate easily. Breed does not matter, and children usually ride reliable ponies.
Ordinary English or western tack is fine. Riders must wear a helmet and proper boots with a heel, and the games need props such as barrels, poles, flags and cones.
The best-known event is the Mounted Games Championship for the Prince Philip Cup in the UK, first held in 1957. Club gymkhanas and playdays are held almost everywhere.
Gymkhana is designed with children and families in mind: start at a Pony Club or riding club with simple games at walk and trot. Speed comes gradually, once the child is secure in the saddle.
Hobby horse relays and speed games are close cousins of gymkhana: the same flags, slaloms and barrels, just without a real horse. What is hobby horsing →
The word gymkhana comes from India, and British cavalrymen brought the games back from there to Europe.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org, branches.pcuk.org