Equestrian Events Charm Horse Lovers At Olympics : NPR Equestrian Events Charm Horse Lovers At Olympics Embed Embed Equestrian Events Charm Horse Lovers At Olympics Equestrian Events Charm Horse Lovers At Olympics Embed Embed Equestrian sports are getting more attention than usual at this year's Olympic Games. NPR health policy correspondent Julie Rovner, a horse owner, rider and competitor, talks about what to watch for in the Olympic horse sports. NEAL CONAN, HOST: Equestrian sports are getting more attention than usual at this year's Olympic Games. The queen's granddaughter, Zara Phillips, brought royalty to the stands for her Olympic debut. Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate Middleton watched Phillips help Britain's equestrian team win a silver medal in the jumping competition. Ann Romney, the wife of the Republican presidential candidate, is also at the games to watch her horse, Rafalca, compete in dressage, an event also known as horse ballet. We want to hear from the horse people in our audience. What are you watching at this year's Olympics? Give us a call, 800-989-8255. Email us: talk@npr.org.

You can also join the conversation on our website. That's at npr.org. Click on TALK OF THE NATION. Julie Rovner is NPR's health policy correspondent. She's also a horse owner, rider and competitor, and she joins us here in Studio 3A. And, Julie, good to talk horses with you. Good to talk sports for once or again, anyway. (LAUGHTER) JULIE ROVNER, BYLINE: Yes. Sorry not to be at the Olympics but at least glad to be here to talk about it. CONAN: And I was lucky enough to live in London during an Olympics Games, so I've seen an awful lot of television coverage of equestrian events. They take it pretty seriously over there. ROVNER: They take it very seriously over there. It is - when I was first starting eventing and actually Zara Phillips won her - helped the British win the silver medal in eventing, they have not started the... CONAN: In the jumping event. ROVNER: ...in the jumping. The jumping is the last of the three.

There are three equestrian - separate equestrian sports that happen in the Olympics, and the first to go is always the three-day event, which combined jumping and dressage, and then there'll be an actual dressage event - dressage-only event and then there will be show jumping only. So now the three-day event has just ended, and the Brits indeed won the silver medal. CONAN: Oh, well, congratulations to them. There will be some excitement there. But the three-day event - so dressage, jumping and there's a cross-country race as well. ROVNER: That's right. The three days are: the first day is dressage, the second day is cross-country and then the third day is the stadium jumping. Basically, a test to see if after the rigors of the cross-country, the horse basically still has enough gas in the tank to jump - show-jumping course. CONAN: And it is important to emphasize - well, men and women compete in this event against each other. But the athletes - the riders are athletes too, but the horses are the athletes. ROVNER: Oh, the riders are the athletes also.

I was listening to talk radio actually Saturday on my way to my dressage lesson, and some guy was talking on sports radio and said, you know, there's this sport in the Olympics where the horses memorize this pattern and the rider just sits there. And I thought, oh boy, the rider does not just sit there. (LAUGHTER) ROVNER: It's a lot of work. CONAN: In dressage, though, you're not allowed to speak, correct? ROVNER: That's correct. You're penalized if you speak to the horse during a dressage test. You use every other muscle of your body, however. And literally every other muscle of your body. CONAN: So how do you communicate? These are very intricate moves, how do you communicate? ROVNER: They're extremely intricate moves. You use literally - you use an enormous amount of core strength. I also take Pilates. A lot of riders take Pilates. You have a lot of muscles of your core. You use - you need to be able to relax certain muscles and use other muscles. You need to be able to use your arms and your legs and your midsection independently.

You need to be able - as you know, my dressage instructor likes - always can know when I have my jaw clenched, that will actually communicate tension to the horse. I mean, you know, little things. You know, if you move your head the wrong way or your neck the wrong way, I mean, the horse feels everything. Horses are incredibly intuitive, and everything is communicated through you to the horse. So it's an amazing - if you're having a bad day, your horse knows it. If you're having a good day, your horse knows it. CONAN: What is the origin of the sport of dressage? Well, it's actually - it goes all the way back to the Greeks, and, I mean, it is originally - it's one of the classics. It's called classical dressage. But the origin of the modern sport of dressage is really a military sport. In fact, until 1948, only men were allowed to compete in dressage in the three-day event because it was considered - dressage was to make sure the horse was obedient enough to be a good war mount, literally. That was what it was for. A good cavalry horse.

ROVNER: A cavalry horse. And to be able to do - to be able to move - remember, you've got, you know, you got soldiers with guns or swords or, you know, various other implements of weaponry. And so you need to be able to have a horse who is malleable, and you can make it go anywhere you want with sometimes just one hand, sometimes no hands. So that's basically the origin of modern dressage. But basically, what dressage is about these days is making the horse move properly with the rider on its back the way the horse would move without a rider on its back. That's what it's all about in the end, is getting the horse to move to round its back and move with the rider on its back properly as a rear-wheel drive animal, as one of my dressage instructors once said. (LAUGHTER) ROVNER: And it's a really good image. And if you watch dressage, you can see that's what you're looking for, and that's what it's really all about. CONAN: And we look at some of the motions in dressage, and it literally looks like - if it's done well - the horse is dancing.

ROVNER: It does, although dressage riders can't stand when it's called horse ballet. It's really not about ballet. It's - it can look like dancing. And only the freestyle is done to music. And the freestyles are relatively recent phenomena. And if you actually watch the dressage competition that will begin on Thursday, the first - there's three tests, actually, and the first two tests are not done to music. Everyone - every horse and rider does the same test, and it is a prescribed series of movements. And no, the horse does not memorize it. (LAUGHTER) CONAN: So this is like the old required events in figure skating? ROVNER: That's - that's much more what it looks like. It looks like the old-school figures from figure skating. And there are judges, and every figure, every movement gets scored from one to 10, and then there's collective marks. They call them at the end. The rider actually gets one mark for how effective the rider is. The horse gets one mark for, you know, how good the quality of the horse's gait, its walk, trot and canter.

But every movement - and some movements gets double, because they're considered to be more important. Actually, the walk usually gets double. It's considered one of the harder movements to - if you've got a horse with a really good walk, that's a really good thing if you're a dressage horse. And that's very difficult in the eventing dressage test, because these are event horses who are about to go gallop three and a half miles cross-country, and they have a tendency to not want to walk. (LAUGHTER) ROVNER: It can be very, very difficult to do this well. CONAN: We want to hear from the horse people in our audience today. What are you looking forward to in this year's Olympic coverage? Here's an email we have from Karen: I'm disappointed NBC did not air equestrian events on the main channel. Instead, we have synchronized diving, she complained. 800-989-8255. Email us: talk@npr.org. Laura's on the line with us from Charlottesville. LAURA: Hey. Thanks for taking my call. CONAN: Sure. LAURA: I was driving along here, just listening, so curious.

