horse-racing-msg - 8/21/02

Period horse racing.

NOTE: See also the files: horses-msg, Horse-n-t-MA-art, saddles-msg, animal-
prices-msg, sports-msg, chivalry-msg, horse-recipes-msg.

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    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: ChrisAct at nwlink.com.com (Chris)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Horse Racing
Date: Sun, 09 Jun 2002 06:29:55 GMT

Hey, remember back on Sun, 09 Jun 2002 03:24:17 GMT, when Tom S.
<tshehan2004 at yahoo.com> said:
>Was there ever any evidence of period horse racing.

From www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=42012&tocid=3309&query=horse:
"Knowledge of the first horse race is lost in prehistory. Both four-hitch
chariot and mounted (bareback) races were held in the Olympic Games of Greece
over the period 700ö40 BC. Horse racing, both of chariots and of mounted riders,
was a well-organized public entertainment in the Roman Empire. The history of
organized racing in other ancient civilizations is not very firmly
established..."

Unfortunately, www.britannica.com only gives "teasers", not full articles.
Still, that should be enough to answer your question. :)


From: "dbooker" <dbooker at calcna.ab.ca>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Horse Racing
Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2002 21:45:09 -0600
Organization: University of Calgary

"Baronessa Ilaria" <baronessailaria at aol.com> wrote:
> Do a search on "palio" for information on the great races of Siena, Italy

A book which might make a beginning place for research on Royal stables in
England is
"The Royal Office of the Master of the Horse" by M. M. Reese, Threshold
Books Limited, 1976 ISBN 0901366900.

Chapters 1- 12 inclusive cover the matter from pre-Norman Conquest to the
end of the reign of Elizabeth I.  No bibliography as such, but a couple of
paragraphs of thanks to the archivists of the Calendar Roles and the State
Papers and such -like sources.  Also, a good list of sources for the 200+
illustrations.

Aldreada of theLakes (Barony of Montengarde)


From: zebee at zip.com.au (Zebee Johnstone)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Horse Racing
Date: Sun, 09 Jun 2002 06:23:15 GMT
Organization: Pacific Internet (Australia)

In rec.org.sca on Sun, 09 Jun 2002 06:02:11 GMT
Charlene Charette <charlene at flash.net> wrote:
>Google is your friend  :)
>Try "horse racing history"; this is just the first hit:
>
>http://www.mrmike.com/explore/hrhist.htm

One with a few more facts (well, they are stated as facts, ain't no
footnotes...) is http://www.derbypost.com/history1.html

Anyone have any idea if this stuff is likely, especially the name
derivations like "hobby" and "cocktail"?

As early as 1140, the first of a long line of kings named Henry tried
to improve Hobby horses--pony-sized Irish horses--by importing Arab
stallions to give them more speed and stronger power. Throughout the
Crusades, from 1096 to 1270, Turkish cavalry horses dominated the
larger English warhorses, leading the Crusaders to buy, capture or
steal their share of the stallions. After the War of the Roses, which
decimated England's horse population, King Henry aimed to rebuild his
cavarly. Both the king and his son, Henry VIII, imported horses from
Italy, Spain and North Africa, and maintained their own racing stable.
Henry's Hobbys, as they were called, raced against horses owned by
other nobility, leading the word "hobby" to mean a "costly pastime
indulged in by the idle rich." It also lends credibility to horse
racing being labeled as the Sport of Kings, although this phrase's
orgination comes later, as found in Part II. Henry used tax revenues
to maintain his stables, claiming that by breeding winners with
winners he could improve the quality of the cavarly. While certainly a
landmark philosophy in horse racing, Henry was unable to apply its
practice; his Master of the Horse, the title of Henry's racing stable
director, was not a professional horseman and recklessly crossbred the
entire stable. The stable consisted of a variety of international
horses with an even wider mix of genes, so well mixed they earned the
moniker "cocktails," our current word for a mixed drink. It is not
known for sure, but this may be the oldest piece of evidence linking
horse racing with drinking! Anyway, Henry's daughter, Elizabeth I,
drastically improved her father's stable during her fifty-year reign,
dispensing of horses not qualified for racing or the cavalry and
moving the best horses to new barns at Tutbury near Staffordshire.
Elizabeth kept a close watch on matings and systematically recorded
pedigrees. On the advice of her Master of the Stable the Queen added
more Arabian horses to the stable, breeding Arab stallions to Hobby
and Galloway (Scottish) mares.

Silfren


From: David Friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Horse Racing
Date: Sun, 09 Jun 2002 09:33:29 -0700

I believe there is a tradition that Mohammed said it was not permitted 
to bet accept on a horse, an arrow, or some third thing I have forgotten.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Medieval.html


From: CMNewell <reshan at deyr.ultranet.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period Horse Racing
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 16:48:29 -0400
Organization: Minglewood

On Sun, 09 Jun 2002 09:33:29 -0700, David Friedman <ddfr at best.com>
wrote:
>I believe there is a tradition that Mohammed said it was not permitted 
>to bet accept on a horse, an arrow, or some third thing I have forgotten.

Indeed.

 'Allah's Mesenger said, "Races should only be arranged between
camels, horses, and arrow-throwers." '

Scholars have argued as to whether laying wages on such races is
permissible in Islam. Some think that wagers on any of the 3 is
allowed, while others say only horse races.

Regardless, racing of horses is permitted. Even the Prophet himself
engaged in racing.  Prizes were given to participants.

Quotation and above information is from "Merits of the Horse in
Islam", by Al-Hafez Abdul-Mu'men Al-Dumyati, trnaslation by Dr. Munzer
A. Absi and Aamahan Sallah.

(Al-Dumyati lived from  613-705 a.h. or 1193-1285 c.e)

                   --Faris ibn Muhammad

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	horse-racing-msg	4