Rebecca Scott on Jupiter.

It is a sport that involves thrills and spills, high speed, heartache and frustration. Why then is it not more popular?

As part of the Mounted Games ‘support team,’ I attended the Kelt Capital Horse of the Year show at Hastings last month. Run under the aegis of the New Zealand Mounted Games Association, Kiwis have proved to be pretty skilled at games in the past. In 2008 a Kiwi team were champions at the world game held in Sydney. On a more junior level such as this, a degree of riding skill was demonstrated that was certainly outside the norm for our everyday Pony Clubs. Perhaps the occasion was given a further edge by a visiting Australian team. All teenagers, without exception they were superb riders, and offered a great challenge.

Mounted games were originally devised in the late 1950’s by Prince Phillip. At one of the bigger horse events in the UK he realised children were being excluded from the sport purely on the grounds of cost. An inexpensive sport involving inexpensive ponies- in some cases “rejects” from other disciplines, was the solution. The brilliance of the notion was that there are no limits to what can be devised – mounted games continue to evolve and expand as aficionados realise the huge range of skills required to participate. Today there is no age limit. At competitions there are classes from ‘minis’ to ‘fossils’.

Australian patent remount method.

Reputedly, the Mongol warriors in their heyday could shoot arrows with devastating accuracy, at great ranges, while riding at a full gallop. Such skill obviously required riders that had practically been born in the saddle. Sadly, but perhaps wisely, this particular cavalry skill is no longer allowed under the rules of the New Zealand Mounted Games Association – even if it would be the ultimate test of horsemanship.

Mounted Games require riders to undertake every kind of discipline. From fast and furious, to slow and steady, the games rider and pony will have to do it all. Extremes of speed, stability and patience are the order of the day. The sheer variety provides a far more exacting test for pony and rider than any single discipline event.

One of the ‘warm-up’ games is incredibly simple - the Speed Weavers, or Bending Race. It involves riding as fast as possible in a slalom path between five poles, whipping round at the end and repeating the process - the winner is first across the line. Perhaps one of the trickiest is at the other end of the spectrum. Equipped with a straight, bare bamboo pole a rider must collect a plastic carton from the ground, without dismounting, return to the half-way point and drop it in a bucket. The skill is in the steadiness with which you can handle your pony, while lifting the carton from the ground on the end of your pole.

Shuttling of old tin cups between the tops of the poles is one of the races that requires excellent hand-to-eye coordination, and with practice is one of the speediest. But perhaps one of the most exciting, and the nearest the NZGMA will get to the Mongolian Cavalry, is the Sword Lancers. Rings are attached with rubber bands to the top of the poles, and are collected with a wooden sword as the rider sweeps by. Although a steady methodical approach normally wins in games, pride usually precludes anyone undertaking this race at anything less than breakneck speed!

The Kelt Capital Horse of the Year show has been established in Hawke’s Bay for ten years now and shows every sign of staying and growing. Show-jumping, dressage etc, it attracts riders from all over the world. I talked with Angie and John Beale, organisers for the visiting Australian team. Having been closely involved with mounted games for several years, and having children competing, they obviously have a deep belief in the event. “This kind of thing gives children focus,” Angie explained to me. “Any child who rides can have a go and they’ll certainly get an adrenalin rush out of it. We love to bring a team over each year as it is a great experience for them. Using borrowed horses of course means almost doubling the skills required. There is an element of the ‘poor relation’ in the equestrian world around games, but we got crowds of three and five thousand recently at events in Australia. We have been asked back, so maybe the perception is changing.”

Certainly, Mounted Games in Hawke’s Bay might benefit from a change of perception. The Arena was at the furthest point of the Show Grounds from the main entrances, and there was no internal publicity. No provision, even a rudimentary grandstand, had been provided for the public. Sadly the whole arena had effectively been cut off by the participants’ trucks, floats and tents. It felt rather exclusive, and considering the spectacle on offer it merited better.

There is a subtle ratio required for an ideal games pony/rider combination. The pony needs to be fast, nimble, able to turn quickly and not lacking in stamina. A rider ideally should be flexible and big enough to reach the ground from the saddle. They also need to be powerful enough to make a flying leap back onto their mount. Some smaller riders therefore are at a disadvantage when trying to leap into the saddle of a fast-moving and hyped up horse. However their lighter weight can give them advantages in other races.

When played in teams, mounted games tends to even out the odds, given that some riders skills will make up for the weaknesses of others. Normally, teams are of five riders, with one standing out for each race. One team in the finals at Hastings was actually a pony down. The Australian member had worked so hard in the individual events that his borrowed pony had gone lame. The team was therefore obliged to “hot-saddle” with only four mounts, and managed the event so well they came second.

If you attend almost any pony club in New Zealand today, you may be struck by the phenomenal number of riding girls, and the sad shortage of boys. It seems almost as if riding in general has become the exclusive domain of the female. A far cry from the days of the Wild West, when Cowboys practically lived in their saddles. Happily in Mounted Games the ratio is being healthily transformed. The prospect of riding a powerful motor cycle, albeit with four hooves, seems to be attracting some very skilled male riders. Indeed, they do well, and as Angie and John Beale reiterated to me, “it gives them a focus.”