And if such sports get too rough for human competitors, you can always bring in the animals. In the fall in ancient Mongolia, when the horses were fat and the grass was tall, the twelve tribes would hold horsemanship competitions. "Those watching the competition were more enthusiastic than those competing," Szu-ma Chung-yuan says.
古代蒙古草原秋天馬肥草長時，十二個部族舉行聯合賽馬會，「看熱鬧的人勁頭比參賽者還大，裡頭的馬搶戴紅花（爭冠軍），外面就下注了」，司馬中原說。