SIDE HORSE

Diagram of a side horse, with detail of a pommel (handhold) also called pommel horse gymnastic apparatus, a leather-covered form 1.6 metres (63 inches) long, 34 to 36 centimetres (13.4 to 14.2 inches) wide, and (measured to its top) about 110 cm (43 inches) from the floor with a support in its centre (see illustration). Curved wooden pommels (handholds), 12 cm (4.7 inches) high, are inserted in the top of the horse 40 to 45 cm (15.75 to 17.72 inches) apart. The gymnast supports himself with his hands by holding the pommels over the horse and performs movements of the trunk and legs, without stops, such as single or double leg circles and crosses of the legs (scissors). These are combined with turns and changes of the hands' grasp to the forward part of the horse (neck), the centre (saddle), and the rear (croup). It is necessary to vary the movements and also to perform them both to the left (clockwise) and to the right. The apparatus stems from a wooden horse introduced by the Romans and used to teach mounting and dismounting. They added it to the ancient Olympic Games. The basic modern exercises were developed in the early 19th century by Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, founder of the German turnverein. It is a gymnastics event for men only and is contested in the modern Olympic Games.