I don't know anything about horses. I'm not a horse person. But when you said that Ann Romney's horse is over in London, it made me wonder: Did they put the horse on an airplane? How did they transfer it over across the ocean? ROVNER: By FedEx. Actually, we did a story on this, I think, back in March. The horses go over on a large cargo plane, and it is, in fact, FedEx. And, of course, horses go to and from Europe all the time. I mean, people are, you know, buying horses, not just for the Olympics. There are major competitions. European horses come to the U.S. for major competitions. U.S. horses go to Europe all the time for major competitions. Yes, there are, in fact, people whose business it is to transport horses across the Atlantic - obviously, to other places, too. But going to and from the - between the U.S. and Europe is not that uncommon a thing. And, yeah, they fly. And, yes, they have big stalls on a big airplane. CONAN: Do they get... LAURA: All right. Thanks. CONAN: Do they get - thank you, Laura.

Do they get jetlag? ROVNER: Yes, some of them do, actually. And there's a lot of - there's people who decide, you know, some horses, they want to take them just shortly before they're going to compete, and some horses they want to take them several weeks before they compete. There's people who, you know, who do this a lot, who seem to know their horses and, you know, whether their horses do better or worse. And I don't know whether it gets worse going east or west. I know for some people it gets worse going east or west. I have never flown a horse. That gets really pricey. I have never taken a horse more than overnight in a horse trailer. CONAN: They, obviously, fly race horses back and forth, too, and... ROVNER: Clearly, yeah. CONAN: ...there's big disputes over whether you should bring them in early and get them accustomed, or... ROVNER: Yeah, exactly. It's exactly the same thing. Horses are very much creatures of habit. I do - I can vouch for that, that they, you know, they know what time breakfast is. They know what time dinner is.

And, boy, if, you know, if you leave them out in the pasture for an extra hour, they know it. They'll be standing at that gate saying, I want my dinner now. CONAN: Yeah. I know a little bit more about horseracing. If you were looking for the center of the industry where a horse should really be bred, that's where you go. That's, of course, Kentucky. Is there a Kentucky for Olympic horses, or dressage and event horses? ROVNER: Yes, and it's Wellington, Florida... (LAUGHTER) ROVNER: ...in the winter. I mean, it varies. Obviously, there's also in North Carolina. A lot of people go to North Carolina for the winter. A lot of other people go to Florida for the winter. Those are sort of the two main places. In dressage, it's mostly Wellington, Florida. CONAN: And that's where the great horses are bred? ROVNER: No. That's where the great horses show in the winter. (LAUGHTER) CONAN: Oh, I see, show in the winter. No, I meant go to Kentucky to - for the breeding.

And so where are the great dressage horses bred? ROVNER: Germany... (LAUGHTER) CONAN: OK. ROVNER: ...basically. And it's funny. You know, Germany has dominated dressage for so many years. And this year, it actually looks like it's the Dutch who - and the Brits who are going to battle it out for the gold medal. And yet they all - everyone is still sort of - now, everyone is sort of exporting German riders, German trainers and German horses. So it's - there are still a lot of Germans. They're just not all riding for Germany anymore. CONAN: OK. Let's see if we get another caller in. This is Jennifer, Jennifer with us from Ann Arbor. JENNIFER: Hi. I am watching - or should be watching, because I haven't actually watched it yet - Mary King, who is probably older than most of the other riders and maybe even older than most other Olympic athletes out there, and she is one of the top eventers, and her skills are just incredible. She has incredible horses. And I'm really looking forward to going home and calling up some online video. And I'll take my comments off the air.

CONAN: OK. Thanks very much for the call, Jennifer. ROVNER: You know, Mary King is one of the British event riders. I actually think she's younger than Karen O'Connor, who's the oldest U.S. Olympian this year, at 54. I think Mary - I think I've actually did look this up. I think Mary King is 51. But, indeed, this is a year for older eventers. Mark Todd, who rode for New Zealand, I think, is 56 or 57. So Andrew Hoy on the Australian team is also - a lot of really very experienced event riders. And, boy, on that really tough cross-country course yesterday, you saw a lot of that experience. It was a very, very difficult course, and a lot of these riders in their 50s were making it look, if not easy, at least very doable. And a lot of the younger, less experienced riders had an awful lot of trouble with it. So it's one of those sports - I mean, my hat is off to these guys who, you know, basically my age and a little bit older are still going around doing these maximum-sized courses.

I'm jumping really small stuff these days. I don't bounce the way I used to. CONAN: Our guest is NPR health policy correspondent and horse enthusiast Julie Rovner. You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION, from NPR News. Email from Margaret in Little Rock: You just compared the dressage routine to the school figures that used to be required in figure skating. Another parallel would be katas, the basic moves in Oriental martial arts. Non-horse people just don't realize that dressage is a martial art. ROVNER: I've never heard dressage called a martial art, but I would not dispute that. CONAN: Padma(ph) is on the line with us from Jacksonville. PADMA: Hi. This is Padma. So exciting to talk to you, Neal. CONAN: Oh, thank you. PADMA: And so exciting to talk to Julie Rovner, as well. Quick question. My thing is, isn't this a painful thing for the horse? It's not a natural thing for the horses to be doing. So I just wanted to hear from Julie about that. CONAN: Is it painful for the horse? ROVNER: Not really.

PADMA: It's not fun. ROVNER: It's a - you'd be surprised, but it's a relatively natural thing. Horses do something called free school, and particularly high-level dressage horses, if you turn them out in the field, they'll do some of these movements on their own. I mean, you actually can see them do - I had my own horse, who used to free school. I would turn them out when they would be closed in in the winter. We'd have a snowstorm or something and, you know, they couldn't go out in the field, so we would turn them out in the arena, and he would go around and do some of these movements himself because that's what he's basically been trained to do. CONAN: A related question from email and Crispin in DeKalb, Illinois: We've heard many reports in the U.S. about how racing horses are mistreated. How are Olympic horses treated? ROVNER: Well, part of the problem with racing horses, obviously, there's a lot more money in racing horses, and they are trained and run very young.

I'm actually - I actually printed out the tests that the dressage horses will use, and it says minimum age is eight years. So you cannot even be in - you cannot do the Olympic test until a horse is eight years old as opposed to race horses, who are... CONAN: Three - two or three. ROVNER: Two. Two. Yeah, they start at two. So, I mean, that's one of the differences. There are certainly, you know, there have been cases. There's some controversy about some of the training method for dressage. There is definitely - there have been cases of mistreatment in jumping. There was some controversy about cross country some years ago, although some of that has been changed. They changed some of the rules now. Some of the big, solid jumps will come apart if the horse hits them there. There were some really dreadful accidents involving, obviously, people like Christopher Reeve, but also some horses. So some of that's been changed. And now, if you fall off, you must retire. It used to be you could fall off and get back on. Now - and indeed if the horse slips and falls, that you must retire. So there have been some safety changes made.

