Words create pictures and images. Sometimes words that mean one thing to one group of people means something entirely different to the general population.
Just like the word “equestrian” has multiple meanings, as illustrated in my last post, many other common show jumping terms do not create an accurate picture in a listener’s or reader’s mind.
Show jumping is an Olympic sport. It is a professional sport. Though some of the uninitiated don’t think so, show jumping riders are athletes. Why then would Olympic-calibre and/or professional competition be called a “show”?
Riders start out, usually as children, competing at horse shows. In times gone by, most of these included competitions in which horses were judged only for their appearance. The latter is what a member of the general public would likely picture when they hear the words “horse show”. They would picture something similar to a dog show. However, no other Olympic sport or professional sport uses the world “show” to describe their competitions. Afterall, they are competitions, not shows. If these riders are athletes, why are they deemed to be “showing the horse”.
Unfortunately, when they reach the Olympic level, it is still common for riders to use the terminology with which they grew up. Hence, they call their competitions “shows”. Even worse, from a marketing standpoint, many competitions have official names that include the words “horse show”.
This is just another example of terminology that does not depict the sport to be what it truly is. As a result it can be confusing to the media and the general public.
Media relations is partly image-making. Terminology is a big part of that.
