ASK DAVE!
Hello, horse fans and hello, mystery fans, and hello, horse mystery fans!
On this week’s show, Lezah puts Dave on the spot in an episode we’re calling Ask Dave!
Lezah grills Dave on all things horsey in the Olympics: Is the rider just a passenger? When did the various equestrian disciplines become part of the Olympics? How has the equestrian competitions changed over the years? What rider and what country has won the most medals? And who can ride in the Olympics and what age do they have to be – both horse and rider.
How did Dave fare? Well, you’ll just have to listen.
We hope you enjoyed this week’s episode. Please comment about the show, and please like and subscribe on all your favourite podcast aggregators!
Music by Chris Roberts
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I had to look up Skijoring on YouTube as that sounded kinda crazy. My first thought was that skiing behind a horse can’t be very sanitary. Sure enough, a guy on one video said the first rule of skijoring is to keep your mouth closed! I think it would be fun as a demonstration sport but It looks like an action sequence made up for a Roger Moore-era James Bond movie. I did like one of the variations where the skier had to grab rings from the sides of the course as he slalomed back and forth. They had to let go of the tow rope with one of their hands which would be tricky to do while the horse is galloping at such a fast speed.
I looked up Rhythmic Gymnastics to see if it’s still an Olympic sport. It is for women. I found out men do have competitions in places like Japan and Spain. With the acrobatics and choreography and costuming, it reminded me of men’s figure skating. And of Horse Vaulting too after I looked that up on YouTube. I wonder what the horses must be thinking when those humans in their sparkly costumes are doing weird moves on their backs. “Sit down and ride already!” ?
You mentioned male riders having a strength advantage over female riders in jumping events, but do male horses have an advantage over female horses in any of the horse sports? Or is it a fairly level playing field for both genders of horses?