Are they not already doing this already? It seems to me they are?
Also there is lots of land and trail riding like that in North America.
I found the difference in the UK compared to NA is the quality of horsemanship and training knowledge.
Where you are. Not in lots of places where people have horses.
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Iâm not sure insulting my intelligence, knowledge, and experience is the best way to get your point across.
What skills exactly are necessary before going to an actual horse trials (recognized or unrecognized because in my area the only difference is whether or not jumping is timed - except Upper Bucks that times their unrecognized as well)?
What are the statistics on rider falls at each level?
What do you mean âextra hands to get and help these riders get aroundâ - everyone I know that goes lower level either brings friend/coach or just figures it out with the help of very friendly fellow competitors.
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Are we doing it wrong where I am? (General question to all people responding, not just the person I quoted.)
The only time the show is stopped is if the medic has to leave the grounds with the injured person. Nothing can happen while the medic is gone.
They do not stop the whole show if someone splats and is just getting the once over from the on site ambulance.
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Where my horse lives itâs on the edge of town. We used to be able to get to a field owned by the municipality to do some work there but the Amish moved in next door and fenced in our path. I could go along the road but my horse is deathly afraid of Amish (despite living there her entire life).
I do some conditioning sets up and down the driveway, which is a hill and has a grassy area on either side, but the driveway cuts through farmland from the road. That farmland is owned/managed by the Amish so when they are out working the farm with their horses, I cannot use it (I mean, I CAN, if I want to spend the entire ride on a spooking horse - though sheâs gotten better over the years).
I can go along the road to get to that municipality field but we have an increasing amount of Amish on that road, which means an increasing amount of horse and buggies and an increasing risk. I ride by myself most of the time.
I can trailer to parks or cross country venues ⊠IF I had my own truck and trailer. I borrow a trailer from one person and truck from another just to get to shows. Scheduling to try to get cross country schooling is difficult as no one really goes except me so even just going and bouncing around jumps can be a challenge as I donât have friends that I feel comfortable asking to just hang out in a field ready to call 911 if I fall off and organizing with my trainer is difficult.
There are a ton of challenges out there that are unique to different people - budget, transportation, access to land, access to good training, etc.
Maybe that one recognized show is the only one they went to that year. Maybe it was a goal but maybe it was a stepping stone. Maybe they show 20 times a year always at intro level - who cares, as long as they are having fun.
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I was wondering the same thing - are you in Area 2? I feel like we usually have more than one Medic around but yeah, someone needs to leave in an ambulance to stop the show. I was at a hunter show where everyone had to stop and dismount and wait for the helicopter to come get the person. But Iâve never had that at a horse trials.
As far as the time it takes to check someone out - Iâve seen longer delays for people having issues jumping or getting into arguments with the jump judge.
Your access to venues where you can ride really depends on your area and there can be a stark difference in opportunities in as little as 50 miles.
In some places it really isnât a matter of âjust getting out and doingâ. You might not have legitimate access to do the doing. Land isnât cheap and in many areas isnât a commodity to be spared for equestrians - you might have to drive 40 or so minutes or so just to get to a barn, much less somewhere that has XC courses. Add in most boarders donât have their own truck and trailer or are at the mercy of a trainer for transport, or are adults that work and canât attend within the luxury-hours that most barns tend to operate for schooling (10am-3pm).
Just last week I was at the cross country course 20m from my house, and the woman/daughter pair that trucked in before me from Weare, NH. We got to chatting as her daughter is relatively new to eventing, and they were looking for areas to school and they were asking for more venues to go to in my area. This was their closest one, and it took them an hour and a half to get to. She said instruction in her area was hard to come by, and the instructor with her was relatively new to eventing herself (former HJ trainer). They could only come on weekends because the daughter had school, and trailering plus the riding was a 3-4 hour commitment once it was all said and done, which canât be done on a school night.
Thereâs lots of reasons (XC) schooling opportunities are hard to come by â even in areas where there are plenty of horsey activities.
