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MOUNTED
SPORTS
MOUNTED GAMES
More than with any other sport a mention of mounted games conjures up widely differing views of equestrian activity to varying groups of people. To the cavalry or mounted police, they are likely to mean skill - at arms. This term that encompasses a number of "games" often ridden competitively, but principally designed to perfect the riders' use of weapons when mounted, at the same time as training their horses in obedience and combat tactics. The cowboys’ and girls who spend their days in the saddle, riding the range and working with the cattle, will think of competitive games that form part of the day's events at a rodeo.
Today members of ridings clubs and similar organizations associate the words "Mounted Games" with various non-competitive, activity rides, such as "mock hunts" in which riders take the place of the fox and hounds, while others act the parts of the hunt staff and members of the field. The words could just as easily refer to the various informal permutations of the game of polo - such as cushion polo or arena polo; to a type of mounted lacrosse known as tshenkburti in some countries and polocrosses in others; to mounted paper chases and treasure hunts, or to any number of the hundreds of horseback games that have been devised throughout the centuries all over the world as tests of skill and obedience or as pleasurable relaxation.
Mounted Sports otherwise and earlier known as Gymkhanas is a Hindu word rhyming with "Ghana" and meaning "field day." The event originated among British cavalrymen stationed in India, and it now describes a morning or afternoon of games for horses and riders. A typical event is "Musical Tires," adapted from that old parlor favorite "Musical Chairs." One fewer automobile tire than contestants is all the equipment that's required, along with a portable tape recorder, radio, or any music form. The tires are placed around the field or ring in a circular pattern, spaced about 25 feet apart. When the music starts, riders canter their horses in a counterclockwise direction. As soon as the music is stopped, they dismount and, leading their horses, run to the nearest unoccupied tire. A rider "occupies" a tire by standing (with both feet) inside it. Contestants are required always to move forward; even if they are only several feet in front of a tire, they may not move clockwise. When the dust settles, one rider will be "untried," and that person is eliminated. One tire is removed before the next round begins, and rounds continue until all but one contestant-the winner-are eliminated.
Mounted Sports events may included:
1. Musical Chairs
2. Musical Tires
3. Musical Chairs
4. Postman Stakes
5. Lemon & Spoon Race
6. Barrel Race
7. Queen Of Sheeba Stakes
8. Ball & Bucket
9. Chor Police
10. Baby Feeding Race
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