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 chosen to honor the “Olympics,” but there were actually four major Grecian Games, the Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian. These were held in yearly cycles, so that the largest Games near Olympia were held every four years. The equestrian events were the most popular and religiously significant. The contests included flat Racing, Dressage and Chariot Racing (today the sports are Dressage, Eventing and Jumping). Note that Dressage is the definition of “classical.”
The fact that the ancient Games were religious in nature has given a special moral character to the modern Olympic movement. There were two sports in the original Games: Athletics and Equestrian. Each type of competition held a specific meaning. Athletics represented the striving for human excellence, and Equestrian events represented man’s survival and conquest against the elements.
Inclusion of horses ennoble the Games, and the honorary aspect of equestrian sport is the origin of the famous “Olympic spirit.” The integrity of the Olympic ideal is upheld in the equestrian sport above all, for it is the horse which competes for no prize except the joy of taking part, and horsemanship which puts the mount’s welfare higher even than the Olympic rewards of money and fame.