They say BE90 is the equivalent of our novice, and height-wise it is, but I can’t imagine seeing most of these on a novice course here. These look like mini-advanced fences/questions! https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/features/mitsubishi-motors-cup-90-cross-country-686580
No wonder UK riders are so good XC. Not only do many of them hunt while tadpoles, but they are faced with real questions almost at the start of their BE careers which can begin at twelve. Am I not right that there is only one level lower than BE90? And even if this is championship level for BE90, it’s asking very serious questions.
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Viney, I thought the same thing - no wonder they’re so good over there. This was a championship course, but still, I don’t think the AEC novice course ever looks like this. I just saw that the BE80 championships will be at/during Burghley the next few years. I wonder what that one will look like!
Yes there’s a BE80T (‘T’ for training) class. The championship courses (Badminton and Blair for the Scottish Champs) are a hugely popular aim for the grassroots riders over here but are set to be a challenge at that level. The riders qualify by being in the top couple (I think it’s 10%) at an ordinary BE90/100 then in the top 25% at a Regional Final. The RFs are a pretty high standard but there is always a good mix of horses that compete at Badminton Grassroots, native ponies have won in the past and an acquaintance’s Highland Pony qualified this year but sadly was sold before the event.
There are several lower levels…but just as here, not all recognized (I think it goes down to BE80 for recognized). That course looks like fun! And appropriate for a championship course. The AECs are technically a championship course but not really. Its easier to qualify for the AECs than for Badminton Grassroots.
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It did look insane. I think there were a ton of stops/runouts/falls at some of the narrow stuff though, IIRC. So even some of those riders might not have been totally prepared. It looks like so much fun though!
The link posted shows all the data for rider falls, refusals, and retirements. It did seem like there were a lot, but I didn’t look at how many competed so not sure if the percentages are normal.
It seems like there were plenty of problems around the course, more than at a normal BE90, but still more than half got round. I looked at some of the fences when at the 5* and thought they looked imposing but appropriate for the championshio level. One rider, David Britnall, won the Mitsubishi Cup a couple of years ago and this year was riding the same horse around the 5*.
Last year I met a family whose daughter was a prize winner on her New Forest pony. They were still buzzing. As they had had such a good time on the Wednesday, they decided stay on for the rest of the week. They had everything with them - except enough pony food. Their feed company had a stand in the shopping village and gave them free samples to cover the full period.
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Rockonxox, there were 99 starters. Per the article: “The optimum time was seven minutes, with horses required to travel at 450m/min, which 39 combinations from 99 starters achieved by jumping clear inside the time (39%). Fifty-nine competitors managed a clear cross-country jumping round — 60% of starters.”
Rockonxox., per the article, there were 99 starters with 39 clear inside the time and 59 clear but with time.
It is a championship course so certainly tougher than a standard BE 90.
there is a website that hosts a lot of course photos from many of the regular BE events if you want to see what normal British courses are. It’s called shoestring Eventing
Is there a website like that in the US that I don’t know about? Please say yes!
Interesting to look at the stats for each jump. Most of the refusals/falls/retirements were at the technical questions, except for jump 13, which looks pretty straightforward in the picture. I’d be curious to know what else was going on around that jump to cause so many issues at a seemingly innocuous fence.
Also, how cool that they have something like this at the lower levels! I could actually see myself doing a course like that. What a fantastic experience it must be for those riders.
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I have the app for mycoursewalks and it is terrible. I didn’t realize there was a website though. I’ll check it out. Thanks!
The straight route would be to jump it at that angle, as a corner to get to fence 14.
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80 percent of these would not be legal here due to width requirements.
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