Tent pegging
Tent pegging is a
cavalry sport of ancient origin, and is one of only ten equestrian disciplines officially recognised by the
International Equestrian Federation. 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.
Encyclopedia
Tent pegging is a
cavalry sport of ancient origin, and is one of only ten equestrian disciplines officially recognised by the
International Equestrian Federation. 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.
Essential rules
The specific game of tent pegging has a mounted horseman riding at a gallop and using a
sword or a
lance to pierce, pick up, and carry away a small ground target or a series of small ground targets.
The broader class of tent pegging games also includes ring
jousting ; lemon sticking ;
quintain tilting ; and
Parthian
archery.
A given tent pegging competition's rules specify the size and composition of the target, the number of consecutive targets placed on a course, the dimensions and weight of the sword, lance, or bow, the minimum time in which a course must be covered, and the extent to which a target must be struck, cut, or carried.
Origins
Cavaliers have practiced the specific game of tent pegging since at least the 4th century BC, and Asian and later European empires spread the game around the world. As a result, the game's date and location of origin are ambiguous.
In all accounts, the competitive sport evolved out of cavalry training exercises designed to develop cavaliers' prowess with the sword and lance from horseback. However, whether tent pegging developed cavaliers' generic skills or prepared them for specific combat situations is shrouded in anecdote and national chauvinism.
The most widely accepted theory is that the game originated in medieval
India as a training tool for cavaliers facing
war elephants. A cavalier able to precisely stab the highly sensitive flesh behind an elephant's toenail would cause the enemy elephant to rear, unseat his
mahout, and possibly run amuck, breaking ranks and trampling
infantry.
The term "tent pegging" is, however, certainly related to the idea that cavaliers mounting a surprise pre-dawn raid on an enemy camp could use the game's skills to sever or uproot tent pegs, thus collapsing the tents on their sleeping occupants and sowing havoc and terror in the camp. However, other than isolated instances during the Anglo-Zulu wars, there are few reliable accounts of a cavalry squadron ever employing such
tactics.
Because the specific game of tent pegging is the most popular mounted skill-at-arms game, the entire class of sports became known as tent pegging during the twilight of cavalry in the twentieth century.
Contemporary sport
Today, tent pegging is practiced around the world, but is especially popular in 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 recognised the sport in 2004.
While members of cavalry regiments and
mounted police forces still dominate tent pegging, the sport is increasingly embraced by civilian riders.
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.
The pre-eminent international tent pegging championships remain centred in Asia, with the continental Asian Games and the International Tent Pegging Competition at Bangalore enjoying the highest number of competitors and participating states.
Popular culture references
In
George McDonald Fraser's
Flashman novels, title character Harry Flashman served in a Lancer regiment, and frequently mentions tent pegging and his broader skills with the lance. In Flashman's version of tent pegging, the targets were often feral dogs.
Notes
References
- Major General RKR Balasubramanian, Rules for Tent Pegging , International Equestrian Federation, June 2002
- , EFI, , retrieved 17 May 2006
- , Equestrian Today, 15 August 2005, retrieved 02 June 2006
- "Tent pegging at Hurlingham", Illustrated London News, Summer 1875
- , International Equestrian Federation, 2004, retrieved 17 May 2006
- Lenox-Conyngham Papers, "Camp on the Raptee River", Cambridge University Centre of South Asian Studies, 16 January 1859
- Michael Lieven "'Butchering the Brutes All Over the Place': Total War and Massacre in Zululand, 1879", History: The Journal of the Historical Association, Blackwell Synergy, October 1999
- , Akaash Maharaj, 2006, retrieved 17 May 2006
- , Royal Adelaide Showgrounds, 2006, retrieved 02 June 2006
- , The Sportstar, 22 March 2003, retrieved 02 June 2006
- , United States Cavalry Association, 2006, retrieved 02 June 2006
- , United States Equestrian Federation, 20 January 2004, retrieved 31 May 2006
See also
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External links
