The re-do of the American eventing calendar was “a daunting task” for the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s eventing bid review group, according to USEF Eventing Sport Committee Chairman Mike Huber.
The reorganization left the Jersey Fresh International without the FEI (international) 4-star and 3-star Long and 4-star Short sections from 2023 through 2027. Although the 2022 edition of the event could have been held with those divisions, sponsors understandably didn’t want to back a competition that would not be continuing. (For more information, see this link)
Explaining the work of the bid review group, headed by Olympic cross-country course designer Derek di Grazia, Mike noted the calendar had been “a little bit of a free-for-all” for years. He mentioned that the late Roger Haller (whose family founded the Essex Horse Trials) was one of the first people to recognize the situation and took a look at solving it.
Mike Huber, head of the USEF Eventing Sport Committee chairman.
“There had to be some sort of a master plan. That’s what this project was meant to do, to try to have some control over what was happening and have a process not just for events that were already there, but for new events to have an opportunity and maybe have big backing on it where it would improve the sport all around,” Mike said.
He mentioned there was a plan “that the competitions all would be in a flow chart that made it best for high performance (riders) to prepare themselves; the Shorts to prepare for the Longs, the Longs preparing for the qualification to go the following year to a 5-star
“When you had a calendar that had been in place for a long time without much real disruption or correction, you then see yourself one day looking and saying. `Wow, these (divisions) aren’t really where we want them to be and at the time we want them to be.’ I hope we got it right. People worked very hard on this.
“I feel initially for some it will be painful and maybe for others, there will be an adjustment having to work toward a certain weekend. The whole idea was to make a better calendar for all. I feel badly for any event that didn’t get what they were hoping for. It was a difficult decision and we were looking to make the best caliber we could come up with,” added Mike, a double gold medalist at the 1987 Pan American Games and veteran of two World Equestrian Games, who served as the youngest president of the U.S. Eventing Association when he was in his early 30s.
He pointed out, “there are probably more venues than there are horses to run in them. What you don’t want to do is have a 4-star Short every weekend and have 20 horses in each class. There had to be a way to make these classes competitive. It’s good for Areas II (NJ, Pa., Md, Del., Va., NC) and III (Tenn., SC, Miss., Ala., Ga and Fla.) that there are that many events vying for those competitions. Any that didn’t get what they wanted, or an FEI event, certainly should continue to run their national event.”
In 2023 at the Horse Park of New Jersey, where Jersey Fresh has been the headline competition since 2003, the facility’s national-level offerings will include a group of divisions from Beginner Novice through Intermediate, headed by an Advanced horse trials the weekend of June 17.
“As time goes on,” Mike said, “there will be adjustments and changes that can be looked at as new events come along and older events improve. If an event that has been awarded the contract does not fulfill their obligations or quality is not as promised, they could be changed out.”
Being awarded a date “is not a guarantee. You have to fulfill your obligations,” whether it’s prize money or the footing or anything else, Mike emphasized, saying an event could lose its privilege and its date could be re-opened for bidding.
As an example, he cited the Foxhall event outside of Atlanta, which was a national championship that debuted in 2000 and once vied with Britain’s Badminton as the world’s richest event. It disappeared five years later, with organizers citing lack of a spectator base to keep it going.
“Anything can happen,” said Mike.
“Ultimately, we’ll be ready for whatever comes down.”
The most discussion was about the length of time selected for the events to run on the basis of the group’s decision, with some wanting more and others wanting less than five years, Mike said. But five years was selected “because an event is going to make investments…they don’t want to do that if they think in a year or two they are going to lose it.”
Interestingly, the new TerraNova facility in Myakka City, Fla., east of Bradenton and Sarasota, Fla., never ran a horse trials before it was awarded a 4-star Short, which debuted this weekend with 16 entries.
Asked how TerraNova got the okay without a track record, Mike said, “they have a proven team,” mentioning course designer Mark Phillips and Shelley Howerton Page.
Leslie Law and Lady Chatterley won the 4-star Short this weekend at TerraNova, the newest competition on the eventing calendar. (Al Green Photo)
There was, Mike explained, “a lot of stock put into that. They had a proven team that showed they could get things done.”
MaryAnn Musal, a show jumper who lives near TerraNova but never visited until this weekend, said, “it is obvious no expense was spared for the welfare of the horses, or for the competitor and spectator experience. The attention to detail right down to the temporary bathrooms, shuttles for spectators from the parking area and unbelievable footing for the horses was amazing. I can’t wait to attend a jumper show at that venue.”
Mike commented that one problem involves the fact that there’s no regulation on how big classes have to be.
“One event runs an advanced class with 35 to 40 horses in it, that’s what coaches want to see, they want to see those riders go head to head.”
But if another event splits the division, when a rider in one section is touting the fact that he got fifth place, realistically he probably would have finished lower if the event had not been split.
“It happens at all levels because local horse trials want people to come back to their event and people want a ribbon. It’s an odd mindset, but it’s an American mindset. We see this in schools where everyone gets a trophy and no one is a loser.”
The idea of the calendar change is to get bigger classes and push people so they are not satisfied with third place.
“This is why the amount of competitions, whether they be Short or Long, is being controlled for a reason. We want these people to compete head to head. That’s what it’s all about; that’s what’s going to make them better and make those competitions healthier, because they have a full complement of entries as a result of, fewer but better-attended competitions.
“Jersey will be running an Advanced Horse Trials and should take pride in that and make that better,” continued Mike, noting with that perspective, Jersey “could eventually slot into going back into the FEI category, if that’s what they support.”