I won't say there's, you know, no mistreatment. Obviously, you know, there's animal cruelty in every, you know, everywhere and every sport. But it's not the kind of systemic problem that there is in horse racing. CONAN: Stephen Colbert has been some fun with dressage as the Joe Six-Pack sport of the 2012 Olympics. ROVNER: Oh, yes, he has. CONAN: So there is a reputation of this as a very elite sport only for wealthy people. Obviously, the - Mrs. Romney owns a share of one of the great horses. They are a very wealthy family. I don't think very wealthy would describe a national health policy correspondent. ROVNER: No. And that's, you know, the thing about the horse sports in the Olympics, in particular, you know, all of horses - sort of all of the horse sports in the Olympics are what they describe as a pyramid. And, you know, the very top horses, the horses that end up in the Olympics, are the very, very, very top of that pyramid.

And it's supported by the people at the bottom who do the sport, you know, like me, who are not members of the one percent and who do it. You don't have to be fabulously wealthy to ride dressage, and I think most of the people who ride dressage are not fabulously wealthy. But, yeah, at the very top of the sport, and probably to get to the Olympics, you probably do have to be fabulously wealthy and the people... CONAN: Because that horse is going to cost seven figures. ROVNER: Yeah, that horse is definitely worth seven figures. And all the Olympic horses are worth seven figures. And all the people who, you know, who end up at the Olympics pretty much have sponsors who helped them get there. That's how it happens. And, in fact, you know, one of the big sort of tragedies in the horse world right now, of this dressage competition, is that we are not going to see the best dressage horse in the world because he was sold out from under his rider on the Dutch team to ride around the German team, then the rider on the German team got sick.

So we're not going to see the best horse in the world because he was separated from his rider, because that's what happens when you have a sponsor. CONAN: Well, since we're not going to see that, what one thing are you going to DVR so you can make sure to see? ROVNER: I want to see if Anky van Grunsven, who's the reigning Olympic champion and is going for her third consecutive gold medal in dressage, is going to do it. I obviously want to see Rafalca, the Romney's horse. But I also want to see the British dressage team, who I think is going to be really impressive this year. CONAN: We'll end with this email for Darcy: I participated in the young rider's program in dressage. I miss it so much. I'm so excited to watch the dressage because my trainer's trainer, Tina Konyot, is on the team. I can't wait. I love how you can be in your 50s and still make an Olympic team. Julie, thanks very much. We'll be talking about very serious things when you're on the program next. ROVNER: Oh, OK.

(LAUGHTER) CONAN: NPR health policy correspondent Julie Rovner with us here in Studio 3A. Of course, she's a horse rider, owner and competitor. Tomorrow, historian John Dower on the events we choose to remember and what we forget. It's the TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. Copyright © 2012 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc. , an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Olympic Equestrian Events Olympic Equestrian Events By Catriona Burt The Olympic Games is where the best of the best compete to win eight Olympic gold medals and 11 Paralympic gold medals! Joe Fargis on Touch of Class in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Fargis anchored the US team which won the Team Gold in Show Jumping, and he also won the Individual Gold for Show Jumping. ©Kathleen Fallon The first Olympic event is DRESSAGE. Dressage is an ancient discipline that originated as a way of training war horses in Ancient Greece. The sport was finessed by the Riding School of Vienna and became part of the Olympics in 1912. It is now held over a 60m x 20m arena with seven judges and consists of both team and individual events. The team dressage events consist of Grand Prix and Grand Prix special events. Three riders from each country will compete in two tests which will count towards their team's total. After the team medals are awarded, the top 18 will qualify for the Grand Prix Freestyle individual event. The top three scorers from these events will take home the medals! EVENTING, a challenging equestrian sport. It was originally a military sport and was introduced into the Olympics in 1912. Competitors compete over several days in three different disciplines as both teams and individuals: dressage, cross country and show jumping events. The third Olympic sport is SHOW JUMPING.

Show jumping originated from fox hunts in the 19th century and was introduced to the Olympic Games in 1912. Show jumping consists of five rounds in total; the first reduces numbers from 75 to 60 to go through to the team event. All 15 teams plus qualified individuals start the first round of the team event. Only the top eight teams and qualified individuals go through to the second round. The best three scores from each team of four decide the ultimate team placings. For the individual round the top 35 riders revert to zero penalties for the first round of the individual event. The top 20 then go forward to the second round to decide medals. In both the individual and team events if there is a tie then there will be a jump off for the medals. There are two other equestrian sports that are worth a mention. The first is the PENTATHLON. An equestrian sport that is often overlooked but is probably one of the most challenging, the pentathlon as a sport consists of five sports: fencing, swimming, show jumping, shooting and running. The equestrian element is held after the competitors have performed fencing and a 200m swim.

Athletes have to ride a course of 12 jumps on an unfamiliar horse, no easy feat for any rider, especially not one who has just swum 200m! The second is PARA-DRESSAGE, part of the Paralympics. In para-dressage each rider is classified as a particular grade (Ia, Ib, II, III or IV) depending upon their disability with grade IV being the least disabled. Breyer has a long tradition of making portrait models of Olympic champions! Some recent Olympians in the Breyer lineup include: Sapphire, Ravel, Hickstead, Cedric and Mistral Hojris! If you liked this article, you might enjoy: Equestrian Events at the Olympic Games Home > Events > Olympics > Summer > Sports > Equestrian Equestrian at the Olympics There are currently three disciplines in equestrian at the Olympics: Jumping , Dressage , Eventing . Show jumping was introduced to the Olympic Games in 1900. Dressage and Three-day eventing were introduced in 1912. Trivia Equestrian first appeared at the Olympics in 1900. There are a few events that are no longer held.

In 1900 there was Horse High jump and Horse Long jump , and in 1920 there was Vaulting for teams and individuals. The Olympic dressage competition started in 1912, and up until 1952, only commissioned officers were allowed to compete in these events. From 1952 the rules were changed to allow civilians and women to compete. Danish equestrian athlete Lis Hartel became the first woman in the equestrian sports to win an Olympic medal when she won silver medals at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics in dressage. Equestrian is one of only two Olympic sports where men and women compete equally against each other. In sailing only one event remains where competitors can be mixed . 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Fritz Thiedemann won bronze medals in both individual show jumping and team dressage, becoming the only rider in Olympic history to win medals in two equestrian disciplines at the same Games. As quarantine laws did not allow the entry of foreign horses into Australia (or there is at least a 6 months quarantine requirement), equestrian events at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics were held in Stockholm in June.

