The history of equestrian sport.

This section is a history of how riding became a sport: where the horse was first tamed, how saddles and stirrups arrived, how the art of riding was taught at royal courts and cavalry schools, and how the three Olympic disciplines, the FEI and the modern rules on helmets, safety and welfare came about. It is history only. Nothing in it teaches riding or horse care, and the deaths and falls it mentions are told as published history, not as lessons. For how the sport is organised today, start with Learn.

How these pages are written

• Every date has a source. Each fact is given with the university, journal, federation, school, publication or encyclopedia it comes from.
• Disputed questions get every version. Where horses were first domesticated is given in four versions, each with its authors and date. The oldest saddle, the origin of the stirrup, the founding years of the Spanish Riding School and the Saumur school, and the first Nations Cup are all claimed more than one way, and each version is given with who says it.
• Welfare disputes give each side. On rollkur, the anti-doping rules, the 2018 endurance cancellation and the 2025 jumping blood rule, the FEI's position and its critics' are both given, each with its source and date.
• Wikipedia is named when it stands alone. Where Wikipedia is the only source for a fact, the text says so.
• Unconfirmed claims are marked or left out. Where a page could only be seen as a search summary, or a claim rests on a single source we could not check, the page says so or leaves it out. The FEI's own website refused our requests, so its history is mostly told through other sources, and the pages say which.
• No money. These pages give no prices, sale figures, prize money or fines.

What is in this section

The story begins with the domestication of the horse: Botai in Kazakhstan, the genetic studies that redrew the picture, and the argument over who first rode. The stirrup and early tack covers the oldest writing on training horses, the oldest surviving saddles, where the stirrup came from and when it reached Europe, and the horseshoe.

The classical riding schools follows the Renaissance riding masters, the Spanish Riding School in Vienna from 1565 and the Cadre Noir at Saumur. Cavalry and the Olympic disciplines shows how eventing grew out of tests for army horses, why only officers rode at the Olympics until 1952, and how Federico Caprilli changed the way riders jump. Equestrian sport at the Olympics runs from Paris 1900 to Paris 2024, including the women who broke into each discipline and the results changed after Athens 2004.

The FEI through the years covers its founding in 1921, its presidents, its first World Championships and World Cups, the World Equestrian Games from 1990 to 2018 and the departure of reining. Riding helmets and safety standards traces tested helmets from the US push of the 1970s to the FEI's two-standard rule due in 2028, and eventing safety history sets out the deaths of 1999 and 2007 to 2008 and what changed afterwards. Welfare controversies records rollkur, the Hong Kong 2008 doping cases, the 2024 suspension of an Olympic champion and the blood rule. Notable riders and horses lists the Olympic champions and record holders, and the timeline puts the main dated events in one table.

Related reading

The FEI as it is today is described on the FEI, and the national bodies on national federations. Current rules on helmets and welfare are in the Safety and Equipment sections, recent and upcoming competitions in Events, and terms used across the site are explained in the glossary.