Champing at the Bit
bc finds out the facts and figures for the Olympic equestrian events
When, in 2005, International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials questioned Beijing’s ability to maintain sufficient horse quarantine procedures and provide an equine disease-free zone, Hong Kong was more than happy to offer itself as the host of the 2008 Olympics’ equestrian events. Beginning on August 9, 204 riders representing 42 different countries will compete for gold in the three disciplines of dressage (盛裝舞步賽), jumping (場地障礙賽) and eventing (三項賽) at the Hong Kong Olympic equestrian venues in Shatin and Sheung Shui’s Beas River.

The schedule for the equestrian games is as follows:-
August 9-12: Eventing
August 13-14: Team dressage
August 13-19: Individual dressage
August 15-21: Individual jumping
August 17-18: Team jumping

For those unversed in equestrian competitions, here’s how they work. In dressage (riffed from the French verb meaning ‘to train’ and also known as ‘horse ballet’, to give you an idea of the tone), the horse-rider pair is judged for their agility, form and communication based on a series of movements – including the walk, the trot and the pirouette. The rider’s aim is to use the least apparent coercion to make the horse understand commands and perform them with control and grace. Each event will be evaluated on a 0 to 10 score, with the highest score winning. 14 countries will participate in the team competition and 50 riders from 22 countries will compete for the individual medals; the riders will be gradually pared down to 25 then to 15 between rounds.

Jumping tests horse and rider speed, cooperation and strength by putting them through an obstacle course under time pressure. Competitors must clear a series of 10 to 13 jumps, including raised bars, water ditches, and multiple bar spreads. Riders are judged on the number of fault points they rack up – these points are given when horses fail to clear an obstacle, refuse to jump, or perform the course in the wrong order. The lowest-scoring riders win the medals. 79 riders from 29 countries will compete as individuals, and Hong Kong will be one of the 16 territories represented in the team competition. Both jumping and dressage will take place in the 100m x 80m sand arena in Shatin.

Unlike the other disciplines, eventing tests riders and their horses over the course of three days on dressage, jumping and cross-country. Similar to jumping, the cross-country portion puts horse and rider through a series of obstacles. At 5.7km with 45 obstacles, however, the cross-country course is far longer, and the obstacles are set to imitate rural barriers, including fallen trees, ponds, ditches, cliffs and stone walls. Given its unique landscape requirements, the cross-country competition will be held at Beas River.

The exact event schedule can be found at www.equestrian2008.org

Going for the Green
With Olympics organizers in Beijing still biting their nails over their city’s fluctuating clean air markings, the local equestrian venues have taken extra precautions to go green this August: The HK Jockey Club and are raising the Olympic bar on more than just the show jumping obstacles.

For the first time in Olympic history, all stable waste will be recycled by using earthworms to convert manure, bedding and food waste into organic fertilizer. The official Olympic Equestrian website predicts that more than 30 tons of waste will be processed each day during the events
HK’s Olympic venues at Beas River and Shatin were constructed with an awareness of recyclable resources. When possible, horse stalls were built out of bamboo, a faster growing plant than any tree, instead of wood; walkways in the stable complex are paved with recycled tyres; and many of the Beas River obstacles are made with recycled telegraph poles.

During construction of the venues, 90% of the neighbouring trees were left in their original places, 500 new trees and 17,000 shrubs were planted, and trees were transplanted instead of cut down. And even though the Shatin venue provides air-conditioned stables to 200 horses and has the world’s first air-conditioned training arena, energy efficiency is up by 30% over previous conventional installations.

Spectators and staff are also encouraged to reduce environmental stress by using the Reverse Vending Machines – recycle stations that exchange bottles and cans for coins – and recycling bins around the venue: with a capacity of 18,000 at the Shatin arena and another 18,000 at the Beas River site – all of whom will likely be consuming multiple bottles of water –
the reduction of plastic waste at the equestrian events will only be possible with the awareness and cooperation of spectators.