The rest of the Games started in late November, when it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere. For the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the equestrian events were held in Hong Kong. This marked the second time the same edition of the Olympic Games being hosted by two National Olympic Committees. (the other time was when the equestrian events where held in Stockholm for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics). The oldest woman to compete in the Olympics was British rider Lorna Johnstone, who participated in Equestrian at the 1972 Olympic Games at 70 years old and 5 days. For the men, Arthur von Pongracz of Austria competed at age 72 in Dressage in 1936, becoming one of the oldest ever competitors at the Olympics. Shooter Oscar Swahn of Sweden was also 72 when he competed in 1920. The Equestrian events (and the equestrian part of Modern Pentathlon ) are the only Olympic events that involve animals. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics , equestrian was one of the few events not to be contested within the city limits. All equestrian events were be held in Hong Kong.

Notable Participants The oldest woman to compete in the Olympics was British rider Lorna Johnstone, who participated in Equestrian at the 1972 Olympic Games at 70 years old and 5 days. For the men, Arthur von Pongracz of Austria competed at age 72 in Dressage in 1936, becoming one of the oldest ever competitors at the Olympics. Shooter Oscar Swahn of Sweden was also 72 when he competed in 1920. In Beijing 2008, equestrian rider Hiroshi Hoketsu became the oldest Japanese Olympic representative at age 67. Hoketsu also took part in the 1964 Tokyo Games where he finished 40th in the show jumping event. Canadian show jumper Ian Millar made a record-breaking 10th Olympic appearance in London 2012. He competed in the equestrian competition at every Olympics from 1972 to 2012 except for the 1980 Moscow Games that Canada boycotted.

The highest ranked equestrian at the Olympic Games is German rider Isabell Werth, who won six gold and four silver medals between 1992 and 2016. The best male all-time performing equestrian athlete at the Olympic Games is another German, Reiner Klimke, who competed between 1964–1988 winning six gold medals and two bronze. See more on the Greatest Equestrian Athletes at the Olympics . Share: Equestrian Events at the 15th Asian Games | Horses, Dressage & More Click to Select a Discipline Equestrian Events at the 15th Asian Games Click to Select a Discipline Equestrian Events at the 15th Asian Games Posted on: Equestrian is the only Olympic sport where man and animal are established team mates, and one of the few sports where men and women compete on equal terms. Four equestrian disciplines are included in the 15th Asian Games: dressage, eventing, jumping and endurance. Dressage Dressage is the most elegant equestrian discipline, with a horse performing set movements or tests in response to its rider's signals. The event is conducted over three rounds.

In the first two, horse and rider perform a set routine of dressage movements, including passages, pirouettes and piaffes in a walk, trot and canter. The third round is freestyle, with routines individually choreographed and performed to music. The three disciplines of dressage, cross-country and jumping are tested in the eventing competition. Riders must be versatile to excel in all three categories; they need patience and composure for dressage, fearlessness and speed for cross-country and precision and timing for jumping. For the cross-country competition, riders have to jump a number of obstacles on a set course. Jumping Equestrian at the 15th Asian Games will finish with jumping, a popular sport that is exciting to watch and easy to follow. Riders are required to guide their mount over a course of up to 14 obstacles that are laid out inside an earth covered arena. Obstacles can include triple bars, parallel rails, water jumps and simulated stone walls. Jumping tests the horse's leaping ability and the rider's skill to urge the horse over challenging obstacles.

Endurance Endurance riding is an extremely strenuous form of horse racing, requiring the horse to complete, at the top levels, for up to 100 miles. Winning riders complete these 100-mile rides in 10-12 hours. Any breed can compete, but Arabians generally dominate the top levels because of their incredible stamina and natural endurance. Riders must have a great knowledge of pace and know when to slow down or speed up during the ride. They must also have knowledge of their horse's condition and watch for signs of tiring. In some countries, the winner is determined by a combination of speed and the recovery rate of the horse. In other countries, no places are given and awards are presented to any horse and rider that achieved a required standard. Endurance riding will be introduced to the Asian Games for the very first time in Doha 2006. Did you know? "Before 1952, only military officers were permitted to take part in equestrian events at the Olympics.

After these restrictions were lifted, military and civilian men and women competed against each other in equestrian events." Related Articles The 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki: En Route to the Games | eurodressage Home › Reports › History › The 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki: En Route to the Games The 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki: En Route to the Games Fri, 12/04/2015 - 09:55 ﻿The 1952 Olympic individual dressage podium in Helsinki: André Jousseaume (FRA), Henri St-Cyr (SWE), Lis Hartel (DEN) History Helsinki Central Park, this green heart in Finland's capital is still a place where stressed modern minds can find some hours of recreation. Sixty-four years ago the peace of this narrow wooded oasis next to Ruskeasuo, a suberb of Helsinki, was disturbed by the sound of saws and hammering. The preparations for the equestrian events at the 1952 Olympic Games had began with the renovation of the old stables of the Ruskeasuo riding centre.

Soon after a dressage stadium was prepared in a wood-glade nearby the equestrian facilities. Stands were erected around the grassy rectangle and a roofed building created to house the five men who would decide on Olympic glory or a failure a year later. What sounds a bit amateurish in our days, became one of the most idyllic Olympic dressage arenas ever, fairly equal to the picturesque ring in front of the Nymphenburg Castle in Munich 1972 or the one in the park of the Villa Borghese in Rome 1960. Post War Preparations With the help of their army the Finnish were in full cry providing the best equestrian facilities possible. At the same time it was completely uncertain for many riders and their horses if they were to make it to Scandinavia a year later. Whereas today Olympic preparations practically start immediately after the last Olympic Games, back then the situation presented itself completely differently. Three years after the end of the second World War the London Olympics had been held. The situation in dressage was still tense.

The FEI had wisely decided to only ask a reduced programme for the 1948 Olympic Games, excluding the most demanding Grand Prix movements like piaffe and passage because it rightfully seemed impossible to have enough horses being able to show them so briefly after the war. The war had led to cavalry schools in Europe, such as Hanover, Strömsholm and Saumur to come to a forced stand-still. Their former glorious representatives partly lost their lives in the battlefields throughout Europe. Also dressage horses with the ability to perform a Grand Prix had been lost during WW II or had disappeared when the allies occupied Germany. To take all that into account the FEI decided in 1950 that from now on also civilians and officers were allowed to take part in the Olympic dressage classes; more so even though they had already allowed amateurs to qualify from 1938 onwards, women were excluded and only allowed after the revision of the rules in 1950. So the basis of riders and horses available for the next Olympic Games was broadened. While this attempt seemed logical, the reality was rather a sober one a year before the first Olympic Games after the war in which the Grand Prix was required again.

