Origin and history of breeding Eventing Horses

Eventing has its origins in the gruelling training demanded of cavalry officers and their horses. Both soldiers and horses were expected to display courage in tackling a number of obstacles while riding at speed across country. Many army officers viewed fox hunting and steeplechasing as a kind of army training and tried to outdo one another in boldness. Photographic and film archives reveal some stunning images of cavalry officers on horseback sliding down near-vertical cliffs or riding over the roofs of cottages during training. By the late nineteenth century, the majority of cavalry horses and hunters were warmbloods and half-breeds that were entirely suitable for eventing as a sport. The prototype of modern eventing is held to be the Championnat du Cheval d'Armes in France held in 1902. Ten years later, eventing became an Olympic sport at Stockholm. After the discipline of the dressage phase, followed by the stamina required for the cross-country course, the show jumping phase was intended to show that the horse was still sound and strong enough to carry on. These three phases produced the term "Three-Day Event", first used in Britain. In the early days of the sport, only army officers could compete. Later, male civilians could participate, with the competition only opening to women riders in 1964. The other great change in the sport in the past half-century is probably the rise of internationally-recognised warmblood breeds with their roots in the old European breeds of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Eventing Horses in Equestrianism