What skills does a horse rider need other than holding on to the horse?

Question

I mean there are professional jockeys and show riders who must be doing *something* at a very high level, but I honestly don’t understand what. Like if I’m riding a horse that’s jumping over a fence, isn’t that all the horse? And I just need to not fall off?

In: Other

Answer 1

Think of it like this, what skills do a race car driver need to win a race? All they need to do is steer the car around the track and not hit other cars right?.