Saw this on Facebook this evening: www.crosscountryequestrianassociation.com
Cool concept but not super clear on the rules/format based on the website…I will say the Flying Cross crew in KY is absolutely amazing so I’m sure it will be a fun time!
I hope this is a not new sport. Eventing seems to keep chipping away at itself. First it was taking away the endurance phase. Then it was having short and long formats for FEI events. Then express eventing/arena eventing.
The sport has become a contortionist in search of an audience and is failing at all attempts. Don’t get me wrong, I like the safety inventions like frangibles, but the sport we have today is a far cry, and not better in my opinion, than it was 30-40 years ago.
XC is about effective riding not posing over fences like they do in the hunter world.
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I’ve seen this shared by multiple people, and I’m super interested due to the pick your own jump or pass a jump depending on what your horse needs. My horse right now needs the first 5 at Starter, then 5 at BN, then 5 at N - while he is still figuring out confidence.
I’m very interested to see how this turns out - but I think I’ll use it for schooling for eventing. Not stopping eventing. I like stadium (and could probably be a show jumper if they had ride times…) and dressage (with the right horse), but this would be a good way to practice the XC separate than just schooling.
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I don’t really see this as something that will undermine eventing as a sport - this feels more like another cool thing to do during what we call “fall fun season” where I’m at. We’re past peak event season, championships are done and it’s low-pressure, fun competitions like mini unrated shows with costumes on xc, derbies, paces, etc - all capped off with cider of course.
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You can go hunting all winter 
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what is this fresh hell? DO the jump judges now need to know equitation? I can see good eq in a photo but live? No way.
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I wish we still had an active hunt around us!! Believe me, I would kill for an opportunity to wear some tweed and ride out and about like that. Unfortunately a lot of the land the hunt club use to use is private and I think a lot of them aged out that it just puttered out of existence.
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Hi- thanks so much for the interest! I wanted to answer the equitation question. And it’s simply that it means horseback riding. We didn’t like it at first either but cross country riding could mean atvs etc. We are starting this to create more opportunities and hope it helps horses and riders in many different ways.
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The FAQ said that it was objective scoring, so I don’t think they will be judging equitation. I am not 100% how it is scored, but I don’t think it is the typical equitation round.
My understanding after looking at the webpage was that each jump will have a point value. Should you attempt, you will receive X points. Maybe if you do the challenge jump at the next level it will be X+2 points? If you have a rail, it will be X-4? If you don’t attempt, you will get 0 for that obstacle. Runout/refusal must be X-10 or something? Highest score wins.
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a rail on cross country? What level is this? Surely not starter? In photos from the hard copy of CoTH, the eq/hunter riders look terrible compared to the xc riders I see. But I stay far away from hunters and eq.
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think the equitation part of the name is a bit misleading - sounds more like a derby class or gambler’s choice class on the cross country course. Actually could be fun, I’m not a fan of dressage tests 
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There will be more information coming out during today on our FB page that will answer many of these questions, but we’ll also address them here as they come up.
CCE is objectively scored. The “Equitation” part is just a reference to riding horses and not something else.
Scoring is simple: Points — Penalties = Final Score
The competitive objective is to finish with the highest score.
The sport has be designed with a ton of integrated flexibility and the current scoring schedule is part of that. Depending on how things go, it is entirely possible the scoring schedule will be adjusted to improve the sport.
Here’s the basics on Scoring.
Regular (RG) obstacle: these are of the standard for the Level in terms of size and technicality.
RG obstacles score 15 points, and can be attempted twice before a Mandatory Pass (MP) is required.
Challenge (CH) obstacle: these are generally of the next Level higher, and score 30 points. CH obstacles can be attempted only once.
Knock Down (KD) obstacle: these have an upper element that can be dislodged. They can be either RG or CH and score accordingly. If the upper element is dislodged, 10 penalties are incurred, but the points are still retained. So a Regular KD obstacle that is dislodged, will result in 5 points (15 points - 10 penalties = 5 points). A KD obstacle can be attempted only once.
We have several systems that ensure KD obstacles are safe, primarily “Captive Element”, which prevents the element from interfering with a horse if dislodged, or at no time allowing a gap between it and the obstacle that could entrap. These are not expensive frangible systems, though frangible can be used wherever appropriate.
A refusal or run-out incurs 50 penalties.
Passing incurs no penalties. Passing is done by riding on the correct side of each jump, indicated by a placard and/or flag, or by passing through a “pass gate”.
Crossing your tracks incurs no penalties - it will cost you time and it seems better that a rider chooses to take a longer route and be safer than feel compelled to try something dangerous in order to avoid a stiff penalty.
Time is penalized at 1 penalty per second. Course time is difficult to make, so time penalties are inevitable. At first this may seem problematic to some, but the situation in eventing is a rider that takes major risks will make time and avoid penalties, while another than rides more tactfully will be penalized. The inevitability of time penalties dramatically reduces their effect on rider behavior. Time penalties are offset by scoring more points by jumping well.
There are other parts to scoring which will be announced going forward, but they are better understood with context. Our roll-out plan withholds some of the concepts and related scoring in order to make understanding the sport easier.
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I agree with the poster that said this sounds like a Derby, not cross country. Would there be jump judges, or is it contained? Is there dressage? Show jumping? (I like dressage:slightly_smiling_face:) To me, it just looks like another way to change eventing for the worse.
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CCE is a brand new sport. It’s fairly simple, but it is different, so it will take a little learning to understand the concepts and rules.
There is more information going out on social channels and on the CCEA website crosscountryequestrianassociation.com
We are confident that people will see the benefits and advantages of CCE once they understand it - whether they choose to specialize in it or use it for cross training for other discipline.
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So this is basically gamblers choice like in jumpers from reading the website. I really don’t see the need.
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I think this is interesting and a fun way to either cross train, or specialize in. Is this being modeled after something in Europe? is there a group of people behind it, I found it a bit odd not to have an about us section or something with names attached to the organization? maybe I missed it on the site. A friend has gotten into Working Equitation, I think the off shoots are fun!
People have a choice, you can stick with traditional eventing of course, or try new things to have fun with your horse.
Best of luck to you, I’m guessing venues and organizing committees will be reaching out to learn more.
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I remember back the days when Flying Cross would offer a couple of optional fence choices on their courses. That way riders could choose to challenge/educate themselves and their horse; prepare for move-ups. I always found the area group to be open minded to ideas and making the sport fun. Like their jumper derbies on Fridays before the event. It’s difficult and expensive enough to pursue the sport and many appreciate more fun choices beyond just organized events.
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Evtrmom, thanks for the interest. The origins are 25-plus years old, but we’ve been developing it seriously for about 4 years now. It’s not modeled on anything else, but it takes the best parts of several equestrian sports, adds in concepts and features that haven’t been used anywhere else, and directly addresses the primary concerns shared widely in the equestrian community. And yes, we’re already getting interest from organizers, which is very exciting for us.
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Pony Grandma, Exactly and precisely why Mary was one of the first organizers we approached - early adopter, visionary type. A major goal of this endeavor is a more accessible equestrian sport for competitors, and a flexible sport that allows organizers to run the best competition based on their venue, situation, resources etc.
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We had something like this that ran in Ontario, Canada. It no longer exists, I think it lasted one season.
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