| The ultimate competition in any sport is, of course, the | | | | abilities and responsiveness to instructions from the |
| Olympic Games where Equestrian Sports are one of | | | | rider. The original intent was to train the horse to make |
| the oldest categories. The horse's involvement in the | | | | it easy to ride in any circumstances, and to enhance |
| Olympics dates back almost 3,000 years. Horse sports | | | | the horse's natural gymnastic abilities. The earliest roots |
| were incorporated into the Olympic Games shortly | | | | of modern dressage go back to very clearly defined |
| after their initial inception when the four horse chariot | | | | sequential training methods used by riding masters in |
| race was introduced. In fact when you think of the | | | | Europe and classical dressage techniques are still |
| Olympics, the huge stadium or hippodrome is one of | | | | viewed as an important part of the sport today. |
| the most powerful images. The word "hippodrome" | | | | Show jumping is probably the most commonly |
| which describes an open air sports stadium with a | | | | recognised of the principal equestrian sports - who has |
| track around the edge, comes from the Greek word | | | | not tried to mentally lift a horse over a huge jump |
| "hippos" for horse and "dromos" for racecourse. The | | | | when watching it on TV? Competitions vary in style |
| equestrian events are made up of three disciplines - | | | | and type but basically the horse and rider have to |
| dressage, show jumping and the three-day event | | | | follow a prescribed path around the ring, jumping each |
| which includes both the other disciplines together with a | | | | of the obstacles in turn. Most exciting are the |
| gruelling cross country ride over testing jumps. Each of | | | | Puissance events where the fences grow ever higher |
| the disciplines has both an individual and a team | | | | round by round, or the mad dash around the shortened |
| competition. | | | | courses when more than one horse has had a clear |
| Dressage is often referred to as 'horse ballet'. It is a | | | | round and a winner has to be found. |
| training method designed to develop a horse's natural | | | | |