Equestrianism 

                                                      by Caitriona and Rita                                                

Equestrianism is the sport where people ride horses. It is an event where men and women can compete against each other.  The Olympic equestrian programme has three events:

Show Jumping

Dressage

Three Day Eventing
In show jumping, the riders make their horses jump over high walls and poles. They must try not to knock anything down.

Dressage is where riders make their horses do a set of moves. In one part, the riders must ride them to music. The horses look like they are dancing. Dressage is a kind of ballet for horses.  It takes many years to train a horse to do dressage.

 In the three-day event, horses and riders must do dressage, jumping and cross-country. The cross-country ride can be up to 25 kilometres long.

In cross-country, the horses and riders go up and down hills, along roads and over fences.

 

Did You Know?

  • Equestrianism was first included at Stockholm in 1912 and,  until 1952, all competitors had to be commissioned officers in the army.  

  • Some horses can be worth over one million pounds.

  • Horses travel to the olympics by aeroplane.

  • Horses carry passports.

  • Lorna Johnstone, aged 70, was placed 12th in the Dressage event at the Munich games in 1972.  She was the oldest British competitor ever.

In The Aeroplane

The horses travel as naturally as possible facing forward in stalls, like a horse box, or pallets.  Usually there are two horses in a pallet, but three if the horses are small.  Like humans, the horses have to be watered frequently in flight as they dehydrate at altitude. They usually eat only hay, though sometimes they might get bran mash on long flights. The chef d’Equipe usually travels with the horses as well as the grooms, the tack and often the vet.

Passports for Horses

All the horses in all events at an international level are issued with a passport by the Féderation Equestrienne Internationale.  The passport includes a description of the horse and a picture which is a line drawing not a photogragh, on which the vet enters the horses particular features. There is also a record of the vaccinations which have to be up  to the requirements of the Féderation.

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