A look at the history of the vaulting horse shows us that it developed from the wooden horse with pommels. (See "From wooden horse to Pegases")

Even Alexander the Great and his Macedonians are said to have practised mounting and dismounting on a wooden horse. In the 4^th century Vegetius describes Roman soldiers using wooden horses for practice in his “Overview of the Roman Army". Somebody must have remembered Vegetius' work in the 17^th century and expanded what was originally part of military training into a sporting activity. Equestrian acrobatics was an important part of the education at academies for knights and fencing schools up until the late 18^th century, and a great number of manuals date from this time.
Models of the pommel horse from various eras:

Vieth model 1795, Height was already adjustable

Guts Muths model  around 1800,   with iron biegels

Jaeger model around 1860, wooden horse with leather cover

Belgian model, with odd feet, fully symmetric

At the beginning of the 20^th century gymnastics horses had to fulfil the following requirements (quoted from Jahrbuch der Turnkunst 1907):

The Americans brought a version of the horse to the 1948 Olympics 
that was only 160cm long and was built completely symmetrically. As a result, they were able to show totally new combinations and great virtuosity in their leg circles on the end of the horse.  
At a meeting in Venice, Italy, in 1955 the International Gymnastics Federation’s apparatus committee discussed the horse with a length of only 160cm, which was already being widely used in Switzerland, and a year later it was finally officially certified at a meeting in Boppard, Germany. From now on, one no longer spoke of neck and rump, but of two equal “ends”. Pommel horse artists such as Grant Schaginjan performed with incredible virtuosity on this horse at the 1954 world championships. Their technique had a major influence on the further development of the apparatus.

The development of the pommels 
largely depended on the type of use. As long as the horse was used mainly for jumping and equestrian acrobatics were merely a dry run for riding, the pommels didn’t have any special function. But once gymnasts began swinging in the support position – first with one leg, and in the middle of the 19^th century the two-legged swing became popular- this influenced the form of the pommels. Swiss gymnastics was particularly progressive during this period and in the 1880s the pommel horse spread into German gym clubs as well. The standard pommel was hollow, mostly made from iron in the beginning, but in later years wood was also used. Some of the pommels were covered in leather. The pommels of the horse used at the 1936 Olympics were noticeably flatter in comparison to the earlier ones.

This trend continued in the mid 1950s. 
Pommel horse artists forced the further development of the apparatus through new elements. Examples are Yu Lifeng of China and his circles on one pommel at the 1962 world championships in Prague or pommel horse specialist Russel Mills, who showed circles in cross support on one pommel in 1964. Then, of course, Miroslav Cerar, Zoltan Magyar… The call for pommels that allowed for a fleeting double hold/grip at an equal height of the pommels became louder and louder. In 1974 the pommels were lengthened from 280 to 310mm. At the 1975 Gymnastrada in Berlin a revolutionary new pommel was introduced – machine manufactured, it was made entirely from plastic. Another novelty was the distance between the pommels (400 to 450mm), which was adjustable without any steps.  

German

- ehe -
update: 15-Oct-2011

* RotterdaM Today....

World Champion 2010 & 2011
Krisztian Berki (HUN)

World Champion 2009

ZHANG Hongtao (CHN)

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