EQUESTRIAN SPORTS

Equestrian originated from European royal family as early as the mid-twelfth century. With the history of over seven hundred years, it has been regarded as the “king’s sports" for long time. Non-nobility may not enjoy it. Because all equestrian participants wear luxuriant dress and the charming horses perform impressively, the equestrian events often attract large audiences.

Equestrian more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to a sport competing the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses. In 1500 BC, the ancient Egyptians had begun riding contest. In the ancient Rome times, people also did ride competition as an entertainment in the arena. But the embryonic form of equestrian sports we are now familiar with emerged in Europe around the 16th century. Until the late 18th century, equestrian became a competition sport, not only a game.

Equestrian events were first included in the modern Olympic Games in 1900. By 1912, all three Olympic disciplines still seen today were part of the games. The following forms of competition are recognized worldwide and are a part of the equestrian events at the Olympics:

Dressage ("training" in French) involves the progressive training of the horse to a high level of impulsion, collection, and obedience. Competitive dressage has the goal of showing the horse carrying out, on request, the natural movements that it performs without thinking while running loose. One dressage master has defined it as "returning the freedom of the horse while carrying the rider."

Show jumping comprises a timed event judged on the ability of the horse and rider to jump over a series of obstacles, in a given order and with the fewest refusals or knockdowns of portions of the obstacles.
Eventing, also called combined training, horse trials, the three-day event, the Military, or the complete test, puts together the obedience of dressage with the athletic ability of show jumping, the fitness demands the cross-country jumping phase. In the last-named, the horses jump over fixed obstacles, such as logs, stone walls, banks, ditches, and water, trying to finish the course under the "optimum time." There was also the 'Steeple Chase' Phase, which is now excluded from most major competitions to bring them in line with the Olympic standard.

There is also one equestrian discipline in the Paralympics:

Para-Dressage is conducted under the same rules as conventional Dressage, but with riders divided into different classes based on the severity of their disabilities.

The additional non-Olympic events sanctioned by the FEI as international disciplines are: combined driving; endurance; horseball; reining; tent pegging; and vaulting. These events are recognized internationally and are part of the FEI World Equestrian Games every four years, and hold their own individual World Championships in other years.

Among various horse-related sports, equestrian is the only one belonging to the Olympic Games. Unlike other sports using tools, the equestrian is the only sports to use living animal. The interaction between man and horse is affacted by physiology, physical energy, psychology, technology, ideas, feelings and other factors. All working-together factors make equestrian become world's most difficult and most challenging sports.