Sport Rules
How the game itself is played: the pitch, the goals, the ball, the teams, the passing requirement, tackling limits and the penalty scale.
Version 4.1 · 31 pages
What it covers →Documentation
The Horseball Rulebooks
Three separate documents govern the sport. One describes the game, one the competition framework, one what a host venue must provide.
It is easy to assume a sport this size has a single rulebook. Horseball has three, and the split is deliberate: the way a match is played changes on a different timescale from the way a championship is allocated, and both change more slowly than the specification for a venue's flood lighting. Keeping them apart means one can be revised without reopening the others.
Read in order, they narrow from the general to the specific. The General Rules decide which competitions exist and who may enter them. The Sport Rules decide what happens once a match starts. The Organisation Rules decide whether a venue is fit to hold one at all.
General Rules
The competition framework: which events count as international, who may enter them, and how disputes are settled.
Version 1.0 · 22 pages
What it covers →Organisation Rules
The specification a host venue must meet: closer to a facilities checklist than a rulebook.
Version 5.0 · 14 pages
What it covers →Which document answers which question
- How wide is the pitch, and how high is the goal? Sport Rules, rules 1 and 2, and repeated as a host requirement in the Organisation Rules.
- How many players, and how many passes? Sport Rules, rules 4 and 11.
- Who can play for which country? General Rules, chapter III.
- What counts as a championship? General Rules, chapter II.
- Who investigates a protest? General Rules, chapter VIII, with the appeal committee and ground jury specified in both that document and the Organisation Rules annexes.
- Does the venue need flood lighting and a vet? Organisation Rules, sections 13 and 17.
- What are the rules for children and ponies? Sport Rules, Annex A.
Versions matter here. The editions described across these pages are Sport Rules 4.1, General Rules 1.0 and Organisation Rules 5.0, and the rules have been revised since. For refereeing, entering or hosting, the current official texts are held by the sport's international governing federation at fihb.net.
Questions about the rulebooks
How many rulebooks does horseball have?
Three. The Sport Rules govern play, the General Rules govern which competitions exist and who may enter them, and the Organisation Rules specify what a host venue must provide. They are revised independently, which is the reason for the split.
Which one has the pitch and goal dimensions?
Both the Sport Rules, in rules 1 and 2, and the Organisation Rules, as a host requirement. The figures agree: 60 to 75 m by 20 to 30 m, ideally 65 by 25, with the goal ring one metre across and its base 3.50 m off the ground.
Where are the rules for children and ponies?
Annex A of the Sport Rules. It adapts the categories, pitch, goals, ball, captain, equipment, ponies, refereeing, pick-up, line-out and tackling for young riders, and defines how a rider moves up a category.
Which versions are described here, and are they current?
Sport Rules 4.1, General Rules 1.0 and Organisation Rules 5.0. They are not current: the rules have been revised since, and anyone refereeing, entering or hosting should work from the federation’s present text rather than from a summary.