We had another opportunity to watch a tent pegging tournament, which was held in Domali. I was so excited about attending this event again, because my camera had dirty lens and was not working properly during the national championship last February. This time I brought my new DSLR, a Sony Alpha 100, with zoom lens. Imagine my consternation when I realized that I forgot to put back the battery which I put in the charged the night before. Luckily I also had a Canon Powershot, and was able to take photos and videos.
This was also James’ first trip outside Islamabad, and he slept during the 2-hour ride although his new toddler seat is not as comfortable as the rear-facing baby car seat. He got excited when he saw the horses, and had a pretty good time.
Tag Archives: tent-pegging
National Tent-Pegging & Horse Dance Championship
Every once in a while we experience something that makes living in Pakistan rewarding, such as our Karakoram roadtrip all the way to Hunza and the Khunjerab Pass at the Chinese border in October 2006. We didn’t have to travel so far this weekend to experience something unique. In fact it was only an hour’s drive, and that’s due to heavy traffic, to the neighboring city of Rawalpindi to witness the national tent-pegging and horse dance championship.
Our friend Monica, who is passionate about horses, saw this amazing events last year. But these were usually held in vacant fields in towns, so we were content to admire her photos until now. This year’s competition was held at the Rawalpindi Polo Ground. We arrived in time to catch two horses compete in the dancing competition. In true Pakistani style, the horses were accompanied by two or three musicians. One had bells attached to her ankles so one could hear her hoofs moving to the beat of the drums.
The main event was the group competition in tent-pegging. This is an ancient equestrian sport believed to be based on a battle strategy of attacking an enemy camp by removing the tent pegs first causing the tents to collapse. In the competition each team had four men attempting to pierce tent pegs with their lances while riding the horses at 25-30 mph. Scores are not only based on their speed and accuracy, but also their ability to literally keep their hats on.
Hiraeth 