1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

taking part in the Games. In consequence of these measures, the HorseRiding Committee found itself able to offer four competitors fromeach nation free passes on the Swedish State Railways, forthemselves and their grooms, and free board and lodging in Stockholmduring the time the Horse Riding competitions were going on.In the General Regulations this period was fixed at 7 days, but it wasextended later on to 10. The reason that these advantages wereconferred in the first place on the competitors entered for the “Military”,or Field Competition, was because the greatest importance wasjustly ascribed to this event, as it combined both an individual- anda team competition, and as in it an opportunity was given of seeingthe representatives of various nations taking part in several differenttrials of skill. The fact that the judges, as a rule, were Swedesalone, was merely in accordance with the general regulations of theOlympic Games, and it caused no difficulty as far as regards theMilitary and the prize jumping, in which events the judging wasmerely automatic. In the prize riding, on the other hand, where differentsystems had to be judged, these systems had to be representedamongst the judges, just as in gymnastics and fencing. The generalregulations for the Horse Riding competitions will be found at the endof the book.The Programme.The drafting of the programme was at first a matter of very greatdifficulty, it being almost impossible to calculate the number of entries,either of nations or of competitors. As the Stadium was not to beat the disposal of the Committee for more than two days, it provednecessary from the very beginning to limit the number of the competitionsand to fix the maximum number of competitors that couldbe entered by the various nations for each competition.The competition which had to be omitted was the Jeu de Rose, asthe event in question was unknown to a number of the nations competing,and also because it is one that causes the judges many difficulties.Even at a moderate calculation of the number of the competitors,it appeared impossible to hold all the competitions in the Stadium,and so the Committee determined that prize riding, as not beingof such very great, general interest, should take place, if necessary,elsewhere than at the Stadium, while the prize jumping, on theother hand, should, under all circumstances, be held there.It was thought that it would be of the greatest interest to includein the programme, not only individual prize jumping — in whichpersonal skill would come to the fore — but also team prize jumping,so as to more clearly mark the character of the event as a competitionbetween the nations taking part in the event. On drawingup the programme for the “Military”, consideration had to be paidto other Olympic competitions, etc., so as not to tax the horses tooseverely that were to take part in other events. In consequence, itwas determined that the competition in question should continue for570