If you hear the words ‘horse’ and ‘gymnastics,’ the first thing that probably comes to mind is a pommel horse.
This apparatus is a staple at gymnastics events around the world.
According to LiveAbout, “The pommel horse is a men’s artistic gymnastics event. It’s the second apparatus when competing in Olympic order (floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar.) The horse is about 3.8 ft. high. The length of the top is about 5.25 ft. and the width about 13.8 in. — it is slightly smaller on the bottom. It’s covered with leather and has two pommels that stand about 4.7 in. high and 18 in. apart from each other. The pommels are usually made of plastic.”
The horse in this routine, however, is not a pommel horse.
In fact, it’s actually a horse-horse. Like the real, live animal horse. And although it might not be the most traditional choice in a gymnastics routine, in the video you’re about to see, it was impressive enough to go viral.
The unique and athletic video has been viewed over 4 million times since it was first uploaded.
The video and routine begin with a woman prancing out into a dirt ring with a beautiful brown horse with white saddle. Following the gorgeous animal are seven girls clad in multi-colored full-body leotards.
Inline according to height, the girls line up standing next to the majestic horse and get into position. Soon, the girls break off and the horse is prompted to begin running in a circle, guided by a lead, around the group of gymnasts.
Then, as the horse prances around the dirt rink, each athlete takes a run, jump, and leap up and onto the horse as it’s still moving.
First one, then two girls are on the horse at the same time, performing an impressive move with each mount. Then, as the third girl hops onto the horse’s saddle, she faces the opposite way and stands up on the horse’s bottom. It’s not long until she’s picked up and placed onto one of the other girls’ shoulders. All while the horse is still moving!
Dismounting with ease, the gymnasts jump and flip off the still-running horse as if they’ve done it a million times before.
Some of them even do back-bends on top of the animal before they hit the ground again.
The routine continues with each of the seven girls, sometimes two or three at a time, taking their turn performing gravity-defying moves—all on top of the horse’s back.
The entire 6-minute routine is quite the sight to see, there’s no wonder this video went viral as soon as it was uploaded.
It’s far more entertaining than any other gymnastics routine we’ve seen and the horse seems to be enjoying every minute of it as well. Of course, YouTube has been full of comments with mixed emotions about the performance:
“That’s one strong behaved horse right there! You can tell he doesn’t mind them jumping on him, or running that long. He’s beautiful, maybe more then the girls lol! Jk!!” commented Whitley Pitts.
“For the people who think its bad for the horse, its not. The horse is well trained for it.. also you can tell the horse doesnt mind doing it else the horse would’ve had his/her ears back. (And Yes the horse is tired and sweating, But When you ride outside or you’re jumping with your horse that horse is tired and sweating too.)” assured vanni_ hxl.
The athleticism in this video is truly incredible, and it’s amazing to see how much the horse trusts the young gymnasts. What a great performance overall.
Check out the video for yourself below!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
