THE St Hubert’s Ride in Tatranská Lomnica, in the High Tatras, closed out this year’s equestrian season on November 1. The last race of the year was a fox hunt, in which almost 70 riders completed 14 kilometres in the vicinity of Tatranská Lomnica, the SITA newswire wrote.
In the end, Milan Pribula of Prešov successfully caught the fox. The ride’s organisers prepared an evaluation and award ceremony for the riders’ league from eastern Slovakia for several equestrian sports, military competition, vaulting, and show jumping in the Grand-Hotel Bellevue in Starý Smokovec.
Show jumping is one aspect of equestrian sports that is on a good level in Slovakia, according to Peter Mikulášik, the chairman of the Association for Preserving the Equestrian Sport in the Tatras Horse Area.
“After the Velvet Revolution, many private clubs were set up in Slovakia, but military and team sport has been stagnant,” Mikulášik said.
The main reason is finances. Horse riding is expensive. As an example, he compares show jumping and military competition. While show jumping is just one discipline, military competition requires three days during which the horse and rider must show versatility in dressage, “cross country”, and show jumping.
