What is Eventing?
What is eventing? Eventing (or sometimes referred to as Horse Trials) originally evolved from the training and selection of cavalry horses, today it is three equestrian disciplines (dressage, show jumping and cross country) combined and competed by horse and rider as a combination.
Each of the three disciplines is designed to test the horses ability - dressage shows how trainable the horse is and its basic paces in walk, trot and canter. The show jumping shows athleticism, control and accuracy while the cross country tests stamina, speed, jumping and bravery. The sport is rather like the triathlon in that it combines different disciplines in one competition and is run on a cumulative penalty basis. The competitor with the least penalties at the end is the winner. Have a look at this video by Land Rover, made for the Burghley Horse Trials in the UK. It does a good job of describing and showing what three-day eventing is all about. |
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Dressage
The first test is dressage, which comprises a set sequence of compulsory movements in an arena.
The test is judged by one or more judges who are looking for balance, rhythm and suppleness and most importantly, obedience of the horse and its harmony with the rider. Each movement is scored out of ten with the total being added up and converted to a penalty score. |
Cross-Country
The cross country phase is a course of natural obstacles that have to be jumped - again inside an optimum time - being over the time incurs penalties and being too fast it is of no benefit and unnecessarily tires the horse. Stopping at obstacles or falling off also incurs penalties.
To get a real sense of the thrill of cross country from the rider's perspective, watch this video of one of our members tackling the preliminar or prenovice course at Barroca dÁlva... keep breathing, it's exciting stuff! |
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Show Jumping
The show jumping phase is one round of jumping over fences that can be knocked down with a maximum time allowed.
The fences are not as high as top level show jumping but are quite substantial for horses which are not specialists at show jumping. Fences knocked down and refusals incur penalties as does exceeding the time allowed. |