Germany had lost its brilliant cavalry school of Hanover, Saumur tried to revive its competition stable after the school was evacuated during the war and the USA had to recruit the first all-civilian team in their history. Only Sweden was able to maintain its strong position with its cavalry school of Strömsholm still working smoothly. Also Switzerland, widely unbothered by the consequences of the war, prepared some army horses for Helsinki after their representative Hans Moser had become Olympic Champion at London 1948. To understand the level of competition which happened at the Olympic Games in Helsinki 1952, it seems helpful to allow a view on the preparations, in particular those of two female debutants. The USA: The first civilian team, their first Olympic equestrienne Very unlike Germany the USA couldn't be considered a dressage nation until the late 1970s and even then it relied more on single outstanding pairs than a broad basis like today. Their team medals in 1932 and 1948 shouldn't mislead as they were won under special circumstances and not against the best nations.

But in 1951 the USA was additionally confronted with a special challenge as it was the time of transformation into the civilian USET (United States Equestrian Team) after Harry Truman had closed down the cavalry in 1949. The country was practically lacking everything in dressage: trainers, riders, horses, media attention as well as financial backing. However, some German „imports“ helped solve the situation. The Westfalian Fritz Stecken, brother to Albert and Paul Stecken, had immigrated to New York in 1947 where he settled down teaching dressage in Scarborough at the equestrian department of the famous Sleepy Hollow Country Club. He had shipped his Westfalian stallion Nobel over on whom he also gave displays and taught students the advanced movements. He imported several German bred quality horses which the US troops seized during the end of the war, among them former dressage horses of the cavalry school of Hanover and Krampnitz. Unfortunately for the 1952 Olympics most of these ready-schooled horses were too old.

But one younger horse, a most beautiful Trakehner chestnut was assigned to Captain Robert „Bob“ Borg, then the United States' top dressage rider among few of Olympic standard. He and Bill Biddle were first choice for Helsinki, but the other two team riders couldn't be more different. It seemed hard to believe, but while Helsinki prepared its equestrian facilities a 20-year old girl, who would compete there a year later, started to get in touch with dressage. Surely Marjorie Haines had ridden from childhood, as her aunt owned a riding school where she competed quite successfully in jumping and had also occasionally evented, her first tender touch with dressage. Just graduated from art school, Haines got hooked when she saw a photo of Fritz Stecken on Noble. She was driven to find out more about dressage and took lessons from him. Hard to imagine nowadays she set her sails for New York with 1,500 dollars in her pockets and started working with Stecken. Living on an extremely tight budget, she still ran out of money very soon and was only able to continue because one of Stecken's wealthier pupils supported her in different ways. Marjorie also gave sewing lessons.

Even though Haines had to sacrify a lot, luck would come her way. Among the horses Stecken trained there was a very well built attractive Hanoverian liver chestnut called The Flying Dutchman, one of those seized horses that were shipped over at the end of the war. First successfully competed in three-day-eventing, the gelding was given to Stecken to be trained for Grand Prix. When the first ever Olympic U.S. dressage trials were held on 1 April 1952 at Sleepy Hollow, Stecken sent Marjorie Haines on The Flying Dutchman. It was a decision not really undisputed as the equestrian scene, even though civilian now, continued to consist of many former army riders, totally male oriented. A woman on an Olympic team wasn't something everybody was enthusiastic about in those times, but Haines was nominated alongside Borg and Hartmann Pauly, an expat Hungarian officer who had represented his country of birth internationally before the war. Even though experienced, the elder officer had only picked up riding again shortly before the selection trials and competed on a former army horse, Reno Overdo, which was actually trained by Borg and started at London 1948 under Lt.-Col. Henry.

Three weeks after team selection the dressage horses were shipped to Europe with only Bob Borg attending them while the other team members flew over to Amsterdam at the beginning of May. Even though the crossing on board of a ship was uneventful, it was a long time for fully trained horses to do nothing. Borg kept the horses supple by flexing them in hand during the journey. Unlike today the USET lived on a horribly tight budget and it was out of question to have a dressage trainer with the team to prepare them for their starts at Germany's Olympic trials in Wiesbaden, Düsseldorf and Hamburg. For young inexperienced Haines it was her first time completely on her own far away from home and this proved to be a small disaster, more so as she suffered from pneumonia after coming over to Europe. As a a quality animal and thoroughly schooled by Stecken, The Flying Dutchman did very well at these German shows, placing highly and catching the eye of European experts as did Borg's highly talented Bill Biddle. But the longer Haines and her horse were without their usual tutelage, the more her lack of experience showed negatively.

So what should have become a typical American cinderella story, became an Olympic rider who in less than a year without financial assets and as first American woman at Olympic Games, had no happy end in Helsinki. Lis Hartel: A Legend in the Making Completely different preconditions could be found by the first female medal winner at the Olympic dressage competitions, Denmark's Lis Hartel. Aged 30 in 1951 the mother of two had focused on dressage from rather early on, even though her parents had only ridden for fun, but they supported their two horse-mad daughters in every way. At only 22 years of age she had become Danish national champion in dressage and repeated this feat in 1944. But later the same year she contracted polio while being pregnant with her second daughter. First completely paralyzed, Hartel fought hard to recover. Even though she stayed permanently paralyzed below her knees with also her arms and hands remaining weaker, she began riding again, something extraordinary during those times.

With the very calm and reliable mare Jubilee (by Rockwood xx) Lis Hartel even restarted competing successfully from 1947 on, coached by the young Gunnar Andersen, who would later become Denmark's most legendary trainer. With a secure financial background, a decade of competitive experience, a regular trainer and lots of support from her whole family, Hartel put in an attempt for Helsinki 1952 which was much better than the ones of Marjorie Haines of the USA. And still, Hartel was as insecure in 1951 as the young American. Were she and her mare ready for the challenge a year later?! It was not only about defending one country's honour back then, but more so doing it as a woman in a male-dominated sport. The pressure to do well must have been considerably higher for all four women who finally appeared in Helsinki's dressage arena in July 1952, beside Haines and Hartel also Norway's Else Christophersen and Germany's Countess von Nagel were qualified.

For Lis Hartel the question a year before the Olympic Games was if Jubilee would ever learn to piaffe sufficiently and she posed this question to Colonel Podhajsky, then leader of the SRS in Vienna and Olympic medalist in 1936. Podhajsky and the SRS had been to Copenhagen for a display and on request of Hartel rode Jubilee on this occasion. The Austrian praised the mare's high rideability and great submission. He encouraged Hartel to set Helsinki as her goal as he was convinced Jubilee would have enough time to improve her very rudimentary piaffe. Podhajsky's judgement turned out to be a bit too optimistic as in May 1952 he received a letter from Hartel saying that she failed on improving Jubilee's piaffe and therefore would give up on her Olympic dream. Podhajsky on the other hand had just judged the possible Olympic teams of Germany, the USA and Chile at the CDI Wiesbaden and had witnessed first hand how imperfect most piaffes had been there, again encouraging Hartel to hold on to her aim representing Denmark in neighboured Finland.

