Equestrian

Olympic equestrian sport has three disciplines: dressage (the "horse ballet" of precise movements), show jumping and eventing, which combines both with a cross-country ride. It is one of the few Olympic sports in which men and women compete against each other.

History

Horse races were part of the ancient Olympic Games. Modern equestrian sport grew out of the cavalry tradition and has been on the Olympic programme since 1912. The International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) was founded in 1921.

Major competitions

The Olympic Games, the FEI World Equestrian Games and world championships, the World Cup finals and the Nations Cup.

Horse sport in the Turkic world

The horse is an inseparable part of Turkic history and culture. Turkmenistan's Akhal-Teke is one of the oldest and most elegant breeds in the world: the Akhal-Teke stallion Absinthe won Olympic dressage gold in Rome in 1960. The Akhal-Teke appears on Turkmenistan's coat of arms, and the Karabakh horse is a national pride of Azerbaijan.

The traditional horse games of the Turkic world — kokpar and kok-boru, cirit, chovgan, horse racing and the World Nomad Games — keep this thousand-year tradition alive today.