The Basics
Here, you’ll find a dialogue and interesting facts related to it — at the A2 level of English. By VANESSA CLARK
A dialogue in easy English
Dialogue
Here, we present interesting lives from around the Englishspeaking world. This time, we talk to Ginny Carwardine-palmer, a dressage rider.
Have you always loved horses?
Oh, yes. I’ve always been mad about horses and ponies.
Do you have your own horse?
Yes, I have Laddie. He has a great temperament and fantastic potential. I’m totally in love with him.
Tell us about dressage.
It’s a bit like ballet for horses. You do a series of figures in the arena. It started as training for military horses. Until 1952, only military officers could compete in the dressage at the Olympics.
You and Laddie both look super-smart.
Thank you. Everything has to be perfect for a competition. The white jodhpurs and gloves aren’t ideal when you’re working with horses.
It looks really difficult.
It takes a lot of training, for the horse and the rider. Did you know that horse riding is the only sport where men and women compete directly against each other?
If you win, does the horse get a prize?
No! Only the rider. It’s not fair, is it? But I always give Laddie something, too. He’s very fond of bananas!
Show and tell
Now, find out about something Ginny wears: jodhpurs.
Why are riding trousers called “jodhpurs” in English? The answer can be found in India.
There is an old style of Indian trousers called the churidar, which are wide above the knee but tight below the knee. In the Indian city of Jodhpur, horse riders wore this style of trousers.
Sir Pratap Singh, the son of the Maharaja of Jodhpur, was a keen polo player. When he visited Queen Victoria in England in 1897, he took his polo team with him. The English polo players were interested in the Indian players’ riding trousers. The new style quickly became the fashion among English riders.
These days, jodhpurs are made of modern, elastic material. They are tight, like leggings, above and below the knee — but their name still reminds us of their Indian origins.