It was the decisive advice towards what would become the fairytale of the Helsinki Games and the beginning of a legend that still lives on these days. Germany: Otto Lörke Again War defeated Germany was subsequently banned from the first post-war Olympic Games in London 1948, but preparations for its Olympic reappearance started already earlier and more or less practically from scratch. It is without a doubt that no other country world-wide had had such a wealth of high quality dressage trainers, such a wealth of suitable horses for the discipline from their own breeds and such a structured talent scouting programme in the cavalry before the war. However, if one takes a closer look the dressage stable („Schulstall“) of the legendary cavalry school in Hanover did not consist of that many dressage stars, but they came mainly from a few professional dressage trainers who made their mounts available to the cavalry riders who competed at the Olympics on them. The most dominant of them all had already pre-war was Otto Lörke. Born in 1879, he was responsible for the training of the German emperor's horses before establishing his own successful stable in Berlin after the end of the German Empire.

He was appointed to train the dressage stable at Hanover as of 1934. In 1945 Lörke fled with the remaining staffers and horses of the cavalry school, including his successful dressage horses Fanal and Dorffrieden, both Trakehner geldings that had to pull the cart with all his belongings. He found a refuge in Vornholz, a special place in Westfalia, not far from Warendorf. This little village was home to Count Clemens von Nagel-Dornick whose mote with the same name was a meaningful private stud for thoroughbreds as well as for warmbloods until the 1970s. There Lörke and his rescued dressage horses not only found a new home, but it was also a source of raw material on four legs which the master would prepare for Helsinki. Soon at his side was his most faithful student Willi Schultheis, who, after some roundabouts after being released as a prisoner of war, found his way to Vornholz to continue working with Lörke. Even though a few of Germany's foremost riders had survived the war and started competing again, the choice for Olympic level horses was more than small.

So Lörke attempted something, which according to Schultheis in Harry Boldt's book „Das Dressurpferd“, only he could succeed in: He trained three horses to Olympic level within less than two years. All three had been bred by his host Count von Nagel-Dornick and two of them, Afrika (by Oxyd) and Adular (by Oxyd), were ready for Grand Prix at age 5. The third, the thoroughbred stallion Chronist xx, was four years older. Of these three horses Adular might have been the most talented and suitable for Olympic glory. This strong black Westfalian had been broken in at 3,5-years of age, which was nothing unusual, but his extreme work ethic, his goodwill and ability to learn enabled him to learn the Grand Prix programme rapidly. His good nature and great impulsion caused him to be quite secure in his appearance at a very young age. Even though Lörke and Schultheis rode the horse, an non-professional rider had to be chosen to present him for the Olympics, when the horse was just 7 years of age.

It was the 1936 double Olympic champion Heinz Pollay; an ideal choice as his experience and strong abilities brought the best out of the young Westfalian; both won the first Olympic trial at Wiesbaden and again at Düsseldorf. Adular's identically aged half-sister Afrika, another black horse, was less talented, but reached Grand Prix in the same amount of time. Slightly ewe-necked her askew long blaze added to the impression that she was crooked. Additionally she was weak in the kidney region and according to Schultheis „in principle unsuitable to become a dressage horse.“ For him it was only thanks to Lörke that the mare was ready for Helsinki. An ideal lady's ride, the mare was ridden by Countess Ida von Nagel who finished second in the German Olympic trials, even though the mare's piaffe was almost non-existent. Germany's third team horse for Helsinki was Chronist xx, an 11-year-old thoroughbred stallion by Marcellus xx, who had raced in his younger years. Like Afrika he suffered from serious defaults in his conformation for his training.

His apparent weak back made a true connection between hind-legs and forehand a challenge, something which was repeatedly criticised by judges. However he was a charming horse with lots of expression and a good canter tour. As his usual rider Willi Schultheis turned professional, he was not eligible, so Germany's popular jumping rider Fritz Thiedemann was chosen to compete the small stallion in Helsinki where he also jumped with his legendary Holsteiner Meteor. After their appearances against the Olympic teams of the USA and Chile at the German Olympic trials, Germany's dressage riders had been on the map for Olympic glory once again. But their possible renewal of Olympic success was at a silk thread held by Otto Lörke. Without this man's relentless energy, belief and unique talent Germany wouldn't have had a competitive team for Helsinki. More on Helsinki in a next article By Silke Rottermann for Eurodressage References Rio 2016 Olympics: Equestrian guide Rio 2016 Olympics: Equestrian guide 1 April 2016 • 4:54pm How to take part Equestrian could be called the only truly egalitarian event at the Games, as men and women compete together and humans bond with animals.

Dressage: Dressage tests take place in a 60 x 20-metre sand-based arena. In each round, horses have to perform a series of movements. For the first two rounds, the movements are set in compulsory order. For the final freestyle round, the rider chooses an individual programme, to be set to music. Horse and rider are marked by five judges who look for accuracy of movement, calmness, suppleness and flexibility. Showjumping: The showjumping takes place around a course of approximately 15 fences. Penalties are awarded if poles are knocked down or if the horse refuses the fence. e. Time faults (one per second) are also awarded if the rider does not complete the course within a set time. The winner is the rider and horse that finishes with the fewest penalties in the fastest time. Eventing: The three-day eventing competition will actually take place over four days. During the first two days each horse and rider will perform a dressage test in front of a panel of judges. The total score is converted into penalty points, which are carried forward to the next stage of the competition. They will then move onto the cross-country course which will contain up to 45 jumps.

Every horse/rider combination is given penalty points for jumping errors and time penalties, which are added to any penalty points awarded during the dressage test to give a total score. The competition then ends with show jumping where riders and horses are given penalty points for jumping errors and time penalties, which are added to their penalties from the previous two events. The top 25 riders then jump a final round of show jumping, again added to their cumulative score, to determine the individual result. The equestrian events will take place at the National Equestrian Center in Deodoro Credit: Livepic Events / disciplines 6 Tactics and Techniques In all riding events, a good posture - a straight back and heels tucked in - are essential. Considering the riders can be on horseback for long periods over three days, a comfortable and flexible saddle is a key piece of kit. The relationship between horse and rider is key to success, so don’t kick him too hard or you might find yourself seriously injured. Dressage comes down to having the perfectly trained horse. The animal must respond to the lightest of touches and be graceful and controlled.

