Equestrian at The 1932 Summer Olympics

Equestrian At The 1932 Summer Olympics

The Equestrian Events at the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Games included Dressage (team and individual medals), Eventing (team and individual medals), and Show Jumping (individual medals). The competitions were held from August 10, 1932 to August 14, 1932. Due to the Great Depression, and the fact that the Games were held in Los Angeles (which was considerably difficult for the European nations to travel to), only 35 entries from 6 nations competed--which was to be the lowest participation of any Olympic Games. Notable absentees included the Germans (who normally were very strong players in the equestrian events) as well as 1928 Olympic Games medal winners Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Poland and Czechoslovakia. To save money, most countries sent only those riders that were most likely to medal (France sent a dressage team, the Netherlands sent only eventers), or in the case of Sweden, had riders in all discipline but required the eventers to also competed in the show jumping. Only the United States and Mexico had full representation. Japan also sent an eventer and a jumper rider.

The Mexicans had the easiest journey, traveling by rail to the Olympic site. Japanese horses came via ship from Yokohama to Los Angeles. The Dutch also travelled by ship straight to Los Angeles via the Panama Canal, while both France and Sweden went by ship to New York and then had to travel by railroad to the opposite coast. The Dutch, whose horses had the longest journey across the ocean, built a treadmill to keep their horses fit while heading to the Games.