All equestrian sports get $1.7M which is spread between 3 disciplines. If, as people claim, that eventing will die without this money, then it is in a sorry state indeed. $1.7M is not much money even if it were dedicated to just eventing.
Eventing needs to cut and run away from the Olympics as fast as it can before the IOC/USOC kill it completely.
You should not be able to win an Olympic medal of any variety if your horse cannot pass a jog after cross country.
The above is all I personally really care about, but in addition to this decision being reckless from a welfare perspective and generally ruining the spirit of the sport, itâs stupid. Allegedly, this decision is being made to âincrease spectator and broadcast appealâ. Has no one considered any of the following scenarios?
This doesnât seem like a positive for spectators or the broadcast. I know itâs not a positive for horse welfare or the legitimacy of the sport. Someone explain the benefits of this to me like Iâm 5, because no matter your motivation here I donât think this gets you where you want to go.
Yup. The only way it makes any sense to me is if itâs also another step on the path to the cross-country course being inside an arena. I know the article says, âFEI eventing committee chairman and Olympic gold medallist David OâConnor stressed that the âshort-formatâ cross-country would still run according to the current specifications of 10 minutes.â But if their main concerns are single-site hosting, spectator-friendliness, cost, and complexity, arena eventing seems like the inevitable next step.
I know nobody really cares what we think, but is there a good way for USEF / USEA / FEI members to voice concerns about the horse welfare aspects?
According to the article, âDuring the eventing seminar, FEI eventing committee chairman and Olympic gold medallist David OâConnor stressed that the âshort-formatâ cross-country would still run according to the current specifications of 10 minutes.â
Since cross country is currently the phase drawing the most spectators (hence why they want medals awarded afterwards), I feel like the IOC wonât want to mess with that phase and risk losing viewers.
Oh, this is fascinating. Itâs from the Olympic & Paralympic Committee, so para dressage is included - each discipline is getting under $500k?
The biggest budget line by far is high performance at about $1.5m, which went to 12 athletes total across all disciplines. The Olympic committee isnât funding âeventingâ as a sport, it is funding training, travel and coaching for a small number of Olympic-level event riders. That $ could easily be raised by private and corporate donors and distributed more equitably throughout the sport.
I also donât buy that inclusion in the Olympics creates such valuable visibility for the sport that thereâs a trickle-down effect where everyone benefits. There are whole universes of horse sport that are doing just fine without the IOC anywhere in the picture. And if weâre talking about visibility, congrats to the cutting horse folks, whose recent acquisition of Bella Hadid is better global PR than any Olympic medal!
Just a thought, it might actually be better for the horses to end post cross country. They can then be rested for as long as needed, instead of being asked to make a huge effort on CC and then another effort the next day in show jumping. Since horses arenât meaningful volunteers, it might improve horse welfare even if itâs not âtrueâ eventing. But then, are any of the horse sports âtrueâ to their origins?
The point is that riders can run horses down to zero if they donât have to save something for the show jumping. Some riders are better at this than others! But it is a safety mechanism. Stadium was not originally meant to be an impressive showcase of show jumping. It was meant to show that after the exertions of cross country day the horses were sound and fresh enough to still want to jump. And if you think riders wonât run horses down to zero, I have a bridge to sell youâŠ
I also find it disappointing that the so-called leaders in the sport (i.e. DOC, etc.) just roll over for these changes every time. You would think they fight to protect their sport but they donât.
While I hope you are correct, but I donât believe you are. Look at the recent demise of the British Eventing Festival. David OâConner can state what he wishes but he will be overruled by the masses and the pocketbooks.
If you look at social media and other places, showcase or arena evening looks to garner larger audiences as the days are shorter and the public can understand the entirety of the phase from a comfortable place. Also, arena eventing is much more TV friendly as you can run a large number of riders in a shorter time (double the number of rides per hour at a minimum as compare to the 10 minute for short format XC) with less needed cameras, emergency personnel, no volunteers for jump judging, score running, simpler courses and fences, reduced facility maintenance,âŠ
Additionally, large crowds like the classic 5* are NOT what drives the IOC. TV revenue and the ability to include countries with no prior participation in the sport are. They donât look at the typical format in any way other than revenue.
