This table gathers the main dated events from the History pages. Each row names its source; "Wikipedia" means the fact rests on Wikipedia alone in our research. Disputed dates are shown with each version, and the full story behind each dispute is on the page listed under the table. Events the research could not confirm are left out, except where a row says so. Deaths and injuries are listed as published history.
Before 1900
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| About 3500 BCE | Botai culture, Kazakhstan: earliest claimed evidence of horse harnessing and milking (disputed) | Outram et al., Science, 2009, via University of Bristol |
| About 3000 to 2500 BCE | Yamnaya men in south-east Europe judged from skeletal marks to have ridden often (disputed) | Trautmann et al., 2023, via Science News |
| About 2700 BCE | A domestication bottleneck in horse genomes begins | Librado et al., Nature, 2024, via Sci.News |
| About 2200 to 2000 BCE | The modern domestic horse spreads from the western Eurasian steppe | Librado, Orlando et al., Nature, 2021, via Czech Academy of Sciences |
| Late 3rd millennium BCE | Earliest physical evidence of chariots, Sintashta burials | Outram, 2023 |
| About 2050 BCE | Earliest pictures of chariots, Assyrian | Outram, 2023 |
| About 1360 BCE | The Kikkuli text on conditioning chariot horses | Wikipedia |
| 727 to 396 BCE (radiocarbon range) | The Yanghai saddle, Turfan Basin, among the oldest surviving saddles | HeritageDaily |
| About 355 or about 350 BCE | Xenophon's "On Horsemanship" (two Wikipedia articles differ) | Wikipedia |
| About 150 CE | A Kushan seal shows an early platform-type stirrup | Wikipedia |
| 302 CE | A Jin figure near Changsha shows a single mounting stirrup | Wikipedia |
| About 322 CE | Earliest reliable picture of paired riding stirrups, near Nanjing | Wikipedia |
| 415 CE | Earliest surviving pair of stirrups, tomb of Feng Sufu | Wikipedia |
| Late 6th or early 7th century | Stirrups reach Europe, largely through the Avars | Wikipedia |
| 8th century | Wider use of stirrups in western Europe | Wikipedia |
| 20 September 1565 | First documented mention of what became the Spanish Riding School | Spanish Riding School |
| 1580 | Court stud founded near Lipica by Archduke Charles II | Spanish Riding School |
| 1729 to 1735 | The Winter Riding School built in the Vienna Hofburg | Spanish Riding School |
| 1731 (1729 in an unconfirmed summary) | La Gueriniere's "Ecole de Cavalerie" | Wikipedia; IOBA summary |
| 1815 (unconfirmed) or 1828 | The cavalry school at Saumur, home of the Cadre Noir | Saumur tourist office summary; Wikipedia |
| 1843 | Baucher brings his method to Saumur, starting a dispute with the vicomte d'Aure | Wikipedia |
| 22 July 1848 | The monarchy's first parliament formally opens in the Winter Riding School | Spanish Riding School |
| 1873 | First known dressage competition, Pressburg | British Dressage timeline |
| 1898 | The Spanish Riding School's riding principles written down as its "Directives" | Spanish Riding School |
1900 to 1989
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1900 | Five equestrian events at the Paris Olympics | Wikipedia |
| 1906 | Clarence von Rosen proposes the equestrian programme at the IOC session in Athens | Olympic Federation of Ireland; Wikipedia |
| 1907 | Federico Caprilli, creator of the forward seat, dies after a fall (Pinerolo or Turin) | Horse Canada; Wikipedia summary |
| 1909 (disputed) | First team jumping Nations Cups | Horse Network; Wikipedia |
| 1912 | Dressage, eventing and jumping debut at the Stockholm Olympics | Olympic Federation of Ireland; Wikipedia |
| 1912 to 1948 | All US championship teams supplied by the US Cavalry | US Eventing |
| 20 January 1917 | Association of American Horse Shows founded, later US Equestrian | Wikipedia |
| 1920 | Vaulting's only Olympic appearance, Antwerp; Lipizzaners move to Piber | Wikipedia; Spanish Riding School |
| 24 November 1921 | FEI founded in Paris (British Dressage says Lausanne) | Wikipedia; British Dressage timeline |
| 1924 | First Olympics under FEI authority | Wikipedia |
| 1927 | First FEI Grand Prix outside the Olympics, Lucerne | British Dressage timeline |
| About 1930 | The Nations Cup comes under FEI rules | Horse Network |
| 1931 | The Kikkuli text published by Bedrich Hrozny | Wikipedia |
| 1932 | Only 11 riders from four nations at the Los Angeles Olympics | Wikipedia |
| 1945 | Spanish Riding School stallions and Piber mares reunited in Upper Austria | Spanish Riding School |
