The Olympic equestrian events are no strangers to Hong Kong
Equestrian competitions at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics will be held from August 9 to 20 in Hong Kong.
Riders will compete for a total of six sets of medals for individual and team events in dressage, jumping and eventing.
Equestrianism became an Olympics event in 1900. It is one of the rare sports in which male and female contestants appear in the same competitions on equal terms. In addition, it is the only Olympics sport which requires man and animal to compete together.
Equestrianism is divided into three categories. The first one is dressage; a word deriving from a French word meaning 'to train'. It is often described as 'horses doing ballet'.
Dressage is conducted in three rounds. Riders have to demonstrate sets of routine dressage movements with their horses as well as perform a set of choreographed movements set to music.
The second discipline is jumping. This is probably the most popular spectator event among the three disciplines as it is exciting and easy to follow. It requires the horse to jump and clear a series of obstacles, aiming for minimum penalties incurred and completion within a set time.