I have thought for a while now that the Olympics should go to a âdisassembledâ model.
The idea is to keep host countries from building for all the niche sports and to allow the sports to function more freely and fairly. So the core Olympic sports are held in the familiar way. However, the more niche sports like equestrian, kayaking, and others that require specific or large areas may hold their events elsewhere during the window of time of the Olympics. Sports can use existing facilities without the time pressures now seen at the Olympics. Dressage, eventing, and show jumping could take whatever time needed, in the same or different venues. There could be requirements to hold the events in different hemispheres in different Olympiads.
What funding? I am not aware of any funding from the US government for Eventing (or the other Olympic Equetrian disciplines). If there is funding I havenât heard about, I would like to know what it is.
From David OâConnor;
âIf weâre going to be judged by media, right, which is what the Olympic Games isâyouâre always judged by how many people are watching, what the interest isâand the TV people are saying, âWe think that format is really much more celebratory of your sport,â I think you have to listen to it, and thatâs what happened.â
Entire article;
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/everyone-wants-to-go-david-oconnor-on-olympic-eventing-changes/
A very unconvincing argument by DOC.
it seems to me, if they are going to do the individual medals the next day, why in the world wouldnât that defeat the purpose of having the xc last? That is just crazy.
Your job is to go clean and as fast as you can go safely around the cross-country course. And then you deal with the next day, thatâs the reality. So I donât see that really changing. [The CCI4*-S at Gatcombe] was the one to win in the world for a long time, now Aachen is one of those ones to win, and you donât see people taking stupid, crazy chances. Iâm not that worried about the security of the horses [doing cross-country last].
Yeah, David, but under this format you donât have to deal with the day after cross-country, thatâs the thing. He uses all these examples of other events where cross-country is last and how that doesnât affect horse welfare, but despite his argument that those events are âthe one to winâ, we all know they arenât. You want to win those events not because thatâs the goal, but because those events are preparatory and selection events for a major goal (like, idk, the Olympics). When the Olympics is the goal, the next day doesnât matter. If the horse your federation bought you to win a team Olympic medal wins a team Olympic medal, youâve done your job, regardless of whether the horse can trot the next day. That pressure is immense.
I would disagree that itâd be watered down⊠it will still be five-star dressage, five-star show jumping, four-star cross-country
Well, then he and Oxford Languages will have to agree to disagree about what âwatered downâ means, because by his own admission itâs only a four-star cross-country (I know thatâs not new). And the literal definition of watered down is âaltered so as to be weaker in force, content, or value.â
Also, not for nothing, but
Thereâs not a competitor that actually doesnât want to go, right?
Andrew Nicholson has entered the chat
âŠI know Iâm being snarky. This sucks. This is the coolest sport. And it deserves better.
If sound and happy event horses are the âpictureâ that tv advertising dollars are after, I say letâs make it lean more towards good judgment and horsemanship/training. No watches, No whips, No spurs. Time allowed not revealed until after xc.
In this climate of welfare concerns it may change the picture to one of a cooperative horse volunteering to participate in this game.
LA 2028 announced some venue changes today, including equestrian moving from Sepulveda Basin to Galway Downs in Temecula.
Source - LA Times which doesnât do gift articles.
Itâs stunning regarding how much money is being spent when you can claim " generate an estimated $156 million in savings and revenue, the private LA28 committee said."
It also shows how minor equestrian sports are in this country. Britain put them in London in 2012. Here it would draw less than sports like skateboarding, BMX and Archery.
âLA28 has proposed holding equestrian events at Galway Downs in Temecula. In return, the Valley would get an arguably more-popular trio of skateboarding, BMX cycling and archery.â
Another factor is that Galway is an established venue for all three disciplines, so costs would be less than creating an equestrian venue from scratch in the Sepulveda Basin.
Both places are hot.
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