tLoE XVIII: The Land of Equestrian Sports!

Welcome back to the Land of Equestrian Sports! This week: it's Cloudsdale verses Manehattan in the Quarterfinals of the air racing season--
Oh, Sorry about that.
Sports, ladies and Gentlemen. It is a major part of any society, whether or not you are a fan, a player, a fantasy player or even all three, sports are one of the biggest parts of any society. However, given that ponies are built quite differently from Humans, they would clearly have a much different set of games than we would...wouldn't they? In this week's post, We'll be looking over just a few of the sports of Equestria, and just how interesting Pony sports can be.

Let's start this off with one of the humblest of sports and the first ever seen in the show: hoof wrestling (S1 E3). The Equestrian equivalent of arm wrestling, The rules are nearly identical, with the two participants using their forward legs to try and push the other's front leg onto the opposite side of the table (or flat surface). It is a simple game, but one of many that denote physical strength, and it pales in comparison to many other strength sports, a great deal of which can be found in the Iron Pony competition. Not dissimilar from Earth's Iron Man competition, the "Iron Pony" is a series of strength contests, including but not limited to: Horseshoe toss, tug-of-war, an obstacle course, and a Hammer contest, much like the carnival game. They also have Marathons, the largest of which appears to be the "Running of the Leaves", a Fall festival marathon which is a dual purpose race and tree leaf remover. And along the lines of the Iron Pony, Equestrians (particularly Earth ponies in the Western/Southern City-States) partake in Rodeos, which include jumping contests (Much like Hurdles for Humans), roping contests, and other such tests of physical ability. One of the more ancient sports is jousting, which Involved knocking down the opponent with a lance (as opposed to knocking the opponent off of a mount, such as in the Human version).

However, we have skipped over one of the biggest gaming events in their entire world. I am of course referring to the Equestria Games, the Pony Equivalent to the Olympics. The Equestria Games, like the Olympics, appears to be a long series of sports contests spread over the course of multiple days, with numerous events. We have seen tho such events personally: The Ice Archery (Which involves firing freezing arrows to cover a target in ice), and the Arial relay, a relay race through a series of rings suspended in the stadium. Much like the Olympics, the entire festival has a lot of Ceremonies, such as flag presentation, the lighting of the torch, and Anthem singing. The location for the Games is chosen months in advance (As opposed to years on Earth) by select judges, and the games themselves are host to thousands of citizens, all Fascinated by the sports within.

Yes, Sporting events are just as much a part of Equestrian Society as they are of Earth's societies, and all the better for them. Sports help keep the mind and body sharp, and simply make the Land of Equestria, en Even more interesting place.

Too Long? Here's the basics!

-[Badly Executed Sports announcer Joke at beginning]
-Equestria has plenty of sports like we do.
-Hoof Wrestling, Iron Pony Competitions, Rodeos all test the strength of the ponies.
-Jousting is an Ancient Equestrian sport to knock the other guy over with a lance. Ouch.
-The Equestria games are Equestrian Olympics, complete with celebrations and ceremonies!
-Sports are an important part of all cultures.

Well, that's all for this week! Carry on doing what you do best!

I'm Ironsmith, Invent on!