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Photo of Ivory Pal by Cheri Prill Tennessee Walking Horse Issue August 2010
by Gina McKnight. Author & Freelance Writer
Equestrians Around the World
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The sod is soft today. The tent pegging arena is equipped with gazing spectators, athletic equines, alert riders and tent pegs lying in anticipation. Weather conditions may predict a winning team or exalted individual pegger, but in the end it is skill, athletic ability and determination that count.
Tent pegging is said to have originated in medieval culture as a military training tool for cavaliers encountering war elephants. The target was a precision stab with a lance or sword directly behind an opposing elephant’s toenail, causing the beast to rear in screaming terror, dismounting his mahout, run hysterically amok, and trampling out his own infantry. Of course, tent pegging roots can also be found in the military drama of raiding and uprooting enemy tents. Stabbing pegs and collapsing an enemy’s tent while they sleep is a strategic military maneuver that applies the athletic abilities of highly skilled horsemen.
Continuing the centuries old tradition, cavaliers gallop at full speed to consecutive aligned pegs and pierce them from the ground with a sword or a lance. Horsemen compete alone or on teams. The ground target is symbolic of a tent peg; the same type of peg used in ancient cavalry training exercises and competitive sport is still used today. Standardized rules determine the course; the peg must meet specific size criteria as well as the number of pegs on the course, the type of lance or sword, and the degree to which a peg must be collected. Time is a factor, requiring a brave rider and a fast horse. There are various sub-disciplines in tent pegging competition: individual sword, individual lance, rings and pegs, lemon and peg, lance and sword paired, team lance, team sword, Indian file, skill-at-arms, and lance/sword/bayonet.
Hasher Majoka, from Quetta, Pakistan, now living in Montreal, Quebec, is a scholar of native horses and tent pegging. Hasher states, “The fertile plains of Panjab, watered by five Himalayan rivers, have been the center of breeding horses and producing cavalrymen for over two millennia. Here, the old cavalry practice of tent pegging emerged as the most popular rural sport even as utility of horses began to decline in warfare and for transport. The sport mimics the Mughal army’s favorite method of raiding the enemy’s camp at dawn and pulling out the tent pegs using lances, thus causing tents to collapse and causing great confusion in the enemy camp. Today, at village fairs and rural competitions, riders gallop in individually as well as in ‘sections’ of four and pull out short wooden stakes driven into the ground. Extra points are awarded for pulling out a peg from the ground and carrying it a certain distance. As the riders go through heats, the size of the pegs becomes smaller thus making it an ever-greater test of equestrian skill and eye-hand co-ordination.”
From Chandigarh, India, Col Sarpartap Singh, Vice President of the Indigenous Horse Society of India, is one of India’s leading equestrians. Col Singh states, “Tent pegging is a military sport that has been practiced by Nihan Sikhs since the sixteen century, so as to practice ones riding skill and use of a lance or sword to your advantage when mounted on a horse. As a military horseman, I have practiced and competed in this sport, and then went on to create the first Asian Tent Pegging Committee, which is now officially recognized as part of the Asian Equestrian Federation.”
Col Singh teaches and demonstrates tent pegging worldwide. In 2010, he traveled to Kentucky, USA, to the FEI World Equestrian Games, giving a demonstration on tent pegging riding Marwari horses owned by world-famous equestrian Francesca Kelly. From there he traveled to Kazakhstan to train and demonstrate the skill-at-arms. Last year, in 2011, Col Singh, had the opportunity to train tent pegging in Sri Lanka and Nepal. He was instrumental in helping to organize the first South Asian Tent Pegging Championships. Col Singh explains, “In March of 2012 an onwards, we are organizing an International Asian and South Asian Tent Pegging Championship on borrowed horses. We are now working on popularizing this old military sport and forming a World Tent Pegging Federation.”
According to Col Singh, “India has Tent Pegging Championships and these are judged by very experienced tent peggers who have to go through the prescribed rules in detail like all other equestrian sports. Initially, they have to judge a few competitions under senior judges. Then they are upgraded. The Federation maintains a list of all such judges and hold clinics for their upgrade. Tent pegging is an international sport. You can also see websites of British, Australian, USA, and Namibian Tent Pegging Associations, to name a few. Many countries participate in tent pegging. The newest team to be trained in India under my guidance is from Saudi Arabia.”
The horses of tent pegging embrace every breed; a fast, intelligent horse is essential. Col Singh explains, “As for horses, one can use horses of any breed. The horse should be balanced, have a speed of over 850 meters a minute and should not change his lead leg when the rider leans forward or sideways to pick up the peg. Marwari, Kathiawari, Sindhi, Thoroughbreds, are all used in India for sport. Each horse needs to be trained to stand still at the start line and gallop in a straight line, not shying from the peg or lance going past its ear and eye.”
Jillani Khan, member of the Khan Horse Menship Club of Piplan, Pakistan, is a team tent pegger. A tent pegging team consists of four members. His team wears royal blue to designate their club. Jillani rides his black stallion, Sanwal, through the tent pegging course. He states, “Tent pegging is a game of souls. Whenever the soul of the horse and rider are not one, then there is no success. Fun and success can only be achieved by oneness with your horse.”
Former students of Col Singh, Davinder Jeet Angrej and Amritpal Kullar, team tent peggers playing for Kirpal Sagar Academy, Nawanshahr, India, share the exhilarating event through their photographs. Amritpal says, “Tent pegging was started in the past during the time of war. It is a special game for special riders. Different feelings come while galloping the horse. Only trained or proficient riders can do it. It is difficult for the normal rider. The main thing is that you have to control your horse and then concentrate on your peg.” The amazing comradery amongst these horsemen and their horses can be seen in their dynamic photographs.
Weather conditions do play a role in exalting a winner at the end of the day. The fastest horse, the best rider, the best team wins. But Davinder Jeet and Amritpal have been instilled with a competitive motto from Col Singh, “Loser is the one who creates a winner, so…I don’t mind losing.”
Links of Interest:
http://www.equestrian-india.org/
http://www.tentpeggingaustralia.org/history.html
http://www.paktentpeggers.blogspot.com/
http://www.ushorse.biz/discipline-tent-pegging.htm
Gina McKnight is an author and freelance writer from USA.
Gina McKnight is a freelance writer from USA http://www.gmcknight.com/
Tent Pegging: Brave Riders, Fast Horses