| 5 February 1949 | Huaso clears 2.47 m, the FEI high jump record | Guinness World Records, citing the FEI |
| 1952 | Helsinki Olympics open riding to civilian men and to women (dressage); Lis Hartel wins individual dressage silver | Olympic Federation of Ireland; Wikipedia |
| June 1953 (unconfirmed) | First FEI Jumping World Championship, Paris; Olympedia instead credits Winkler with "the first two" championships, 1954 and 1955 | FEI text in search results; Olympedia |
| 26 October 1955 | The Spanish Riding School's first performance after returning to Vienna | Spanish Riding School |
| 1956 | Olympic equestrian events held in Stockholm because of Australian quarantine; women admitted to jumping; Winkler and Halla win individual gold | Wikipedia; Olympedia |
| 1964 | Women admitted to Olympic eventing | Wikipedia |
| 1966 | First Dressage World Championship, Bern (FEI text in search results also dates the first Eventing World Championship, Burghley, to 1966; unconfirmed) | British Dressage timeline; FEI text in search results |
| 1972 | Ecole Nationale d'Equitation formed around the Cadre Noir; Liselott Linsenhoff becomes the first woman Olympic individual dressage champion | Wikipedia |
| 1978 | First FEI Jumping World Cup season | Wikipedia |
| January 1979 | US meeting on rider helmets called by the Pony Club and the USCTA | US Pony Club blog |
| August 1984 | First ASTM meeting on an equestrian helmet standard | US Pony Club blog |
| 1985 (British Dressage gives 1986) | FEI Dressage World Cup begins | Wikipedia; British Dressage timeline |
| 1988 | ASTM F1163-88 completed, with SEI certification | US Pony Club blog |
1990 to 2009
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | First FEI World Equestrian Games, Stockholm | Wikipedia |
| 27 May 1995 | Christopher Reeve paralysed after a fall at a competition in Culpeper, Virginia | Reeve Foundation blog |
| 1996 | Grand Prix Freestyle and separate team and individual eventing at the Atlanta Olympics; para dressage at the Paralympics | Wikipedia; US Eventing |
| 1999 | Five event riders die in Great Britain (six with one in the US, per Hall) | Practical Horseman; The Conversation |
| April 2000 | The Hartington Report on eventing safety | Practical Horseman |
| 2000 | Sydney, the last Olympics with long-format eventing | Olympedia |
| 2002 | Frangible pins trialled at nine British events including Badminton | Practical Horseman |
| 2003 | Pippa Funnell wins the first Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing | US Equestrian |
| 2004 | Short-format eventing at the Athens Olympics; Bettina Hoy start-line dispute | Chronicle of the Horse; US Eventing |
| 2005 | Badminton and Burghley run their last long-format events | Olympedia |
| 27 March 2005 | Cian O'Connor disqualified from all Athens 2004 competitions | EquiSearch |
| 31 January 2006 | FEI workshop on rollkur in Lausanne | Eurodressage |
| 2006 | FEI takes on para-equestrian dressage; British Eventing fits frangible pins to all new fences | US Eventing (FEI release); Practical Horseman |
| 2007 to June 2008 | At least 12 eventing rider deaths worldwide in about 18 months, all on cross-country | Animal People |
| June 2008 | US Equestrian and US Eventing Association meet in Lexington on eventing safety | Animal People |
| 20 and 21 August 2008 | Four jumping combinations provisionally suspended over capsaicin at the Hong Kong Olympic events | EquiSearch |
| 9 September 2008 | The Spanish Riding School accepts women for rider training | Spanish Riding School |
| 2009 | FEI rules drop roads and tracks and steeplechase; from 2010 a long-format event cannot be an FEI event | Chronicle of the Horse |
| 18 October 2009 | The "blue tongue" warm-up video filmed in Odense | Eurodressage |
| 19 November 2009 | FEI adopts Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Regulations, Copenhagen | Dressage-News |
2010 to 2028
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 9 February 2010 | FEI round table redefines rollkur as flexion achieved through aggressive force | Dressage-News |
| March 2010 | Courtney King-Dye's head injury, riding without a helmet | US Pony Club blog |
| 2010 | World Equestrian Games held outside Europe for the first time, Lexington | Wikipedia |
| 2011 | FEI General Assembly adopts the helmet rule; UNESCO inscribes equitation in the French tradition | FEI release via Around the Rings; UNESCO |
| 1 January 2012 | Equine Canada requires approved helmets at all its national dressage competitions | Chronicle of the Horse |
