# Queen's granddaughter wins world equestrian title **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 28, 2006, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496 "2006-08-28T06:09:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/21 "2006-08-29T06:20:29Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Princess Anne was the only competitor at the Seoul Olympics not required to take a gender test, by the way. Why would any equestrian have to take a gender test? I’ve seen both women and men compete in most of those events so what would it matter? ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/22 "2006-08-29T06:31:32Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Wrong. While they’re not making a big thing of it, she is indeed a member of the Royal Family and an HRH. Her Royal Horseness. 😃 Thanks, **Guin**! I was right, she is a Duchess. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/23 "2006-08-29T12:13:19Z")
> [@Hilarity N. Suze](#): > > Why would any equestrian have to take a gender test? I’ve seen both women and men compete in most of those events so what would it matter? I don’t believe that they compete against one another. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/24 "2006-08-29T12:55:37Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Wrong. While they’re not making a big thing of it, she is indeed a member of the Royal Family and an HRH. Huh? Didn’t they have a king who was forced to quit his job over marrying some secondhand woman back in the thirties or so? I thought that was how Elizabeth II’s daddy got the post. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/25 "2006-08-29T14:14:04Z")
> [@Exgineer](#): > > Huh? Didn’t they have a king who was forced to quit his job over marrying some secondhand woman back in the thirties or so? > > I thought that was how Elizabeth II’s daddy got the post. True, but times have changed since then. Also, Charles is considered a widower now. Oh, and for those going on about how ugly Camilla is? Ever take a gander at [Chaz](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/History/charleswales26.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/26 "2006-08-29T14:34:36Z")
> [@Hilarity N. Suze](#): > > Why would any equestrian have to take a gender test? I’ve seen both women and men compete in most of those events so what would it matter? The idea is that in order for it to be fair and unobtrusive, _everybody_ had to be tested. Unless, of course, your mother is a nuclear power. In which case they take her word for it that you’re a girl. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/27 "2006-08-29T15:20:35Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > True, but times have changed since then. Also, Charles is considered a widower now. > > Oh, and for those going on about how ugly Camilla is? Ever take a gander at [Chaz](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/History/charleswales26.jpg)? Jeez that’s scary ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/28 "2006-08-29T18:52:57Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > I don’t believe that they compete against one another. Wrong. Men and women compete against each other in all three Olympic equestrian disciplines: dressage, eventing, and show jumping. And the women kick ass. Women like, for example, [Pippa Funnell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pippa_Funnell), or [Karen O’Connor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_O'Connor), to name just two of the many women competing at the top level in in eventing. Then there’s [Anky van Grusven](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anky_van_Grunsven), with multiple Olympic medals in [dressage](http://www.websitemanagement.ca/sabir/images/stallions/argus_anke2.jpg). Plenty more examples, if you’re interested. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/29 "2006-08-29T19:03:29Z")
More on Olympic riders: Just came across a website about the US equestrian teams at the [2000 Olympic games in Sydney, Australia.](http://www.equestrian.org/olympics/equestriansports.html) In [eventing,](http://www.equestrian.org/olympics/eventingbios.html) five of the seven riders for the team were women. In [dressage,](http://www.equestrian.org/olympics/dressage.html) three of the five team riders were women. In [show jumping,](http://www.equestrian.org/olympics/showjumping.html) all four team members were women, with the lone male as an alternate. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/30 "2006-08-29T19:58:43Z")
I think I know what dressage (that’s where you make the horse go in reverse and sideways and do other unnatural things, right?) and show jumping are, but what’s “eventing”? That’s the sort of catch-all term that could mean anything. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/31 "2006-08-29T20:05:08Z")
Eventing combines a cross-country run, dressage and show-jumping and held (usually) over three days. It’s short for three-day event. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/32 "2006-08-29T20:06:28Z")
More details [here](http://www.hartpury.ac.uk/equine/eventing/eventing/index.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/33 "2006-08-30T00:04:07Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > If Anne were a man and Charles the woman, would she have been their heir apparent over him? If so, are there any plans to change this in the future? The first born a female, the second a male? Yup, little bro would outrank the older sister. [Wiki link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succession_to_the_British_Throne) . If they want to make it gender-neutral, now would be the time; since the next 3 heirs are males (Charles, William, Harry), no one would be bumped down the chain (Anne and her kids would kick Andrew, Edward and kids down) who was realistically getting measured for a crown. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/34 "2006-08-30T00:16:02Z")
> [@Annie](#): > > The first born a female, the second a male? Yup, little bro would outrank the older sister. [Wiki link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succession_to_the_British_Throne) . If they want to make it gender-neutral, now would be the time; since the next 3 heirs are males (Charles, William, Harry), no one would be bumped down the chain (Anne and her kids would kick Andrew, Edward and kids down) who was realistically getting measured for a crown. I believe they’re working to change that. It’s happened in other countries. In Norway, for example, Crown Prince Haakon will be the last male to inherit over an older sister. Haakon was grandfathered in, but his eldest, the Princess Ingrid, will inherit the throne, not her younger brother, Prince Sverre Magnus. (She also has an elder half-brother, from a previous relationship of her mother’s.) In Sweden, they also changed it so that the eldest child inherits, regardless of sex, but they applied it retroactively, so that the then 2-year-old Princess Victoria became Crown Princess and Heir to the throne instead of her younger brother (who was only the Heir for seven months of his life). So, perhaps things will eventually change in the UK. I don’t see why they shouldn’t, considering that Britain’s greatest rulers have usually been queens (the two most famous, Elizabeth I and Victoria, for example). ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496/35 "2006-08-30T13:56:57Z")
> [@Exgineer](#): > > I think I know what dressage (that’s where you make the horse go in reverse and sideways and do other unnatural things, right?) Wrong. Dressage is advanced riding on the flat (as opposed to over jumps) involving natural paces and movements that horses are capable of performing _without_ the actual training as such. I had a mare who was very good at doing lateral (sideways) movements without my wanting her to! > [@](#): > > “eventing”? > > That’s the sort of catch-all term that could mean anything. Eventing, evolved from use of the horse in the military. It consists of a Dressage Test (not as advanced as pure Dressage) a speed and endurance phase - the Cross Country, which used to also include 2 “roads and tracks” sections (no jumping, just riding across country) a steeplechase - jumping at speed over fixed fences [in recent years these phases have been removed from the competition] and the Show Jumping. Dressage was to prove how well trained the horse was Speed and Endurance showed how strong and fast the horse was and the Show Jumping was to show that even after all that, the horse was fit to carry his rider further [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/queens-granddaughter-wins-world-equestrian-title/370496.md?page=1)