1912 Olympic Games Official Report Part 2

Riding.The determination of the rules for the riding was, probably, thequestion involving the greatest difficulties. From the very first, however,it was determined that the event should be an individual competitionfrom point to point, over a fixed cross-country course withobstacles, as the rider, as well as the horse, would thereby be besttested. The distance, it was considered, should lie within the limits3,000—5,000 metres. In such a competition from point to point,with a number of obstacles at varying distances, too short a distance,however, would not be enough to fully test the skill ofthe rider, as, in such a case, it would not be necessary for himto pay attention in so high a degree to the endurance and powerof his horse and, consequently, to husband these resources to theutmost.Another great reason for the non-adoption of the shorter distancewas that arising from the unanimous opinion, that a maximum timeought to be fixed which was not to be exceeded. In other respects,no attention was to be paid to the time taken for the competition,but the event should be decided by the points given for form in theexecution of the ride, the way in which the obstacles were taken, etc.In the event, however, of two or more competitors having the samenumber of points, the result was to be decided by the time taken.In order not to be bound to a distance determined to the very metre— as there would then exist greater freedom to pay regard to thecharacter of the country when choosing the course — it was decidedthat the distance should not exceed 5,000 metres, a solution of thequestion which must be considered as the most successful one.In order to give the riding event a fully field-service character, theleaders of the riding competition were empowered to so arrange thecourse, which was not to exceed 5,000 metres (for which a maximumtime of 15 minutes was fixed), that the height, breadth, character andnumber of the obstacles would correspond to the demands such servicewould make. According to this plan,the course would remainunknown to the competitors, who would not gain any knowledge ofit from the programme and rules they received, while they were notallowed to ride over the ground before the actual performance of theevent on the day of the competition, although the course, as regardsits chief features, was to be shown to the riders a day or two beforethe competition, none of the obstacles being then pointed out,however.The most difficult point in this event was as regards the procuralof the horses. Here there were 3 points of view, viz.: 1:0, that eachcompetitor should have his own horse; 2:0. that the Swedish OlympicCommittee should have saddled horses at the service of the competitorsat the starting point of the race, each competitor drawinglots for the horse he was to ride, or, as a compromise, 3:0. that,if the competitor so wished, he could ride his own horse, but thatthe Committee would provide horse for those riders who could not643