It made me think of how when I was in upstate NY, I had all this land to ride and not a single cross country course or event within reasonable driving distance. There were plenty of western barns and plenty of H/J barns â but no opportunities for an eventer. For many people, that is the reality of eventing â and once the shows are more than two hours away, they tend to become multi-day affairs â which quickly eliminates many people because that is a $500-600 weekend right there.
Someone might think this is irrelevant to the topic at hand, but it really isnât. Iâve witnessed firsthand how limited schooling opportunities can hamstring an honest attempt to become an eventer â which in turn trickles down to who stays in the sport and who transitions to a different discipline⊠which then trickles out into who participates in event-specific shows, and eventually, which shows shut down and no longer run because of lack of robust attendance.
And thatâs before even getting into how expensive schooling opportunities and shows are for the average rider/owner in America.
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For someone trying and hoping to someday return to BN, this is a very interesting discussion.
I was competing at BN, with a couple of not-great forays into Novice in Area III 20 years ago. A combination of horses with issues, a divorce, job changes, trainer changes â all added up to a long vacation from eventing as a participant.
I walked an Area III BN course this winter, at a facility where I competed when it first opened. The course is NOT the same as it was then â in the questions of jump style or placement on the terrain. I can see the level creep there, as a perfect example.
@Jealoushe â on the one hand, I can see your point. Shows arenât the place to learn the basic skills you need. On the other hand, looking at the sport as if it is JUST about the skills in dressage, xc and show jumping, really misses the essence of eventing. Especially if you are doing a one-day, you also have to handle the crowds, the warm-up, the time management to get to each phase, and all your gear to get to each phase, tacked up and ready to ride. Add in the stress of it being a ârecognizedâ show, and you can have a prescription for a rider that canât remember their test, or suddenly panics at the idea of cantering a maxxed out BN course with complicated questions.
Schooling shows are wonderful, and now in Area III, we have a lot of them, that are run over the same courses that the USEA shows are run over, and those courses are typically good and safe. But, I can also think of one, if not more, where the courses were not built by trained course designers, and arenât safe and donât prepare you well for the level. So having a level at a recognized show that is uncomplicated, safe, and allows for learning about and loving the sport and managing all the aspects of it, without the course also being terrifying, is a wonderful innovation. I will never threaten the folks at the top, and fail to understand why providing for a way for me to come back to this sport in a way that is safe, and allows me to participate with my friends safely is a bad thing.
And, fwiw, I have the land next to me to be able to hack out on, and have my horses at home, so I have advantages many people in the US do not have. But, as a fat, out of shape, middle aged, working ammie, I STILL cannot find enough time in my day to be able to get my horse ridden and fit for sub-BN, much less treating BN as a stepping stone to Novice. This horse is a good soul, but heâs going to have soundness issues (@subk can you imagine me having anything else?!! ) and if we are fortunate enough to enjoy a perennial BN career together, I will be very blessed indeed.
Eventing is my very favorite sport in the horse world, and the inclusion of the lower levels, where I can be a participant, in a tiny way, in addition to all my volunteering, is my favorite change in the last few years. Cheers to Starter/Intro/Amoeba divisions! 
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This is just plain not true in the US.
Every time a rider is âapparently injuredâ the medic must check them out. (SOMETIMES the organizer wants the medic to check out everyone who falls, but THAT is not in the rules).
The only time anything (not everything) stops is if the medic has to deal with someone ON THE COURSE. In that case, THAT PHASE is on hold until the course is clear. But a medic checking out a fall on cross country will not stop dressage or show jumping.
If all the medics LEAVE the grounds (typically to accompany a rider to the hospital), then, yes, all competition must stop until a medic returns. But there is almost always a second medic to stay on the grounds.
Also, if a medevac helicopter is needed, the organizer may choose to âholdâ all phases, because of the distraction created by the helicopter.
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In my area you can do local schooling trials up through novice that are the basic logs, coop, tires course. They usually have a ditch but banks and water complexes are only at some facilities. Show jumping courses are pretty basic and there is some fill but the courses arenât super decorated.
These are great for getting basic experience but didnât prepare my greenie for the type of pretty and in his mind spooky show jumps you find at recognized events or the more decorated/interesting cross county jumps.
