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For Glory: Equestrian Sporting Competition
| Article
# : |
18131 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1990 |
3,552 Words |
| Author
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Heather B. Hayes
Heather B. Hayes is a freelance writer living in the
Washington, D.C., area. |
For as long as people have gathered together for sporting competition, they have enlisted the horse as companion. Equestrian events such as polo, dressage, three-day eventing, rodeo, and racing symbolize glamour, ceremony, and competition. And no event is more spectacular than international show jumping.
Considered a perfect spectator sport, show jumping today is mass entertainment. Horse and rider, in synchronized effort, romp around a sprawling arena of flower-bedecked spread fences and grim walls. Action is centered moment by moment on individual fences; there is no peripheral diversion or chaotic activity going on elsewhere, as with team sports or even horse racing. Throughout, show jumping achieves its purpose: to challenge those characteristics necessary for survival on the battle and hunting fields - speed, strength, precision, balance, courage, and trust between horse and rider.
As a kind of condensed hunting field, show jumping provides a unique opportunity for nonriders to witness horses negotiate formidable obstacles, and as such, elicits a concentration and excitement that are almost as intense for the crowd watching as they are for the competitors. In both America and Europe, show jumping is appreciated as an aesthetic art form, and top-class riders and horses are feted as celebrities. Television has brought in new fans, although American TV coverage is relatively sparse and sorely lags behind that in Europe, where the sport is considered the province of the ordinary viewer and massive audiences are attracted to annual events such as Britain's "Horse of the Year" show.
Equestrian sports
Modern equestrian sports range from polo to tent pegging, calf roping to dressage, the Kentucky Derby to the Nations Cup, barrel racing to gymkhana. Of them all, racing is perhaps the oldest sport as people, throughout recorded time, have been fascinated with the horse's speed (and have always enjoyed gambling on the outcome of a race). But racing had a more important role than mere wagering or entertainment; speed was a most desirable quality on the battle and hunting fields, and racing was an effective way to select the fastest and toughest horses which were then bred so their qualities could be passed on. However, modern-day equestrian sports can be traced to England and Ireland. Thoroughbred racing originated there; British cavalry officers popularized polo after playing it in India; and the first official high-jumping class was held at the Dublin horse
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