Olympic Equestrian

Equestrian events have been held at the Summer Olympics since 1900.International Olympic Committee: Equestrian Jumping History Athletes compete in three categories of events: dressage, eventing and jumping. Each category features a mixed individual and a mixed team competition.Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games: Equestrian

The individual jumping event was added to the Summer Olympics in 1900. Four additional equestrian events were introduced in 1912, including individual dressage, individual and team eventing and team jumping. The sixth event, team dressage, was added in 1928.NBC Olympics: Olympic Equestrian History

There are actually a few events that were discontinued from the Olympics for equestrians. They eliminated Figure Riding, Team Figure Riding, Long Jump, High Jump, Mail Coach - Four in Hand, and Hacks and Hunters. Figure riding was added/discontinued in 1920, while the others were added/discontinued in 1900. Figure riding is very similar to dressage or equitation, where the horse and rider are asked to do basic movements in the ring. Mail Coach - 4 in hand is the driving of a mail coach with four horses on reins. Hacks and hunters are similar to pleasure riders with the occasional jump tossed in. No word is given why these were discontinued. http://www.hickoksports.com/history/olequest.shtml

Dressage (meaning "training" in French) is a very old school of riding that is seen as the base for all types of riding. At the Olympic level, riders are required to have their horse perform extremely difficult movements to either set tests or in musical freestyle. Musical freestyle is seen in the individual events. Cross country (or eventing) is the second day of competition for both individual and team events. It is an extreme test of bravery, courage, strength, and stamina for both horse and rider as the course is often dangerous and perilous. It was originally designed to test war stallions to see if they could handle the rigors of battle in any sort of terrain. The third and final day is show jumping, which is a course of about 15 breakaway jumps in an arena. The key to doing well here is to jump cleanly and quickly. Penalties are given for refusals and knocked jumps, which add to the time.

Team events are often more difficult than the individual simply because the horse and rider must be able to spread their energy evenly over three days to be able to compete. If the horse is worn out for any of the phases they will be disqualified by the vets. Individuals often compete in only one event, but if they compete in more than one they can compete with multiple horses, unlike the team riders.International Olympic Committee: Equestrian Dressage International Olympic Committee: Equestrian Jumping International Olympic Committee: Equestrian Eventing

Equestrian events at the 2008 Summer Olympics were held from August 9 to August 21, 2008, at the Hong Kong Sports Institute and Beas River in Hong Kong. Germany led all nations in total medals, taking home five. The U.S. equestrian team won three medals, while Canada, the Netherlands and Great Britain each earned two.NBC Olympics: Equestrian - 2008 Medals Standings By Nation