Section 1.01
The Olympic Sports
Show Jumping
The origins of show
jumping lie in hunting. At the Dublin Show in 1868, a "high
leap" and a "wide leap" were first used to test horses for
the hunting field. In 1881 a permanent jumping course was built there
and show-jumping began to develope as a
sport. In France in 1900, jumping competitions were held with the
Olympic Games.
Dressage
Dressage developed from the high-school equitation of
the 15th to 18th centuries which was popular in the royal courts of Europe.
Movements that had originally been developed for use in battle were
combined into a demonstration of horsemanship that showed off the stamina,
agility, and obedience of the horse and the skills of the rider.
v For more on the wonderful sport of dressage, click
here.
Eventing/Cross Country
The origins of eventing lie in the battlefield, as it developed out of
the endurance rides that were used to test cavalry horses. At the
beginning of the 20th century, the first three-day event was held, in France.
It began with a dressage test, followed by a gruelling
cross-country endurance ride, and concluded with a show-jumping test(added partly to increase public interest in eventing). At this time three-day events were
purely military affairs, and it was not until after World War II that civilians could compete. Eventing
was first included in the Olympics in 1912, and is the ultimate all-round
test of a horse.