Alternative Performance Events: Kyz Kuu

This is a traditional sport among Kazakhs and Kyrgyz (who call it kyz kuumai). The name means "girl chasing". It is referred to as a "kissing game", but is also a racing game.

A young man on horseback waits at the start line. A young woman on horseback starts galloping from a set distance behind the young man. When she passes the young man, he starts galloping. The man's goal is to catch up to the woman, and if he can reach, to steal a kiss from her, before she reaches the finish line. If he succeeds, he is the winner. If the woman reaches the finish line before he catches her, she turns around and chases him back to the starting line. If she is close enough, she may use her whip to beat the young man, and this marks a victory for the woman.

What will I need for a Kyz Kuu set-up?

• two horses
• a male rider
• a female rider
• a whip
• culturally appropriate tack

You could also set-up a variation of this as a gymkhana or mounted games contest, where the aim is to grab a flag from the other rider, rather than to steal a kiss or to hit them.

That's all of my alternative performance events for this go-around. I hope they've been of some help to you. Hopefully I'll be back with more some time soon.

Alternative Performance Events: Corrida de Sortija

Corrida de Sortija by Roberto Fiadone

This traditional gaucho sport comes from the Rio de la Plata region of South America. In a plaza, a beam is suspended on two ten-foot uprights. Hanging from the underside in the middle of the cross beam is a small ring, about the size of a wedding ring. The aim is to take the ring off the beam, at a full gallop, with a stick about the same thickness as a pencil.


What will I need for a Corrida de Sortija set-up?

• a fast horse
• a rider
• a ring in the correct scale
• a stick in the correct scale
• two uprights with a crossbeam

Anything else in that setup is gravy. Since it's a very informal sport, there's not reason it couldn't be bridle-less and bareback. Most often, it's performed during Carnival and other festival times, so if you have the time, inclination and money, you could use some very flashy and celebration-appropriate tack and clothing.

Check back next week for another alternative performance event!

Alternative Performance Events: Mounted Orienteering

Photo by Karen Wilcox

Do you want another event where you can re-use any riding tack your horse already has on? This one might be for you.


Mounted orienteering came from military orienteering, and can be an individual or a team sport. The goal is to find as many objectives as you can in the fastest time. A map of the area is provided at the starting location which shows where the objectives are. The objectives are marked by a circle.


Teams set off at intervals, and ride to the first objective station marked on their map. Once they reach the area, they begin searching for clues (detailed on the back of their map) that will lead them to the objective in that area. When they locate the clue, they can follow the bearing given on the marker at the clue's location, which if done properly will lead them to the objective, or they can search for another clue to help them triangulate where the objective is.


What will I need for a mounted orienteering set-up?

• a horse
• a doll
• saddle
• bridle
• map
• compass
• scenery (objectives or clues will work well)
  

Where can I find out more?
North American Competitive Mounted Orienteering


Driven Orienteering
Though I can't find out whether this is an existing sport as a stand-alone, there does appear to be a driving class for the sport TREC. For driven orienteering, you can replace the saddle with a harness and cart of some description.

Where can I find out more?
FITE: the international governing board for TREC


Check back next week for another alternative performance event!

Alternative Performance Events: Ski Joring

Photo from Butternut Farm

This winter sport is derived from a method of transportation, where someone would drive a reindeer, and glide along behind it on skis. This way, they could cover long distances quickly, and with a lower expenditure of energy.

The activity found its way to the rest of Europe sometime in the late 19th century. The first skijoring race in Switzerland was in 1906. That race in 1906 followed roads from one town to another, and racers started at one minute intervals, rather than racing directly against each other. Eventually, the sport was transferred to race courses, and the teams competed directly with each other.

When skijoring found its way to the United States in the mid 1950s, ranchers would attach a long rope to the horn of the saddle of a horse ridden at high speed, and race along long straights. Currently, sanctioned skijoring races in the United States take place in five states, and in these races, skiiers must negotiate jumps and other obstacles, sometimes spearing rings and going through gates.

What will I need for a skijoring set-up?

• a moving pose horse (faster is probably better)
  
• a doll
• skis
• saddle or harness
• rope (with or without handle)
• bridle with long reins

Where can I find out more?
North American Ski Joring Association
White Turf
Skijoring at patwolfefjords.com

Check back next week for another alternative performance event!