Discipline - Tent Pegging
Introduction to Tent Pegging
Tent pegging (sometimes spelled "tentpegging" or "tent-pegging") is a cavalry sport of ancient origin, and is one of only ten equestrian disciplines officially recognized by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports. Used narrowly, the term refers to a specific mounted game with ground targets. More broadly, it refers to the entire class of mounted cavalry games involving edged weapons on horseback, for which the term "equestrian skill-at-arms" is also used.
Some believe the sport began when the cavalry soldiers of Alexander the Great used tent-pegging as a battle tactic against the elephants in the army of the Indian King Porus. There is also a belief that the sport originated with the horse-mounted soldiers charging enemy camps at dawn and causing chaos by removing the pegs that held the tents in place.
The most widely accepted theory, however, is that the game originated in medieval India as a training tool for cavaliers facing war elephants. From the back of a galloping horse a cavalier would stab the highly sensitive flesh behind an elephant's toenail, causing the enemy elephant to rear, unseat his mahout, and possibly run amok, breaking ranks and trampling infantry. In order to perfect this technique, the cavalry started the practice of tent-pegging which eventually turned into the modern sport. Tent-pegging is now a popular equestrian sport in many countries around the world.
AS A MODERN SPORT
Today, tent pegging is practiced around the world but is especially popular in Australia, India, Israel, Pakistan, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The Olympic Council of Asia included tent pegging as an official sport in 1982, and the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) recognized the sport in 2004.
The specific game of tent pegging has a mounted horseman riding at a full gallop across a timed course, on the flat and over jumps, using a sword or a lance to pierce, pick up, and carry away a small ground target (a symbolic tent peg) or a series of small ground targets. It can be played as individuals or in teams.
The broader class of tent pegging games also includes ring jousting (in which a galloping rider tries to pass the point of his weapon through a suspended ring); lemon sticking (in which the rider tries to stab or slice a lemon suspended from a cord or sitting on a platform); quintain tilting (in which the rider charges a mannequin mounted on a swivelling or rocking pedestal); and Parthian (i.e., mounted) archery. Again, these events can be scored as individuals or as teams.
New and emerging national tent pegging associations have helped spread the sport's popularity. The Australian Royal Adelaide Show, the British Tent Pegging Association, and the United States Cavalry Association now hold annual national championships and demonstrations in their respective countries.
