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Good Morning Bahrain. The weekend is just around the corner and alive with the sounds of hooves as we see the Kings Show Jumping Championship taking place on Friday and continue through to the grand finale on Sunday, February 21.
For those of you who didn't make it to the event last year, it is a must for 2009.
The event is actually the Arab League World Cup Qualifier for the FEI (International Federation for Equestrian Sports) 2009-2010 World Cup and is being held at the BREEF show jumping grounds in Budaiya.
The event is global in scale consisting of leagues that test the determination and skill of some of the best riders in the world.
This year, the Arab League will see the Gulf's best riders battle it out on the jumping arena for the crown of top rider of the season.
For those of you who are not familiar with the FEI, or international show jumping, I shall give you a quick run down on the history of the sport and the organisation.
Though it may not seem so, show jumping is a relatively new equestrian sport. In the UK during the 18th Century, the Enclosure Act was introduced by parliament, dispersing common land amongst wealthy land-owners who quickly set about erecting fences and boundaries.
Riders, therefore, had to start jumping fences to take the shortest route on their journey. In France, the early shows comprised of competitors speeding off across the country, galloping through fields and jumping fences.
It was a sport that drew few spectators, simply because they were unable to watch the jumping. For this reason, fences then began to appear in arenas for riders and horses to jump over, allowing spectators to watch with ease. The sport became known as 'lepping,' or horse leaping.
In Ireland (already famous for its world renowned Dublin Horse Show), horse leaping was introduced in 1869 but it took just over 15 years until horse leaping became a prominent sport in Britain.
In Europe, the famous cavalry schools at Tor-di-Quinto and Pinerolo in Italy, the French school in Saumur and the Spanish school in Vienna, all participated in horse leaping and had developed a style whereby riders sat deeply in their saddles with long stirrups when jumping.
While secure for the rider it wasn't a position that allowed the horse to use its body to stretch and extend over large fences.
It was the Italian instructor Captain Fiederico Caprilli who reformed the world of jumping with his ideas that a forward position with shorter stirrups would allow the horse to stretch and balance when negotiating fences. It is this 'forward seat' that we all know and use today when jumping.
Show jumping, as a developing sport, did not have any uniformity of rules governing the sport, therefore nationally each show was judged differently, often on the individual opinions of the judges on the day. The lack of uniformity led to the development of bodies to regulate the sport, making scoring equal to all riders. Some such bodies are the British Show Jumping Association or the American Horse Shows Association.
While these bodies governed nationally, the sport of show jumping was fast expanding and was soon incorporated into the Olympics in 1900.
Once again with no formal body of regulation, the FEI was formed in 1921 to govern international equestrian sports. As the title suggests, the organisation extends not only to show jumping, but also dressage, combined driving, endurance riding, eventing, para-equestrianism, reining, and vaulting. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and it issues rules and regulations on each discipline, making competitions fair for all competitors and protecting the welfare of the horse.
As I said earlier this event is held over three days, giving you no excuse not to come down and support these brilliant riders and their mounts. I shall see you all Friday!