| 1 January 2013 | FEI protective headgear rule in force | FEI release via Around the Rings; Dressage-News |
| 30 April 2013 | EN 1384:1996 loses presumption of conformity | Commission Implementing Decision 2014/714/EU |
| 2013 | FEI approves the MIM Safe New Era Clip | Practical Horseman |
| 17 December 2013 | Valegro's freestyle world record of 93.975 percent | Dressage-News |
| 13 October 2014 | EN 1384:2012 withdrawn from the EU Official Journal | Commission Implementing Decision 2014/714/EU |
| 17 December 2014 | Valegro's 94.3 percent freestyle score | Guinness World Records |
| 2015 | The Spanish Riding School's classical horsemanship added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list | Spanish Riding School |
| 2015 to 2016 | Michael Jung completes the Rolex Grand Slam | US Equestrian |
| 1 January 2016 | British bodies stop accepting hats made only to (BS) EN 1384 in competition (a Horse and Hound summary says British Dressage still allowed them in 2016) | EquNews (December 2014) |
| 2016 | First woman appointed a rider at the Spanish Riding School | Spanish Riding School |
| 12 September 2018 | Tryon World Equestrian Games endurance ride cancelled | Tryon Daily Bulletin |
| 19 November 2018 | FEI ends its agreements with the NRHA and AQHA | Chronicle of the Horse |
| 20 November 2018 | FEI ends the World Equestrian Games format | Wikipedia |
| November 2019 | FEI General Assembly in Moscow ends the dressage top-hat option from 2021 | Equestrian Trade News |
| 1 January 2021 | FEI frangible device requirements at CCI1* to CCI5*; approved headgear for anyone mounted on FEI showgrounds | US Eventing; Equestrian Trade News |
| July 2021 | Snell E2021 equestrian standard approved | Snell Memorial Foundation |
| November 2021 | Reining removed as an FEI discipline | EquNews |
| June 2022 | FEI Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission formed | Eurodressage |
| 1 December 2022 | Lipizzaner breeding knowledge added to UNESCO's Representative List | Spanish Riding School |
| 1 January 2023 | PAS 015:1998 and Snell E2001 hats dropped by British Eventing, British Riding Clubs, The Pony Club and RDA | Equestrian Trade News |
| November 2023 | Ethics commission's final report to the FEI General Assembly in Mexico City; 2026 World Championships awarded to Aachen | VetClick; CHIO Aachen |
| 18 December 2023 | EN 1384:2023 announced | CEN-CENELEC |
| April 2024 | Ethics commission's report made public | Chronicle of the Horse |
| 23 July 2024 | Charlotte Dujardin provisionally suspended | Eurodressage |
| 12 November 2024 | FEI presents its equine welfare action plan of 37 actions | Eurodressage |
| 5 December 2024 | One-year suspension confirmed by the FEI Tribunal | Eurodressage |
| 3 January 2025 | BSI lists PAS 015:2011 as withdrawn (still accepted by the FEI for 2026) | BSI Knowledge |
| 1 May 2025 | FEI noseband tightness checks with a standard device | Eurodressage |
| 1 July 2025 | FEI publishes its new list of accepted helmet standards | FEI list (copy) |
| November 2025 | FEI General Assembly in Hong Kong changes the jumping blood rule | BEVA |
| 1 January 2026 | New jumping blood rule and FEI helmet list in force; headgear breaches fined instead of a yellow card | BEVA; FEI list (copy); HQ Magazine |
| 11 to 23 August 2026 | FEI World Championships in six disciplines, Aachen (finished) | CHIO Aachen |
| 5 December 2026 (scheduled, not yet held; one Eurodressage passage says November) | FEI presidential election, Jiangyin, China | Chronicle of the Horse; Eurodressage |
| 14 to 20 December 2026 (scheduled) | FEI Endurance World Championship, Butheeb, near Abu Dhabi | Your Horse |
| 1 January 2028 (scheduled) | FEI requires helmets to meet at least two of four named standards | FEI list (copy) |
Where the stories are told
Botai, the steppe and the Yamnaya are on the domestication of the horse, and saddles, stirrups and horseshoes on the stirrup and early tack. Vienna, Saumur and the riding masters are on the classical riding schools, and Caprilli and the cavalry on cavalry and the Olympic disciplines. The Games from 1900 to 2024 are on equestrian sport at the Olympics, and the FEI's championships, the World Equestrian Games and reining on the FEI through the years.
Helmet standards and the FEI helmet rule are on riding helmets and safety standards, the deaths of 1999 and 2007 to 2008 and the frangible fence on eventing safety history, and rollkur, doping and the blood rule on welfare controversies. Champions and records are on notable riders and horses.
