What is the origin of the Chinese Equestrian Festival?

Equestrian competitions were first introduced to the Olympic Games in 1900 with only one event, show jumping, and in 1912, the equestrian events were expanded to include dressage, show jumping, and three-day competition. Since 1952, female jockeys have been allowed to compete in Olympic equestrian events, and equestrian has become the only coed event in the Olympics. As a team, horses and competitors will **** together for medals and placings. in July 2005, the 117th Plenary Session of the IOC decided that the 2008 Olympic Games equestrian events have been held in Hong Kong.

The equestrian events require jockeys and horses to work well together and test the horse's skill, speed, endurance and ability to cross obstacles.

Horse racing in old Beijing

Horse racing was practiced in the metropolitan city as far back as the Yuan Dynasty. It was after the Mongols settled in Beijing that they brought their favorite horse racing to the city and it gradually became prevalent in the capital. At that time, the imperial court also combined this activity with military service, which became a system, especially when there was a large gathering of horse racing and riding as the content of the activity.

During the Ming Dynasty, horseback riding and archery activities were held in Beijing every spring. After entering the Qing Dynasty, horse racing was even more prevalent. Because the Manchus are also very good at riding and archery, especially in the Qianlong period, built a lot of racecourses in Beijing, and in a variety of folk festivals held horse racing activities, from the princes and nobles down to the general flag soldiers are keen on this activity. Therefore, this activity was promoted by the royal family, and gradually extended to the people, and lasted until the early Republic of China.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, a kind of activity called "Horse Racing Club" appeared in Beijing. It was not the traditional horse racing in China, but the so-called Western-style horse racing (i.e., equestrian competition). Around the end of the Xuantong Qing Dynasty (1911), the Shuntian government allocated a piece of land of about 200 acres to the Beijing West Squire's Club, roughly located in today's Xibianmen outside the Lotus Pond neighborhood. At that time, this area is still very desolate, after the construction of the racecourse, so that the place gradually lively, every horse race, is a person to come and go. Inside the racecourse, there were grandstand, ticket office, color room, horse ring, and racers' lounge, etc. On the day of the race, all the people in the capital city had to go to the racecourse. Every race day, the capital of all walks of life enthusiasts (including some foreigners in Beijing) have to go, inside and outside the racecourse, ten thousand people. Each ticketing and lottery ticket window, are respectively marked with the number of the rider and the racehorse, the patron can either specialize in the purchase of a race ticket, can also purchase a variety of race tickets. And rich merchants or lovers of this way, more spend a lot of money, batches of one or more tickets, in order to get the lottery. This "horse race" activities intermittently until the late Republic of China, and then gradually declining, those once crowded racecourse also disappeared.

Equestrianism evolved from the ancient production and war, horse racing is a human driving horses for a kind of competitive activities, belonging to the equestrian sports of a major project, but also its basic project. It is a worldwide traditional sports activity.

According to the evidence, in the 7th century BC the ancient Olympic Games held in Ancient Greece, there are four carriages competition, before the two-carriage race has long been popular. After the emergence of the four-carriage race more than 40 years, horse racing was changed to ride by the rider to carry out. About the 16th century, the Arabian horse into the European continent, horse racing also flourished, the medieval Rome, ancient Greece chivalry became the wind, the European aristocracy to pursue the fashion. Horseback riding, horse racing as one of the knight's seven skills and was the nobles show off. 1174, in London, England, the racecourse appeared, every Friday, a large number of princes and nobles gathered here. 1195 King Charles I of England with a bag of gold reward in a race for 4.828 kilometers of the winner of the horse race. This was the first documented horse racing prize in equestrian history. Now we see the origin of horse racing in Britain, the competition method is much more advanced and scientific than the ancient horse racing.

At present the world to carry out horse racing better countries are Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Macao. To the United States horse racing, for example, every year to hold more than one hundred and thirty-three thousand horse races, the audience reached eighty million people, horse ticket sales amounted to twelve billion U.S. dollars. In particular, the Kentucky Derby is the most important, the best racehorses in the United States are concentrated together to compete.

China's modern horse racing activities, began in the 1860s, to the 1930s, in addition to the rapid development of horse racing in Hong Kong, Shanghai has two Happy Valley Hall, Tianjin has three Happy Valley, the country's racecourse gradually developed to more than 20. Shanghai Happy Valley once became the largest racecourse in Asia before the liberation.

In 1982, China applied to join the FEI. From that year onwards, the National Equestrian Championships were held once a year. Horse racing was included as an official event in the National Championships until the end of the 1987 National Games when it was discontinued due to the focus on the development of the Olympic equestrian program.

