Equestrian Promotions launches 2008 South East Asian World Cups

Quzier Ambak welcomed the Deputy Minister to the event and thanked the many corporate sponsors who have supported the event in the past and again this year. There was an impressive array of mock cheques presented, amounting to over RM 1 million in cash.Equestrian Promotions will organise three shows at 3Q Equestrian: the 3QE Classic from 10th to 13h July, the Malaysian Open from 24th to 27th July, and the Merdeka Masters from 31st July to 3rd August.Five South East Asian League World Cup events will be held this year, all of which will be in Malaysia. Three World Cups will be held in these events at 3Q Equestrian. The other two World Cups are held as part of the Premier Cup Series, at Taman Equestrian Putrajaya, the first of which was held yesterday.The winning rider of the South East Asian World Cup League will earn the right to compete at the FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas in April 2009.The format this year is that riders will count their best four points finishes of the five World Cup events this year. With only one score to be dropped, it will mean that Malaysians will find it tougher to qualify for next year’s FEI World Cup Final to be held in Las Vegas. There were ten qualifiers last year, six held in Malaysia and 4 in Hong Kong. South East Asian riders counted their best five results, which means that they could drop as many as five of their worst points finishes.In bidding to hold four South East Asian League World Cup events last year, Hong Kong had promised the FEI that they would hold South East Asian World Cup League events yearly. They have reneged on that promise as no World Cup events are scheduled for Hong Kong this year.Yesterday’s World Cup was won by Helena Gabrielsson of Sweden, with Jasmine Lai of Hong Kong second. Brothers Quzier and Qabil Ambak finished 3rd and 4th respectively.Equestrian Promotions Managing Director and World Cup rider Quzier Ambak said, “Yesterday’s event was not great for me or Qabil personally.”“It is disappointing that Hong Kong is not doing any World Cup shows this year. They promised to do it yearly.”Quzier went on to say that Hong Kong were very good hosts last year, with good facilities and providing good stabling for the rider’s horses. He refused to be disappointed, saying that Hong Kong’s pull out would not affect his or Qabil’s chances of winning the South East Asian World Cup League.Hong Kong riders Jasmine Lai and Jennifer Chang continue to compete on the South East Asian World Cup circuit. Other Hong Kong riders will also compete in the South East Asian Young Riders League and the Dressage Champions League, all part of Equestrian Promotions 2008 horse shows.The Ministry’s of Youth and Sports’ statement recognised that 11 years of continuity and corporate support for the South East Asian World Cup League had brought equestrian success for Malaysia at every SEA and Asian Games since.

Equestrian statue

An equestrian statue is a statue of a horse-mounted rider. The term is from the Latin "eques," meaning "knight". A statue of an unmounted horse is strictly an equine statue.


History
The equestrian Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill was the prototype for Renaissance equestrian sculptures.
The equestrian Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Hill was the prototype for Renaissance equestrian sculptures.
Bertel Thorvaldsen's neoclassicist equestrian statue of Prince Józef Poniatowski, Warsaw.
Bertel Thorvaldsen's neoclassicist equestrian statue of Prince Józef Poniatowski, Warsaw.
Monument to Nicholas I, St. Petersburg.
Monument to Nicholas I, St. Petersburg.
Equestrian statue of Theodoros Kolokotronis in Nafplion, Greece
Equestrian statue of Theodoros Kolokotronis in Nafplion, Greece
Ancient Rome

Such statues frequently commemorated military leaders, and those statesmen who wished to symbolically emphasize the active leadership role undertaken since Roman times by the equestrian class, the equites (plural of eques) or knights.

There were numerous bronze equestrian portraits (particularly of the emperors) in ancient Rome, but they did not survive because it was practice to melt down bronze statues for reuse of the precious alloy as coin or other, smaller projects (such as new sculptures for Christian churches). The sole surviving Roman equestrian bronze, of Marcus Aurelius owes its preservation on the Campidoglio, Rome, to the popular mis-identification of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher-emperor, with Constantine the Great, the Christian emperor.

Regional origins equestrian

Before the Middle Ages, most European armies were largely composed of infantry. Horsemen were used as advance scouts, raiding parties, troop escorts, and to outflank infantry lines. The majority of heavy fighting was done by infantry. Still, ancient armies required cavalry, and the horsemen usually belonged to the highest classes, as they were the only citizens able to afford horses. As a result, it was considered prestigious to own and ride a horse.
Ancient Rome was no exception to this rule, although the horsemen received financial compensation to buy a horse (the equus publicus, horse bought by the commonwealth). Thus, originally, the equestrians were a military as well as a political group. It is said that king Servius Tullius divided the Roman nation into centuries, which were not only units of soldiers on the battlefield but also voting units in the so-called Centuriate Assembly. The Roman historian Livy offers a description of a complex system with 18 centuries of cavalry, 170 centuries of infantry, and 2 centuries of engineers. When the centuries came together to vote, the equites centuries cast their 18 votes first, followed by the 172 remaining centuries, and one additional vote for those who were too poor to serve in the army but still had a political vote. (Although the fact that the people were divided belongs to the age of kings, it is likely that these specific numbers date back to the fourth century BC.)

Equestrian (Roman)

An equestrian (Latin eques, plural equites - also known as a vir egregius, lit. "excellent man" from the 2nd century AD onwards) was a member of one of the two upper social classes in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. This social class is often translated as "knight" or "chevalier" (French). However, this translation is not literal, since medieval knights relied on their martial skills, the physical power of their horse and armour to support their position, while the connection of Roman equestrians to horses had become more symbolic even in the early days of the Republic. The social position of medieval knights and Roman equestrians, however, was essentially the same: they were the Roman equivalent to Medieval nobility. The Roman tax farming system shared many similarities with medieval feudalism without actually being identical, due to inherent differences in the social structure and the level of central government.

The equites were the Roman middle class between the upper class of patricians and the lower class of plebians. The distinguishing mark of the equestrian class was a gold ring (that of the patrician was of iron) and narrow black band on the tunic.