Back to reality......

After a busy summer of working, horse riding and all the excitement of the Olympics, I am finally settled back in to a normal routine and university life. This means a distinct lack of horses for a while in my life, but I am always given regular updates by Sophie and Trudy about the Tye Lane gang, and I will be continuing to write as much as possible.

I do a degree in Ancient History and so, being inspired by the Olympics, thought I would share an article I wrote which links the two together. Enjoy :)

The Ancient Olympics

We all know that the Olympics originated in Ancient Greece, but have you ever wondered whether the equestrian sports existed in those early games, and if so how they compare to today? 

Our Olympic games feature three very refined disciplines - Show Jumping, Dressage and Eventing. In Ancient Greece, however, the equestrian sports were about racing. The original Olympic Games featured two types of racing - chariot races and bareback races:

• Chariot Races - There were two chariot races in the olympic games. The Tethrippon which had chariots with four horses, and the Synoris which had chariots with two horses.  These took place in a ring with tight turns and the races were about 1200 metres in length. 

• Bareback Races - There were two races, one for colts and one for mares. The riders only had a bridle and a whip, no saddles. In the mare’s race, the riders dismounted in the last stretch and ran next to the horses, much like in our modern day pony club games.

Do these races sound familiar to you? That’s because they are! Harness racing is very popular today, and we have another variation on chariot races with Scurry Driving. Horse racing is also a big sport around the world, although these days we use saddles and there are far more safety regulations! However, there is still bareback racing today which is very similar to that of the ancient Greeks. In Italy, thirteen tribes still compete against each other every year. This is a spectacle which attracts lots of attention!!  

In Ancient Greece the horses were far more important than their riders! Unlike today, where both horse and rider must cross the finish line to win or place, if a horse finished without its rider it still counted. One horse, called Breeze, owned by Pheidolas of Corinth, was recorded to have won her race despite throwing her rider at the beginning!! Often the riders and charioteers were paid servants, so were not given the honour of a successful race. It was the owners and horses who were always declared the winners, although occasionally some brave owners did compete. Riders could become well known, but would not have been given the celebrity status that they receive today. Being a male dominated world, women were not allowed to compete or even attend the games. However, they could be involved by owning a horse. The Ancient Equestrian Olympics is very different to our modern version, although many reflections can still be seen in the horse world today.

References:

• Buscombe, Chris, (2010), “Bareback horse race takes place in Italy” Telegraph (Online) (Accessed 30th March 2011) Available from World Wide Web: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/7950036/Bareback-horse-race-takes-place-in-Italy.html
• Kyle, Donald (2007), Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World: Blackwell.
• Miller, Stephen (2004), Ancient Greek Athletics: Yale University.
• Pickeral, Tamsin, (2000), The Encyclopedia of Horses and Ponies: Parragon.
• Swaddling, Judith, (2004), The Ancient Olympic Games: British Museum Press.