Horse and rider must move in perfect harmony, they need excellent communication and success is often the result of good teamwork and plenty of training. Showjumping relies on the accuracy and discipline of the rider as much as the athleticism of the horse. To avoid knocking down the fences, the rider must calculate the best approach possible to each obstacle. Turns, paces and strides all come into play as the rider seeks to put their horse in the perfect position to clear the fence. Eventing is a gruelling sport that requires human and horse to posses good stamina and concentration, as well as flair and jumping prowess. Horse and rider need to be all-rounders. The will need the skills to excel at dressage and showjumping, but also will need to be super-fit and utterly fearless if they want to make it round the cross-country course. The fences, pond, ditches and combinations are designed to be a challenge; you need to negotiate them as fast as possible, but if you are careless you could end up with a refusal, or worse, a fall.

What to say “Three-day eventing is the equine version of an Ironman triathlon.” What not to say “Where do I place my bets, I can’t find the Tote?” If it were a TV programme, it would be One Man and His Dog. Man and beast in perfect harmony. Facts and Phrases Until 1952, in Helsinki, only male cavalry officers were permitted to compete in any Olympic equestrian discipline. Dressage has traditionally been Britain’s weakest discipline, but that all changed at London 2012. Charlotte Dujardin won gold on Valegro in the Individual Dressage, whilst Laura Bechtolsheimer picked up a bronze on Mistral Hojris. And Great Britain also won gold in the Team Dressage, with Carl Hester joining the two women to beat the much-fancied German team into second place.

Twice, with Richard Meade in 1972 and Leslie Law in Athens in 2004, Britain have won individual eventing gold, but the individual showjumping title has never been won by a Briton, with Marion Coakes and Ann Moore (silver in 1968 and 1972 respectively) coming closest. In 2012, it was one of only two disciplines (along with the Individual Eventing) that Great Britain didn't medal in. Charlotte Dujardin won gold for GB in 2012 Credit: Getty Jargon DressageAid: In dressage, a prompt that a rider gives to a horse to change gait or turn. This can be done using the hands, legs, voice or through a shift in body weight. Canter: A steady controlled gait for which three of the horse’s legs are off the ground at once. Half-pass: When a horse moves forwards and sideways at the same time, bent in the direction of movement. Piaffe: A trotting movement, performed almost on the spot. Self-carriage: When a horse moves in balance without support from the reins.

Eventing Run-out: When a horse runs around a fence instead of jumping over it. Refusal: When a horse refuses to jump a fence, incurring faults. Fault: Penalty points awarded for making a mistake: for instance, a refusal at an obstacle, or exceeding the optimum time. Obstacle: Any fence or jump in the cross-country and jumping courses. Optimum time: The target time in the Cross-Country event. Each second above the optimum time carries a penalty of 0.4 faults. Showjumping Clear round: A round without any faults. Jump-off: If one or more riders are tied for first place after the final scheduled round, there may be an extra round of competition, known as a jump-off. Refusal: When a horse stops at a jump, incurring faults. Triple combination: Three fences in close proximity, with just a few steps between them. Legends The unsurpassed Dutch dressage master, eight-times World Cup champion Anky van Grunsven, bowed out at the age of 44 after aiming for a fourth successive Olympic title, following her successes on Bonfire in 2000 and Salinero in 2004 and 2008.

Random Fact Forget the riders. Sometimes it is the horse who really captures a nation’s imagination. In 1952, Colonel Harry Llewellyn became a a bit of a hero after a terrible Olympics for Britain, winning the only GB gold of the Games with a clear showjumping round on the final day to land the team victory. Foxhunter, the brilliant horse who transported him to glory, was even more feted, and became the only nag to receive a congratulatory telegram from Winston Churchill. Official sites: How to Watch the 2016 Olympic Equestrian Events | HORSE NATION How to Watch the 2016 Olympic Equestrian Events Full schedule, TV listings and live stream info here! Flickr/scazon/CC If you live under an equestrian rock and have somehow not realized that the 2016 Olympics are upon us, don’t fret — here’s your one-stop shop to see the full equestrian schedule, find out what stations are airing coverage and how you can live stream every minute of the events online. The schedule NBC is the covering cable network, though some individual events across the Games will also be aired on affiliate networks.

The Opening Ceremonies take place this Friday evening, August 5, with the Closing Ceremonies to take place on the evening of August 21. Plenty of details and behind-the-scenes stories about the Games, individual athletes and sport profiles can be found at NBC Olympics online . The equestrian events will take place at the Olympic Equestrian Centre, known as the National Equestrian Center when the Games are not in session. The center was originally constructed for the equestrian events of the 2007 Pan Am Games.

Eventing kicks off the equestrian portion of the Games: Saturday, August 6: Team and individual dressage Sunday, August 7: Team and individual dressage Monday, August 8: Cross-country Tuesday, August 9: Team and individual show jumping; team and individual medal ceremony Dressage takes over immediately after: Wednesday, August 10: Team and individual Grand Prix Thursday, August 11: Team and individual Grand Prix Friday, August 12: Team final and individual Grand Prix Special; team medal ceremony Monday, August 15: Individual final Grand Prix Freestyle; individual medal ceremony Show jumping overlaps slightly with dressage but closes out the equestrian Games: Sunday, August 14: Individual jumping qualification Tuesday, August 16: First round team, second round individual jumping Wednesday, August 17: Team final and third round individual jumping; team medal ceremony Friday, August 19: Individual jumping, two rounds; individual medal ceremony For full schedule including jog up times and anticipated start times, please view the full schedule at FEI.org .

Broadcast details The USEF Network published this chart with the equestrian schedule and what cable networks will be broadcasting: Schedule courtesy of USEF Network Live stream All equestrian events in full can be live streamed via NBCOlympics.com . You will need an authenticated cable subscription log-in to access the live stream. The live stream can also be accessed on mobile via the NBC Olympics app and a free channel available for Roku. Again, an authenticated cable subscription is required. No cable? No live stream? No problem. The Nation Media family of sites will be bringing you plenty of up-to-date coverage of the Olympic games, so keep it locked on Eventing Nation , Jumper Nation and Horse Nation for live updates, in-person reporting and of course plenty of good old-fashioned equestrian fun. If you’re posting on social media about the equestrian events at the Olympics, don’t forget to use the hashtags #TwoHearts and #JointheJourney to show your support of ALL equestrian athletes all over the world in all disciplines! The International Olympic Committee is reportedly tracking use of these hashtags to help assess how widely-supported are the equestrian sports to decide if they should remain part of future Olympic Games — your sport needs you! Go riding!

Olympic Equestrian City 2024: Would the horses choose Boston? | EQUUS Magazine The Jurga Report: Horse Health Headlines Olympic Equestrian City 2024: Would the horses choose Boston? Boston, Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles all made bids to host the 2024 Olympics. What was each offering equestrian sports? Comments Update: As we now know, Boston won the bid and will be the USA's candidate city to host the 2024 Olympics. This story was written the day before the selection was announced, but includes some fun information that may not have been reported elsewhere. Tomorrow (Thursday, January 8) could be the day that we find out which of four US cities will go forward to represent the United States' bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games. Once selected, the US candidate city will compete against a roster of international cities on other continents for the honor of hosting the games. Or, as some factions in American cities would like you to believe, the horror of hosting the Games.

