TARGET 110406

How to ride horseback
(or maybe not)

Probably not the most comfortable seating arrangement.

Well just about anyone can just sit on a horse and let it walk or trot around. But where's the skill in that? A trotting horse is a perfect place to do acrobatics. In the horse world, it is called "horse vaulting", and was actually the predicesor of the pummel horse in gymnastics, today.

Some believe vaulting was first observed in the Roman games, which included acrobatic displays on cantering horses. Others, however, believed vaulting had its roots in bull-leaping of ancient Crete. Those, however, who believed that vaulting originated in Central Asia associated the discipline to traditional practices that were performed by ancient Iranian tribes, collectively known as the Scythians, in the steppes of Eurasia. It is believed that the nomadic Scythian/Iranian tribes influenced their Turkic neighbors to the east into practicing the art form as well. This is thought to have influenced the Turkmen tribes into forming their own version of vaulting, known as "djigitovka", which is slightly similar to modern-day vaulting, but a lot more dangerous. In any case, people have been performing acrobatic and dance-like movements on the backs of moving horses for more than 2,000 years. The first known depiction of vaulting is a stone painting, dated at around 1500 BC, of Scandinavian riders standing on horses. (Sorry - I looked all over for a picture of that stone painting, but couldn't find one.)

The hard way to ride two on a horse.

Or, if the horse objects to three riders, you can just take turns.

In competitive equestrian vaulting athletes compete by themselves or in teams of two or a maximum of three (which I'm sure the horses appreciate). Both the vaulters and the horse are judged according to their performances and receive scores from 0 to 10. Beginners perform their routine during the horse’s walk, while experienced vaulters perform on the horse at a canter. Horses used for vaulting are trained especially for this kind of events, and they are controlled by a lunger who keeps them moving in 15-meter circles.

Grace is worth a LOT of points.

Dancing on horseback is one of the permitted moves.

So is creativity and doing the seemingly impossible.

The components of a vaulting exercise include a mount and dismount, as well as various maneuvers like kneeling, standing, handstands, flips, and tossing teammates into the air. While the vaulting horse is not saddled, it does wear a softening pad on its back and a surcingle (a strap that fastens around a horse's girth area) fitted with special handles that help vaulters.

A horse wearing a surcingle.

There are many schools for training these skills, and anyone of good health can learn. There's just one thing to remember before you start.......

This is NOT the proper way to get onto a horse.
(photo courtesy of http://culturemagazine.ca)

Since these competitions are held all around the world, there will be no dowsing feedback map for this target. The target is the activity and event. I hope you had a good time with this one. It is certainly an interesting event, and an interesting, active target.

LINKS:

If you got impressions for which this feedback is insufficient, please take a look at the following web sites for more:

The basic moves of horse vaulting

The amazing story of a 12 year old police horse put out to pasture who became part of the team to win the European Horse Vaulting championship.

The Turkish art of "djigitovka" is the kind you used to see in the old Western movies, where the rider flips off the ground, over the horse, hides from the bad guys by clinging to the side of the horse, swings down and rides under the horse's belly, etc. For videos of this kind of riding, take a look at this YouTube video.