Our columnist wants a more practical U.S. system for getting our young horses the mileage they need to reach the top.
New efforts are underway on both the national and international fronts to look, in an organized way, at the future of jumping. Interestingly, the impetus to do this reached critical mass on both levels at almost exactly the same time.
From USPC Championships to EAP to World Cup qualifiers, our columnist sees an opportunity for riders at every level to learn more.
Recently my travels have taken me around the continent to a variety of different events. They’ve been a good reminder of the wide array of activities offered by our sport. The fun and fresh perspective that can come with adding a little variety to what we do is sometimes overlooked when we fill our schedules with horse show after horse show.
It’s never too late to start—and there’s always more to learn.
The reminders are everywhere. This sport of ours is one for the ages—all ages that is. As this issue of the Chronicle celebrates youth, I’d like to remind our junior riders just what a long future they could have as a jumping rider.
Our columnist hopes that eventually it will become commonplace again for international show jumpers to start their horses from scratch.
Having so many different disciplines within equestrian sports is part of what makes it so interesting. We’ll be seeing all eight Fédération Equestre Internationale-recognized disciplines at the end of September in Kentucky at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.
Our columnist recalls the cyclical journey that the selection process has taken over the past few decades.
Jumping, like all equestrian sports, is a fickle game. With an endless variety of variables at play, not even the very best horse-and-rider combination is infallible on any given day. This situation means that selecting a team for an event such as the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games comes to as much art as science.
Our columnist hopes we can regain the best aspects of eras past and merge them with the best of today’s sport.
It’s been nearly a decade that I’ve been writing Between Rounds columns here in the Chronicle, and in looking back over past columns one frequently recurring theme has appeared. Although some very good progress has been made, there remains a real disconnect between the breeders and most of those involved in competitive show jumping in North America.
On the international front, 2009 was the “off year” of the quadrennial for senior championships and games. We will complete this quad with the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (here in Kentucky) later this year, the Pan American Games (in Guadalajara, Mexico) in 2011 and the Olympic Games (in London) in 2012.
Our columnist believes our young riders and young horses could benefit one another for the future of the sport.
The best–and worst–thing about our sport is its uniqueness in requiring an animal and a human to meld into a single athletic entity. Success in any equestrian competitive discipline requires talent, training, and total focus on the part of both members of the team. Show jumping in particular demands teamwork to handle the many expected, and unexpected, challenges posed by today’s courses.
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