It will be almost three years before we find out which city will actually host the Games; the announcement is scheduled for September 15, 2017, in Lima, Peru. Each American finalist city has its anti-Olympics faction, just as it has its supporters. Not everyone in the winning city will be happy on Thursday when the announcement is made--no matter which one wins. But what about the horse sports? How do the four cities stack up? Boston has been buzzing with the rumor that the eventing cross-country would be held in beautiful Franklin Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect of Central Park in New York. At almost 500 acres, is it big enough? Do the math: That's 2.5 times the size of London's Greenwich Park, which hosted the equestrian events at the London 2012 Olympics. There are worse places to ride a horse than Boston's Franklin Park, rumored to be the proposed site for the cross-country phase of eventing, should Boston win the 2024 bid. (Boston Public Library post card collection) Boston's Franklin Park has iconic backgrounds, urban wilds and the rolling terrain could make it ideal for cross-country.

It is located in a part of the city that should be part of the Olympic effort. Once inside the gates, it has beautiful bones, old stone bridges and even a folly, so the Brits would feel right at home. I rode in Franklin Park in college because that is the part of the city where the stables were. The only horses there now are ridden by Park Rangers, or are pets at the zoo there. But wouldn't we love to see the show jumping down the street in Fenway Park? And the dressage in Harvard Stadium? It just might happen. The Boston area's Essex County was once the home of the US Equestrian Team eventing training center, back in the Jack Le Goff era. Olympic riders like Karen Stives, Mike Plumb, Dorothy Morkis and many others call Massachusetts home. Karen O'Connor grew up here. Mitt and Ann Romney live here, too; they'd have almost ten years to find another Rafalca, the Team USA dressage horse Ann Romney owned in partnership. Paul Revere is putting his horse through his paces this week, as Boston campaigns to be the US candidate to host the 2024 Olympic Games.

Did you see the way he morphed into an eventer in the video? Boston's equestrian talent isn't just in the form of riders: Mitt Romney is on the Boston2024 committee and as former chair for the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, could play a key role here. Let's not forget a key Boston native: Mark Bellissimo, managing partner of Equestrian Sport Productions LLC and Wellington, Florida's Winter Equestrian Festival, the premiere show jumping series in North America. Boston's relatively cooler and less humid late summer weather would be kinder to the horses than Washington's steamy heat. A fault with both Boston and Washington is that August and September are prime time for hurricanes, although few make it as far north as Boston. Another nice thing about Boston is that everyone knows someone here, went to school here, grew up here or has a cousin/aunt/old roommate in the area. Reserve those guest rooms well in advance. For the most part, these proposals are top secret. We know that each city has a budget of $4.5 billion, but how they plan to spend it varies radically.

Boston is promoting a scaled-down version of the Olympics by not planning to build a huge new stadium or an Olympic Village. Instead, it will be what the press is calling the "university games", with many of Boston's college and university athletic facilities put to use. And people will walk, ride bikes or take public transportation to the Games in Boston. Street cars will take you to Franklin Park tomorrow, if you want to go. You won't need to remember where you parked your car because you won't have a car. And the Games will be ten years from now--we might be over fossil fuel by then! Speaking of people, they are Boston's greatest and most unforgettable natural resource, no matter what the weather, the traffic or the problem is. And what about the other cities? There's Washington, but their video stresses their famous people, not their athletes...and certainly not their horses. In the tiniest print in some articles about Washington's bid, you can find references to equestrian events being held at Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia . That's about 40 miles west of Washington.

It's a wonderful facility and certainly looks the part, but mightn't the horses just say "ho-hum" since they've been there and done that? Could we possibly host the first hack-in Olympics? It would certainly be economical, given the number of top eventers who live in the suburban Washington area. A criticism of the Washington proposal is that the events would be spread out in a 40-mile radius of the city, from Leesburg in the west to Annapolis, Maryland, for sailing events, in the east. Traffic, of course, is the first thing people think of when they think of Washington, but traffic is the bane of London's existence, as well, and they did it! There is the small problem of security and the chance that people in Washington might need to use the city for a government crisis, should one arise, during the Games. And yes, I do believe that the Republicans and Democrats would work together on the Games...as long as someone else is in charge of the budget! The Bay Area of California is also spreading their plan for the Games out, geographically speaking.

Their plans, according to press reports, locate the bulk of equestrian events not in San Francisco at all, but in the heart of Silicon Valley, outside Menlo Park at the 272-acre Woodside Horse Park . Cornerstone Dressage runs the dressage shows at Woodside; the facility has four acres of arenas with artificial footing. Ian Stark was recently named course designer for the cross-country phase at the Event at Woodside . Ian is also course designer for the 2015 European Eventing Championships to be held at Scotland's Blair Castle. No problem there! Woodside coincidentally just launched a $2 million renovation fundraiser for show facility that just keeps getting better. There's a certain caché to being in Silicon Valley, and surely people from all over the world are curious what it's like in Cupertino or Palo Alto. So the Bay Area may have some extra appeal, and the equestrian events' location could be a bonus rather than a handicap. But another rumor from San Francisco is that they'd like to hold the cross-country phase of the eventing in beautiful Golden Gate Park, with the bridge in the background. The terrain can be a little steep, not unlike Greenwich Park, but it sounds magical.

The weather in San Francisco would be fine for the horses. In terms of natural disasters, if you have to worry about hurricanes on the east coast, you need to think about earthquakes and wildfires on the west coast. Finally, we come to the last candidate for host city. Los Angeles has hosted the Olympics twice before. The city is chomping at the bit to do it again and most pundits have declared it a shoe-in. That said, Los Angeles is the one city that put the equestrian events on its map already. They have identified three major sites in LA, but the equestrian events would be at Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, east of the city. There's no word on where the eventing cross-country would be held. In 1984, it was held on the golf course at the then-new Fairbanks Ranch Country Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California, quite a distance from Los Angeles. The 1984 Olympics in LA were wonderful--who can forget Reiner Klimke's dressage?--but the United States has so many great cities, shouldn't we share the experience? As you can tell, I lean toward Boston. What about you?

Use the comment form to leave a message or visit my Facebook page to tell me why you think Boston is or isn't the best choice. But don't ask to sleep on my couch if you don't think Boston's a great candidate... • • • • • • PS The Jurga Report is now syndicated on the BlogLovin' network; put together a list of your favorite blogs and follow them all in one place each day or however often you please. Here's the new link to follow TJR there or "like" Fran Jurga News and Media on Facebook (be sure to click "get notifications" under the like button so you will receive updates).

Question: What animal takes part in Olympic "dressage" events?
Answer: Horse