In April 1991, the first horse racing club in New China was born in Shenzhen, and the following year, the Ministry held the "Guess the Head Horse" flat race.

On April 26, 1992, the "Golden Horse Cup Chinese Horse Race" was held in Shenzhen. April 26, 1992. "Golden Horse Cup China Horse King Guangdong Invitational Race" was held in Huangcun, a suburb of Guangzhou. Following the Guangzhou King of Horses Race, horse racing activities were organized all over the country. Horse racing in China is starting to heat up.

As horse racing continued to grow in China, the quality of the horses competing in the races became more demanding. 1995 saw the importation of Thoroughbreds from New Zealand in Shenzhen and from Ireland in Inner Mongolia.

Horse Trivia

There are about 300 horse breeds in the world, and the three most famous strains are the Sweatblood, the Thoroughbred, and the Arabian. The Sweatblood is an ancient work of art among horses, and very few exist. The Thoroughbred is the fastest horse in the world and the best on the racecourse. And the Arabian horse is the pet of royalty and wealthy tycoons. If the Thoroughbred horse is compared to the horse in the aristocracy, then the pure line Arabian horse is the horse in the royal family.

Sweat horses originated in ancient Central Asia, now Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan. In the fast running, the neck of the sweat horse will flow out of the red drops of sweat, the sweat horse thus named. The Sweatblood Horse made a great contribution to the conquest of the nomads in ancient Central Asia. It is said that Genghis Khan's mount was a Sweatblood Horse. Sweat-blooded horses used to flourish in our country, ancient China's successive governments have in today's Xinjiang area to raise the tradition of requisitioning sweat-blooded horses, but in recent times the sweat-blooded horse in our country is nearly extinct. In recent years, through a variety of ways to import a number of Central Asian countries, the leaders of the country presented some, and now has formed a small population of sweat horses in our country.

The Arabian horse is the oldest horse breed on earth. The general sense of the Oriental horse or purebred Arabian horse, refers to the Arabian region bred in the Arabian region, with desert blood Arabian horse. They are the most beautiful body shape in the good breed of horse, it is not big, general body height 140_150 cm, weight 385_500 kg. It has a typical riding horse shape: light and handsome head shape, wide forehead, forehead nose gradually narrow, face is straight or slightly concave, short ears, vertical, large eyes, wide distance between the two eyes, nostrils, the lower forehead is deep and wide. The neck is long and beautifully shaped, the dorsal girdle is short, there is one less lumbar vertebrae and 1_2 caudal vertebrae than other breeds of horses, the rib arches are rounded, the tail base is high, the hips are deep, the limbs are long and slender, the limbs are straight, the tendons are well developed, the hooves are tough, and the physique is sturdy.

Arabian horse hair color is mainly green, bay hair, chestnut hair, followed by black hair is rare. In the head and the lower limbs often have white recognition. Purebred Arabian horse without flower hair, spotted hair or barge horse, regardless of how the body surface hair color, its skin is always black. The Arabian horse has made an outstanding contribution to the cultivation and improvement of many horse breeds in the world. The famous British Thoroughbred is bred from the Arabian horse.

The main horse breeds in China are the Xinjiang Yili horse and the Mongolian horse in Inner Mongolia. Both are relatively small in size and have yet to take their place among the world's most famous horse lines.

Horseback riding posture

The British style of casual riding, usually after a more formal training, the activities are carried out in formal venues; formal clothing, wearing a knight's cap, wearing breeches, English riding boots or training boots, the whip is often inserted in the outside of the calf in the riding boots; sitting on the back of the horse in the aristocratic posture.

American style casual riding, generally more common in cross-country riding. Dress casual and comfortable, usually wearing cowboy clothes, wearing cowboy hats or baseball caps, wearing cowboy boots or ordinary boots and shoes with shin guards. The riding posture is free flowing and unrestricted.

Jumping Course

The equestrian jumping course is a 90-meter-long, 60-meter-wide sand or grass course.

There are 10-12 obstacles of different shapes, including one double obstacle and one triple obstacle. The height of the obstacles is between 1.2 and 1.4 meters. In front of the obstacles are placed 1 - 12&127; number plates. Riders jump all the obstacles in order of number.

When the rider enters the arena, the head judge will signal the start of the competition, and the rider must pass the starting point (D) marking pole within 60 seconds before the competition can begin. 12 obstacles are jumped, and then the rider must pass the finishing point (A) marking pole, and the competition results will be valid.

