On August 31, 2018, Serbia Post issued a postage stamp dedicated to the Ljubiče Equestrian Games.
The Ljubiče Equestrian Games are the largest equestrian event in Serbia, attracting thousands of horse lovers and tourists. They have been held annually on the first weekend of September since 1964. The program of the games includes a horse show, children's vaulting, flat racing, steeplechase, trotting and show jumping, as well as the traditional equestrian pentathlon.
This is the third time that Serbia Post has issued postage stamps in honor of this equestrian event. This time, artist Boban Savić depicted trotting races on the stamp. These are competitions designed to determine the fastest horses, they are held at hippodromes according to strictly defined rules. Riders participating in the races sit in special light two-wheeled carts - rockers, into which horses are loaded. During the race, horses must move at a strictly defined gait - trot or, less often, amble. At the same time, according to the rules, switching to any other gait is a serious mistake. If the horse breaks into a gallop, this gallop can lead to its disqualification and withdrawal from the competition.
The new Serbian stamp can be attributed not only to the theme of equestrian sports, but also to the theme of "stamp errors". It is difficult to expect from the artists who create postage stamps a thorough knowledge of all the features and subtleties of a particular object or event. After all, they have to illustrate stamps on completely different topics - from space exploration to the structure of the subsurface. Artists create drawings based on the provided materials and available sources and, sometimes, allow inaccuracies and errors.
As is known, during a trotting race, all horses must move at the same gait. On the Serbian postage stamp, we see that the horses' legs are moving completely randomly. The horse in the background is a candidate for disqualification because it is not running, but galloping - it literally flies above the ground. The gait of the horse in the foreground is also very difficult to identify, but it is definitely not a trot or an amble.
In general, from the point of view of an equestrian, the stamp turned out to be about how trotting races should not look in reality, but as a philatelist, I will gladly put it in my collection. The stamp is dedicated to the largest equestrian event in Serbia and I am glad that the country's post office has included an issue on the theme of equestrian sports in the 2018 plan.
I apologize for any errors or inaccuracies