Speaking of speaking of the Olympics, Canada won a gold in horse jumping the other day. Did you know that the Canadian was bumped into first place, going into the final round, because the guy ahead of him tested positive for drugs? Oh wait — it wasn’t the rider who tested positive, it was HIS HORSE.
I have to say, when the horses are getting drugged — and having to have drug tests — does this not say to you that the rider is NOT DOING THE WORK?
Not a sport. QED.
In other Olympics news, I’m currently watching men’s 10M platform diving, and one of the competitors is a 14-year-old boy from Britain. During the synchro diving event, I remember seeing a 13-year-old, too. Why is there a minimum age for women’s gymnastics of 16, when there doesn’t appear to be a minimum age for other sports? It is on a sport-by-sport basis? That seems fishy.
Personal goal: Become head of International Olympic Committee. Right wrongs; become legend.
TurtleHead 
I’m wondering about this whole horse thing. Do they actually ship their horses all over the world for these events? Isn’t that stressful for them? Don’t they have to be quarantines? How do they perform well after all that travelling? And what about the polluted air in China? I’ve heard horses are very, very sensitive to air pollution.
The drug rules for horses are much more strict than those for humans. The rules are set by the governing body for the sport, the FEI, are in effect at every competition, and they are zero tolerance for foreign substances. No NSAIDS, no herbals, not even trace amounts of anything, there are no allowable threshold levels. The horses that tested positive tested for a pepper derivative, basically the equine version of Icy-Hot. Humans are allowed to compete on certain medications for allergies, cold medications, and almost every NSAID. Horses cannot have their equivalent medication without being withdrawn from the competition.
The amount of athleticism required from the rider would take too long to explain here, but you should understand that to ride a horse around that type of course requires a ton of leg and arm strength, split second decision making, and a very careful strategy. The rider is responsible for choosing the take-off place to each jump, and the jumps are set where a plan has to made regarding how many steps the horse will take between each one. That plan has to be stuck to, by rating the horse’s speed, choosing the correct take off distance, keeping the horse straight, under a time allowed, over fences of 5’6″, and on a 1200+lb animal that might have other ideas. You might not be able to see the strength and skill it takes to get the horse around the course, but I think if you were to slow-motion a video of a jump you could get an idea of the force and torque each jump puts on the human body, when a slight moment of the rider being out of balance could cause the horse to have a rail down. To maintain that balance requires a lot of human power. Be proud of Canada’s Eric, he deserves a ton of credit.
XUP, you can read a bit about shipping horses here: http://www.nbcolympics.com/equestrian/news/newsid=177686.html . The horses get used to it quickly and most are not stressed. Quarantines vary from country to country. That, and the air pollution that you mention, were the reasons why the equestrian events were held in Hong Kong. China was unable to address concerns regarding equine flu, and the horses would have had to spend a month in quarantine to return to most countries after a stay in China itself.
Hey Allie! Thank you so much for your comment! I’m not sure I’ve been convinced that it should be in the Olympics — yet — but at least this helps me understand the sport better. I did noticed that the equestrian events were in Hong Kong, and I thought that was strange but figured it was just because they couldn’t find room for the venue in Beijing. This explains a lot!