Equestrian

History

The connection between humankind and the horse is a thousand year old. Indeed, there is evidence that shows that training horses for military purposes dates back to 1,360 BC. Kikkuli, master horse trainer wrote a text on horse training technique in the old kingdom of Mitanni, located in a region which is today home to Turkey, Syria and Iraq.

Despite having been used for military purposes for centuries and in different regions of the planet, horses stood out in the Olympics in Ancient Greece. There are reports that a famous chariot race took place in the 648 BC edition of the Olympics. The chariots were pulled by four horses.

The art of jumping with horses for competition started in the 19th century, time when horse and rider were already used to jumping during hunts. In 1868, the Royal Dublin Society in Bellbridge promoted a high jump and long jump competition, with the aim of testing the horses’ hunting ability.

Years later, in 1881, the same Society innovated again and developed the model that would be used in current competitions. A track was built where horse and rider had to overcome four obstacles. Two of them were fixed, one of them looked like a stone wall and the other was a type of water tank dug into the ground.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Federico Caprilli revolutionised the jumping technique by developing a refined method, which is adopted until today. According to his theory, horses run better when they are free to move and particularly, stretch their necks. Therefore, Caprilli developed a technique so that the animal would not suffer when the reins were pulled back, allowing the rider to jump while sitting, without having to lean back. The technique was named the “forward seat” and because of it, Caprilli is considered the father of modern riding.

Equestrian jumping events were included at the Olympics for the first time at the 1900 Games in Paris. The sport would only return in 1912 in Stockholm and since then, has been part of the Olympic programme in all editions of the Games.

The events

The sport is divided:
- Show jumping
- Dressage
- Eventing (or the complete test)
 
Curiosities

Senior citizens
Equestrian is the sport that has recorded to two eldest athletes to ever take part in the Olympic Games. In 1936, during the Olympics in Berlin, Austrian rider Arthur Von Pongracz was 72 years and 59 days when he took part in the event. He is the second eldest athlete in Olympic history, losing only to Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn, who was 72 years and 281 days when he took part in the Antwerp Games in 1920. Among the ladies, female rider Lorna Johnstone is by far the eldest athlete to ever have taken part in the Olympics. She was 70 years and 6 days when she competed at the Munich Games in 1972. The second eldest female athlete of all times is Marjory Saunders from Canada, who took part in the archery event, also in Munich (1972), when she was 59 years and 184 days.

The Olympics in two countries at the same time?
Equestrian led to a never seen situation before at the Olympics in Melbourne in 1956, which has never been repeated in the history of the Games. That year, the Australian government feared that its herds would be contaminated. As a result, they imposed a quarantine procedure for all horses taking part in the competition, during which the animals would have to do without their caretakers.  Therefore, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided that the equestrian events of the 1956 Olympics would not be held in Melbourne. Thus, the competitions were held in Stockholm, in Sweden.

Men and women competing together
Equestrian is the only Olympic sport where men and women compete together for medals, in the mixed event, on equal grounds.

See also

Confederação Brasileira de Hipismo (CBH)
Site: www.cbh.org.br
E-mail: gerente@cbh.org.br
Federação Internacional de Hipismo (FEI): www.horsesport.org