1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

hand it was thought possible that some riders would be obliged to ridewith dead weight, and this, in some quarters, was considered unsuitable.A minimum weight of 80 kg. (circa 13 st.) was fixed, basedon the principle that the competition, being a “Field” event, ought tobe carried out under such weight conditions corresponding to thoseunder which an officer of average weight rides when carryingfield-accoutrements. With respect to the order in which the varioustests should be executed, it was thought best to place the prize ridinglast, as the clearest obedience-test could thereby be obtained. Awell trained horse that has been severely taxed should, even after takingpart in the previous tests, be able to do itself justice in the finalone too. The propositions for the horse riding competitions will befound among the Rules at the end of the book.Prize Riding: In drawing up the programme for the prize riding,the Committee considered that, as this was an international competition,the best thing would be to give a specimen of a display-programme,with a detailed account of the order in which the variousmovements should most suitably be carried out. As an internationaljury was to judge the prize riding, it would have been a rather hardtask to obtain an accurate calculation of the merits of the riders, unlessthe movements executed had, so to say, been forced within thelimits of a certain programme.After the principles of the programme had been fixed and its mainfeatures drafted, the whole was given to Lieut.-Colonel G. A. Boltenstern,the then chief of the Military Riding School, who drew up theprogramme in detail and afterwards, at the Riding School, tested the suitabilityand also the possibility of carrying it out in the time fixed, inthe tempo and within the time allowed for the various movements.The propositions, principles of judging, etc., for the prize riding, willbe found at the end of the book.The Prize Jumping: With regard to the propositions for the prize jumping,consideration had to be paid to the limited possibilities offeredby the Stadium — in consequence of the little space available there— as regards the number and character of the obstacles, the tempo,etc. A draft-list of obstacles had been drawn up by Captain, BaronN. Palmstierna, and this was laid before the Committee, together withthe programme and propositions, at its meeting on the 22 March,1911. The Committee then determined that, before being accepted,the proposed obstacles, together with the propositions for the prizeriding, should be tested during the competitions that were to takeplace in the spring of 1911. It was not before the meeting held onthe 29 June of that year that the programme, propositions and listof obstacles were finally decided on, as a result of the experiencegained by the Committee during the competitions held in 1911. Asregards the obstacles, the original list was accepted without any alterations.Immediately after the programme and propositions had beenfixed, they were printed, and then translated into German, French andEnglish. In this work of translation the Committee obtained most valuablehelp from the Rev. Dr. Sterzel, Professor Schulthess and Mr.572