It’s impossible to fully appreciate a sport when you’re a bystander. Sure, you go to a horse race and hear the thunderous parade of hooves and the shouts of encouragement from the jockeys (and bettors), and you can see the horses giving it their all as they gallop towards the finish.

But there is so much you simply cannot see and hear unless you are actually in the saddle yourself. Equine Productions strapped cameras on the helmets of a few jockeys at Belmont Park last week and the result is pure, chaotic bliss.

Perhaps you watched last Friday’s New York Stakes which was won by Dacita and jockey Irad Ortiz, who snaked through traffic down the stretch to get the win over the favorite Sea Calisi, ridden by Irad’s brother Jose Ortiz. The Ortiz brothers were both sporting helmet cams and this is how it looked in the irons. Hang on tight…

The jockey cam show didn’t stop there, thankfully, because Equine Productions brought their media magic to Royal Ascot this week. Here is the view from jockey Dougie Costello as he expertly piloted the filly Quiet Reflection to victory in the Commonwealth Stakes.

Just further proof that being a jockey is hard. Real hard. Can you imagine doing this every day? Hug a jockey today, folks.