Eventing

    The three modern Olympic equestrian sports are show-jumping, dressage and eventing.  The origins of eventing lie in the battlefield, as it developed out of the endurance rides that were used to test cavalry horses.  At the beginning of the 20th century, the first three-day event was held, in France.  It began with a dressage test, followed by a grueling cross-country endurance ride, and concluded with a show-jumping test (added partly to increase public interest in eventing).  At this time three-day events were purely military affairs, and it was not until after World War II that civilians could compete.  Eventing was first included in the Olympics in 1912, and is the ultimate all-round test of a horse.  Trivia:  Charles Pahud de Mortanges (Netherlands) holds the record for winning four Olympic gold medals for three-day eventing in 1924, 1928, and 1932.  Cross-country jumps are marked with a red flag on the right side and a white flag on the left side; the horse has to jump through these two flags or it is considered out of bounds and you are disqualified.
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"Combined Events" are another popular, and testing, post-war invention, best described by the French, "Concours complet d' équitation."  In both one-day and three-day events the same horse and rider complete three phases, dressage, cross-country and show-jumping.  The three-day event also has a grueling steeplechase course, and miles of roads and tracks.
    Dressage is a methodical method of schooling for developing horses physically and mentally.  Both horse and rider must "speak the same language."
   
The dressage phase in an "Event" is a set test of varying difficulty, designed to demonstrate both horse's and rider's skills.  The cross-country is of several miles, with a number of different so-called "natural" fences.  The show-jumping phase is not competitive, but is a test of both horse and rider, and their ability to negotiate this type of course.

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