Sources
- University of Bristol, earliest horse harnessing and milking (5 March 2009)
- Science News, Yamnaya and the earliest horseback riders (3 March 2023)
- Sci.News, modern horse domestication (7 June 2024)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, origin of domestic horses (20 October 2021)
- Outram, Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology (24 April 2023)
- Wikipedia, On Horsemanship (secondary)
- HeritageDaily, earliest dated saddle in China (28 May 2023)
- Wikipedia, Stirrup (secondary)
- Spanish Riding School, history
- Spanish Riding School, 460 years
- Wikipedia, Cadre Noir (secondary)
- British Dressage, dressage timeline
- Wikipedia, Equestrian events at the Summer Olympics (secondary)
- Olympic Federation of Ireland, introduction to equestrian
- Horse Canada, Federico Caprilli (28 August 2013)
- Horse Network, naming the Nations Cup (10 February 2019)
- US Eventing, US eventing teams history
- Wikipedia, United States Equestrian Federation (secondary)
- Wikipedia, International Federation for Equestrian Sports (secondary)
- Guinness World Records, highest jump by a horse
- Wikipedia, Lis Hartel (secondary)
- Olympedia, Hans Gunter Winkler
- FEI, World Championships history (seen as search summary only)
- Wikipedia, List of Olympic medalists in equestrian events (secondary)
- US Pony Club blog, A History of Equestrian Helmet Awareness and Use in the United States (21 September 2023)
- Wikipedia, FEI World Equestrian Games (secondary)
- Reeve Foundation blog, republishing El Pais (26 May 2020)
- Practical Horseman, eventing's quest for a safer sport (31 July 2018)
- The Conversation, Carol Hall (8 August 2016)
- Olympedia, eventing
- US Equestrian, Rolex Grand Slam
- Chronicle of the Horse, will the classic format three-day continue? (6 August 2009)
- US Eventing, Bettina Hoy's Olympic double start (25 March 2015)
- EquiSearch, Irish gold medallist disqualified (28 March 2005)
- Eurodressage, FEI workshop on rollkur (1 February 2006)
- US Eventing, carrying the FEI release (20 November 2018)
- Animal People, three-day eventing confronts rising toll (June 2008)
- EquiSearch, Hong Kong 2008 suspensions (21 August 2008)
- Eurodressage, Patrik Kittel exonerated (27 January 2010)
- Dressage-News, FEI General Assembly anti-doping votes (19 November 2009)
- Dressage-News, FEI rollkur round table (9 February 2010)
- UNESCO, Equitation in the French tradition
- Around the Rings via Infobae, FEI helmet campaign (FEI release)
- Dressage-News, new FEI helmet rule (2 October 2012)
- Chronicle of the Horse, Equine Canada implements new helmet rule
- Commission Implementing Decision 2014/714/EU
- Dressage-News, Valegro freestyle world record (17 December 2013)
- Guinness World Records, highest dressage freestyle score
- EquNews, hat rules after helmet standard withdrawn (December 2014)
- Tryon Daily Bulletin, WEG endurance race cancelled (14 September 2018)
- Chronicle of the Horse, FEI ends cooperation agreements with AQHA and NRHA (26 November 2018)
- Equestrian Trade News, riders' headgear rule revised
- US Eventing, MIM clip leads the way in frangible technology
- Snell Memorial Foundation, Heads Up newsletter (November 2021)
- EquNews, reining removed as an official FEI discipline (18 November 2021)
- Eurodressage, ethics commission interim report (2 November 2022)
- Equestrian Trade News, riding hat rule revisions (21 December 2022)
- VetClick, ethics commission final report (November 2023)
- CHIO Aachen, FEI World Championships 2026 to be held in Aachen (19 November 2023)
- CEN-CENELEC, EN 1384:2023 (18 December 2023)
- Chronicle of the Horse, delivery of welfare report (May 2024)
- Eurodressage, FEI imposes one-year suspension (5 December 2024)
- Eurodressage, FEI equine welfare strategy action plan (13 November 2024)
- BSI Knowledge, PAS 015
- Eurodressage, noseband measurement protocol (16 March 2025)
- FEI Accepted Testing Standards for Protective Headgear, effective 1 January 2026 (copy hosted by an Australian campdraft body)
- BEVA, response to FEI blood rule change (7 November 2025)
- HQ Magazine, FEI rule changes for 2026 (5 February 2026)
- Chronicle of the Horse, three candidates for the 2026 FEI presidential election (15 June 2026)
- Eurodressage, three candidates running for the FEI presidency (16 June 2026)
- Your Horse, Butheeb to host the 2026 Endurance World Championship (6 August 2026)