Ring riding

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Ring riding is an equestrian sport in which the rider has to spear a small ring at a gallop with a lance .

Today's ring riding

Slow motion shot of the ring riding on Föhr

In many places in the rural regions of Northern Germany, tournaments with pageants take place every year; The winner or the ring king is whoever pierces the most rings. In order to achieve this, the riders have to gallop under the gallows, to which the ring is attached to a band stretched over the track with a magnet, in order to impale it with their 50 to 160 cm long lances. In the area of ​​the former Stapelholm office in Schleswig-Holstein, a so-called engraver is used instead of the lance (see picture children's ring riding in Wohlde ). Initially, all 24 rings in play have a diameter of 22 mm, which decreases in the course of the competition to 6 mm. The rider who can ultimately impale the most rings is proclaimed king . In many cases, the worst participant receives the title Blindstecher (similar to the poodle in bowling).

Ring riding is mainly widespread in northern northern Germany and southern Denmark ( North Schleswig ), but also on the Dutch peninsula of Walcheren . The largest ring rider festivals take place in Aabenraa (Aabenraa), a port town in South Jutland, and on the island of Alsen every year between May and August. Every place on the island has its own event. Here over 1,000 participants fight for the title of king and then take part in the traditional evening ring rider dinner with a special ring rider sausage. The festival begins with a festive parade and is framed by a more or less extensive folk festival with a beer tent, driving companies and a program for young and old.

Ring riding can also be done as a team sport. In this case, the points of the team members are added to the team result.

In Braunschweig (e.g. at the Hohen Tore ) and in the Braunschweiger Land (e.g. in Hondelage , Querum , Rühme and Schapen ) and neighboring areas and towns such as Bortfeld , Hornburg and Lagesbüttel this is also called flag hunting .

The US state of Maryland has set ring jousting, also a version of ring riding, as the state's official sport.

Wheel ring grooving

Since women were not allowed to ride the ring until a few decades ago, women and girls met in some North Frisian towns from the 1920s for the ring jump , a tradition that continues to this day.

Ring piercing in the Middle Ages

Martial arts with the lance (including ring piercing) ( Johann Jacobi von Wallhausen , Martial Art on Horseback , 1616)
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Ring riding is related to medieval ring stitching , which was partly used as a squire's exercise alongside the dangerous jousting of knights . The squire's exercise of ring stitching could also take place without a horse, in which a palm-sized ring was aimed at a palm-sized ring with the lance or the racing spear while sitting on a turntable . In many languages, ringing on horseback is therefore called a carousel , while in German this name was only retained for the fairground rides - the traditional form of the carousel with wooden horses indicates the origin.

On the other hand, modifications of the medieval lance-piercing on horseback also appeared independently at public festivals in many variations, such as the Quintana by Ascoli Piceno , which is still performed today . These modifications have survived the Middle Ages , for the Baroque , for example, tournaments were held in ring piercing on horseback, the rules of which are similar to today's ring riding (for example, a duel with ten lance samples on a palm-sized ring).

The medieval world traveler Ibn Battuta reported from his visit to India in 1333 that horse soldiers had to successfully pick up a suspended ring from a galloping horse with a lance in an attitude test.

See also

Web links

Commons : Ring Riding  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. 90. Flag hunting at Hohetor. In: website. City of Braunschweig, accessed on November 5, 2009 : “In our region, the competitions arose from the equestrian games that were held at Pentecost by the farmers, the horse boys and shepherds on horseback or on foot. Despite a ban - from December 1745 by Duke Karl I - the equestrian games were revived after 150 years [...] At the end of the 19th century [...] the first ring was held again in Braunschweig in the 'Hohen Tore'. […] According to the Braunschweig variety, the diameter of the rings to be pierced decreases with each pass. A wooden flag in the shape of a lance lance waves to the first and second king as a sign of victory. After this trophy (flag) and the hunt for it, the [...] flag hunting society [...] got its name [...] "
  2. a b Karsten Mentasti: No pardon for riders and horses. In: newsclick.de. Braunschweiger Zeitungsverlag, May 29, 2006, accessed on November 5, 2009 .
  3. Schapen. In: website. City of Braunschweig, accessed on February 18, 2010 : "The coat of arms of the district shows a yellow standard and a jumping horse on a blue background, which is awarded every year during the traditional flag hunt as part of the folk festival."
  4. Bianca Aust: Jurors instead of virgins. In: newsclick.de. Braunschweiger Zeitungsverlag, July 30, 2004, accessed November 5, 2009 .
  5. Jörg Klein: A horse show without official invitations. In: newsclick.de. Braunschweiger Zeitungsverlag, May 29, 2007, accessed on November 5, 2009 .
  6. Gundolf Tospann: The Arndt family was unbeatable. In: newsclick.de. Braunschweiger Zeitungsverlag, September 26, 2005, accessed on November 5, 2009 .
  7. ^ Jousting. Official State Sport of Maryland. State Symbol USA. Retrieved November 27, 2016 .
  8. Ibn Battuta: Journeys to the End of the World 1325-1353. Horst Erdmann Verlag, 1977, p. 69 (Multan, India, 1333).