I’m wanting to revisit the idea of Cross Country Equestrian (The new sport).
Did anyone attend a competition? Thoughts? Thoughts from the outside looking in?
I think its been a thing for 2 years now? I see them posting about having accredited competitions at 3 venues this year. Is anyone planning to attend these? Just curious about thoughts if you are making a point to attend them or have you decided it is not for you?
I’d also be interested to hear thoughts from people who have attended one of these events. A local pony club canceled their annual recognized event this year and instead are hosting a CCE clinic and competition. Lots of local eventers were really disappointed to lose the USEA event and were adamant about not attending anything affiliated with CCE. So interested to get some unbiased perspectives.
Hi folks, I helped run 4 low-key, workshop CCE competitions last year, I have worked with Nick and Jeanie for these and I am happy to answer any questions you have. I am not 100% convinced that this is the solution to all the problems but I really like what Nick is trying to create. He is emphasizing the safety, horsemanship, on course decision making of the rider, and good experiences for the horse and rider that are starting to falter in Eventing. He is also de-emphasizing things like expensive “proper” attire and fancy moving horses that end up making standard Eventing have a fairly high bar to entry/success. He is also actively discouraging the balls to the wall, must conquer everything red haze that sometimes makes people forget the above things about safety, horsemanship, etc. when they’re out on course. I’m happy to get into details of the rules if you want but I will just say here that it’s not as complicated as it reads when you read the rulebook.
Hi Kate! Where are you now? Can you give a brief summary about what this is all about? I am late to the party. How is it run? Thanks! Joy
I’ve been to several of these (the ones @KateRakowski above helped run) at Win Green in Virginia. I’ve ridden my own (green) horses there and have brought probably 10 different students, mostly beginners, to them- everyone LOVES them! Nick has a great vision for the future of the sport and has worked incredibly hard to build an inclusive environment that doesn’t require anything fancy. I’m an eventer at heart and am continuing to attend my usual events, but also added all the CCEs to my calendar. From skimming the rulebook I thought the rules would be confusing but it’s way easier to understand than anticipated.
For those who aren’t familiar, the easiest way to think of most of the events is it’s cross country with all optional fences and a quick pace. It works on a point system where each fence is worth a set point value (with some challenge fences worth more) and refusals/rails/time are (negative) penalties. Highest points for the level wins. At the low levels, you can ride it like a typical XC course (if desired), but the idea is that as you move up there is more strategy required to win- for example, the times are set such that you can’t really make them without going way too fast, so you need to offset the penalties with challenge fences and skip fences that might require you to slow down too much. There are also “allowances” that are designed to make the events friendlier for green horses/riders (e.g. going out in pairs) and give venues with limited resources the ability to host events. Coaching is also always allowed (and in fact, encouraged), which makes these events fantastic for our students who are nervous to compete, and being able to completely skip fences that you don’t think will be successful are great for green horses. The levels are loosely equivalent to eventing levels (e.g. Level 2 is Starter, Level 3 is BN, etc.) but in my experience the levels are pretty darn maxed out and have much more technical elements than you’d see in an equivalent XC course (we require our riders to stay at Level 1 unless they are confident at 2’6+)-- but again, I’ve only been to events at one facility. There are other minor rules beyond that of course, but that’s the quick overview and gets the main ideas across.
Overall, I highly recommend them. They’re inviting to everyone and our whole barn has a blast every time we attend.
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