Every time a rider touches or drops a pole during the competition, a penalty of 4 points is incurred; if a horse refuses to jump once or fails to obey, a penalty of 3 points is incurred; if a rider falls off his horse for the first time, a penalty of 8 points is incurred; and if a rider exceeds the time limit, a penalty of 0.25 points per second is incurred. The rider will be eliminated if the rider does not jump the obstacles in the order of their number, if they fall off their horse for the second time, if the horse has 3 refusals to jump, if the competition takes longer than the time limit, etc. &127; Final scores are evaluated with fewer penalties and faster times for the winners. Equestrian competition is divided into team competition and individual competition, team competition each team consists of 4 players, the top 3 members of the results will be added to the team score. The height of the obstacles in the individual competition is higher than that of the team competition. If riders have the same penalty points within the specified time, there will be a rematch, which will reduce the number of obstacles and increase the difficulty and height of the obstacles. Riders will have to use their skill to not touch down the obstacles and to walk the best route, aiming to finish the race in the shortest time and win the final place.

Dressage

Also known as "showjumping" or "advanced conditioning". It is one of the international competitions in equestrian sports. It is a competition in which the rider performs a variety of coherent specification movements on the horse and skillfully transitions to advanced footwork. It is designed to test the horse's obedience, docility, and conditioning, the horse's ability to respond to the rider's reins, feet, and seat support, and the coordination of the horse and horse's actions as a unit. The competitions include the following maneuvers: change of trot, backward slow trot, change of direction, diagonal and horizontal trot, in-situ fast trot, spinning and advanced fancy riding. All required maneuvers are to be completed within twelve minutes. A score of 0-10 will be awarded according to the merit of the completed maneuvers. Points will be deducted for mistakes, omissions and exceeding the time limit. The ranking will be determined by the number of points scored. The competition is divided into the following categories according to the level of conditioning of the horse: "St. George's Prize George Prize", "Intermediate 1", "Intermediate 2", "Grand Prix" and "Grand Prix ".

The dressage competition is held in a field 60 meters long and 20 meters wide. Twelve letters of the alphabet are set on the edge of the course to show the rider the exact spot to make the step change. The rider enters the arena from point A of the letter, and then performs a variety of prescribed maneuvers according to the list of disciplines issued prior to the competition, which are mainly composed of the horse's slow trot, fast trot, and canter in the three basic gaits. Athletes ride their horses to make various stride movements such as shortening, intermediate, lengthening, rotating in place, wheeling, and diagonal cross-steps. The National Championship discipline*** has 22 prescribed movements, each with a maximum score of 10. After the 22 prescribed movements are done, there are four additional areas of overall impression scores: the horse's gait; the horse's vigor of movement; the horse's obedience; and the rider's stance and movement aids. The maximum impression score is 40 points and the total score for the whole competition is 280 points.

The judges award points based on the correctness and regularity of each required movement performed by the rider and horse, the coordination of the horse and horse, and the obedience and vigor of the horse. If there is a violation of the course, the head judge signals the rider to pause and correct the course. For the first violation of the course, 2 points will be deducted from the rider's total points for the entire competition; 4 points for the second violation; 8 points for the third violation; and the fourth violation will result in elimination. &127; The allotted time for the full race is 7 minutes. At the end of the game, the winner is the one with the highest score.

Each team is allowed four riders to compete in the team competition, and the scores of the three with the highest total scores are added together to give the team's team score.

Equestrian Three-Day Race

Also known as the "comprehensive all-around equestrian competition". It is one of the international competitions in equestrian sports. It is held over three consecutive days and consists of:

Dressage on the first day;

cross-country endurance on the second day;

and show jumping on the third day.

Dressage is run under single dressage rules. The Cross Country Endurance consists of four zones.

The first and third intervals require the rider to run 20 kilometers at an average speed of 240 meters per minute; the second interval is a cross-country over hurdles race, which requires the rider to run 3600-4200 meters at an average speed of 600 meters per minute. In between, there are three fenced obstacles every 1,000 meters. The fourth interval is a cross-country race requiring an average speed of 450 meters per minute over 8,000 meters. There are four different obstacles every 1,000 meters. The results of the four intervals are assessed on the basis of rider error penalties and time overrun penalties. The Racecourse Handicap is designed to test the fitness and obedience of the horse. The course is run at an average speed of 400 meters per minute. There are 10-12 obstacles along the course. One third of the obstacles must be maxed out and a gully obstacle must be set. Riders are penalized if they miss an obstacle or exceed the time limit. Scores are assessed according to the number of penalties. Riders must ride the same horse on all three consecutive days of competition.