Origins of dressage arena markers - HELP!!!

I have a totall computer geek friend, who asked me the same question (he's not into horses at all).. when i said i didn't have a clue, he took it upon himself to search the internet (a job he is payed to do sometimes, he's so good at it) to find out exactly why the letters A,K,E,H,C,M,B,F, are used... and he couldn't find anything anywhere....
So good luck looking!!! if he coudn't find out why, i don't fancy anyone elses chances
wink.gif
 
Wasn't it something military - the letters stand for military rankings in soem foreign language (German? Greek? Italian? French? Don't know...) and they were positioned around a courtyard. The officers' horses got brought out for rides by their grooms and stood by the letter corresponding to the person riding the horse. And they also used to school in the courtyard, hence the letters becoming school markers.
Something like that anyway!
 
quote...

"...no-one knows the origin of the order of the letters. They first
appeared in 1931 in a Grand Prix test prepared for the 1932 Olympic
Games. Before that different letters like ABCD and XYZ were used. From
1912 to 1924 the size of the arena also changed from 20x40m to 20x60m,
and finally stuck at 20x60m. Prior to 1932 the movements were also
very different to those seen today, and they were NOT shown at a fixed
letter."
 
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