Racing and farm labor are not the only things in the world that horses are trained to be good at. Nowadays, horses can be trained to compete in non-racing events like dressage, cross-country and horse jumping.

As such, these events also appear in specific games in the horse gaming genre. First, let us discuss each event at length and see what games the events can be found.

The first event to be discussed is dressage. Dressage is a French word that means “training,” but is used as a name for a horse event. In dressage, a competing horse is paraded into the grounds and is made to perform certain movements that are required by the judges. The movements are pre-determined beforehand, giving rider and horse time to train and establish their chemistry which is important to achieving high scores from judges in dressage events.

Dressage is considered to be the pinnacle of horse training. After all, training a horse to run fast in races is easy. It is definitely more difficult to teach a horse to respond to commands and perform a specific movement.

Players can simulate the experience of training a horse for dressage events by playing games like Ride: Equestrian Simulation.

The second event is show jumping. This is basically an obstacle course. However, instead of a human runner dashing through the course and jumping over obstacles, we have a rider and his horse jumping over the obstacles.

Also, these courses are not designed to time which of the horses can finish the course fastest. Instead, like dressage, show jumping is meant to gauge the ability of the rider as well as his chemistry with his horse. Thus, the jumpers –as the competitors are called – are judged according to who does the jumps the best.

Because of this, these events involve many types of jumping techniques which the rider must train the horse in. Whoever of the jumpers has the best technique in executing the jumps will get the highest score from the judges.

Show jumping is but one of the events that are simulated by various virtual horse games that can be found online. Ride: Equestrian Simulation has virtual show jumping competitions. You can also try your hand at show jumping in the virtual horse simulator, Planet Horse, as well as the amazing Riding Club Championships simulator.

Last but definitely not the least demanding is the Cross Country competition. This event takes place not inside a stadium, but out in the country. Cross country riding courses are designed to test the rider’s understanding of his horse’s capabilities, attitudes and limitations. Because the course can span a considerable distance, cross country riding is also a test of the endurance of both the horse and the rider. Only a well-trained and highly conditioned horse can compete in this event.

In the world of horse simulators, cross country is but one of the events that you can train your virtual horse in when you play the simulator Horse Eden.