The Legend of the Great Horse

Horses have been with mankind since before we began the journey of civilization, and watching horses is one of mankind’s most ancient pastimes … yet modern equestrian sports are surprisingly young.

The second European qualifier for the World Cup of Show Jumping was held over the weekend in Helsinki, Finland.
The on-fire Swiss rider Daniel Etter and his mount Peu a Peu won the event in a 10-horse jumpoff to match their World Cup Qualifier victory last weekend in Oslo. USA rider Lauren Hough on Quick Study [...]

One of fascinations of equestrian sport is that half of the athlete stars are horses. There is a long list of top mounts that have become recognized by the public for having special ability, charisma and personality.
The Legend of the Great Horse trilogy (second volume to be published in the summer of 2010) incorporates the [...]

The European season of World Cup Show Jumping opened today in Oslo, Norway.
The World Cup is an extensive series of indoor qualifiers across the globe, leading to the Finals in April.
It is an interesting odd fact that horse jumping is a  young sport: the ability of horses to jump with a rider was not discovered [...]

It doesn’t make sense, but (horse) Show Jumping is one of the world’s youngest professional sports. Organized jumping is barely 100 years old. It was not known that horses could jump large fences until the 18th Century, when fox hunting was threatened by the Enclosure Laws that fenced previously open land.
A century ago we seemed [...]

I recently watched the live video feeds from two major international jumping events, The Syracuse Invitational and the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. The horses look great, the riders are skilled, the competition level is high and humane. Both are well-run by innovative management.
The only lack was in the Announcing. Show jumping is like [...]

In writing Eclipsed by Shadow, I researched the history of the original Olympic Games and their relation to horses. The original Olympics were a religious ceremony, and were as much a poetry contest as a sporting event. The equestrian events were considered an athletic poem. They were a major focus of the original Games.
We have [...]