Tiaan Terblanche from Bethlehem Voortrekker Hoërskool has been awarded Junior Protea Colours for Tentpegging after the test between SA vs Sudan in Rawsonville, Western Cape during 7-9 August.
Well done Tiaan!
Tent pegging is a cavalry sport of ancient origin, and is one of only ten equestrian disciplines officially recognised by the International Equestrian Federation. Used narrowly, the term refers to a specific mounted game with ground targets. More broadly, it refers to the entire class of mounted cavalry games involving pointed and edged weapons (lance and sword) on horseback, for which the term “equestrian skill-at-arms” is also used.
According to the International Equestrian Federation, “most equestrian authorities are of the opinion that tent-pegging originated in the Indian subcontinent during the middle ages in the battlefields as a tactics used by the horsed cavalry against elephant mounted troops. A cavalier able to precisely stab the highly sensitive flesh behind an elephant’s toenail would cause the enemy elephant to rear, unseat his mahout, and possibly run amok, breaking ranks and trampling infantry. The term “tent pegging” is certainly related to the idea that cavaliers mounting a surprise pre-dawn raid on an enemy camp could use the game’s skills to sever or uproot tent pegs, thus collapsing the tents on their sleeping occupants and sowing havoc and terror in the camp. However, there are few reliable accounts of a cavalry squadron ever employing suchtactics.
Because the specific game of tent pegging is the most popular equestrian skill-at-arms game, the entire class of sports became known as tent pegging during the twilight of cavalry in the twentieth century.
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