Starter at a recognized event was a great way to get our feet wet. He had green and looky moments over little jumps that didnât rattle his confidence and also got used to the much bigger atmosphere of a recognized show. The course was 2â6 and had all the trappings of the recognized levels.
I agree that recognized events arenât the place for the itty bitty log course. But if you are new to the sport or new to bringing along a green horse, having that positive experience at 2â3 or 2â6 can absolutely be the difference between getting into sport or staying in the ring.
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When I started eventing in the 80s there was no BN or intro. Levels started at Novice so we (my horse and I) were doing 2â7-2â9" right off the bat - gates, stone walls, pedestrian crossings, ditches, and banks, but no water. There were no safety vests - you did xc (in the fall) in a turtleneck and a sweater. Most of the BN courses Iâve encountered lately include a bank up, not generally a bank down, baby ditches, and yes, a water crossing.
At most events Iâve been to, the upper level riders go at a different time than the nervous ones that canât canter a course so I donât think their paths will cross in warm up. Unless youâve been to events where both divisions run at the same time?
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One of my favorite photos of my old eventer from the early 1990âs was at Pine Top Thanksgiving horse trial. I am wearing this enormous grey and blue sweater. I remember being so excited that I had found a sweater that matched my helmet cover.
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In the book âPractical Eventingâ by Sally OâConnor, thereâs a section on fitness training for your horse and she says to (paraphrasing) find a large field and mark off 400 meter sections. I donât know anyone who has that available unless youâre Denny Emerson whose FB shows seemingly limitless expanses of green fields. At least in my neck of the woods, there are no large fields that arenât used for farming and I doubt a farmer would be thrilled to have their crops damaged by someone conditioning their horse. Of course, one could always use a race track but finding those that are open to the public are few and far between.
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I have that book on my desk today because someone mentioned it on another thread. Relevant to this thread, I just happened to open it up to a section where she says âDonât spoil all your hard work by asking your horse to jump a substandard poorly designed course⊠Course design is improving rapidly, but there are still some courses that are not suitable for inexperienced horses.â So, people have been complaining about courses being inappropriate for inexperienced horses since at least 1980âŠ
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Actually, many crop fields are surrounded by a grassy margin around the perimeter. I currently gallop and hack around 300 acres of peanut fields, with landowners permission. It was similar in Area IV 20 years ago, hacking around the corn fields and, in winter when it wasnât muddy, blasting across the smooth, picked soybean fields.
Going back to the original topic, I do think level creep is a problem, and adding endless lower and simpler divisions is an unnecessary solution. Fix the level creep, make BN and N back to inviting and friendly.
There is no shame in being a perpetual BN/N rider. But I understand years of the same level, the same boring jumps at the local area HTs, gets dull. 99% of the division going clear XC over plain brown fences each time out at the level doesnât feel like ârealâ eventing. Riders who may be scared or limited below 3ft or 3â3" want to jump special fences tooâŠand so here come the wedges, the bright top tables with cutouts, the faux Trakehner, the half coffin, logs on mounds, etc.
But for the horses and riders first time out, itâs all new and challenging, and plain logs and coops in a new environment isnât boring. Professionals arenât preparing for Rolex at the local Novice HT. Theyâre teaching greenbeans to stay straight, ignore the jump judge, go forward when asked, come back when asked, and trust the rider you can make it to the other side.
Do they jump skinnies, angles, and such with their baby horses? Of courseâŠat home. In a controlled environment, in a confidence building way. Not in competition when baby horse is trying to process a million different things.
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Similar here - until the 300 acres of crop fields were replaced by 30 houses on 10 acre lots.
But I currently condition ( and learn pace) around the perimeter of my pasture. The fence is marked off every 100 m.
And we used to go to a local riding friendly county park, and mark off the meter marks on the fields which contained the cross country course.
When people talk about public parks with cross country courses I think longingly about how dreamy that would be.
All the farm fields near do not have perimeter tractor paths. I wish they did. Those are amazing for riding.
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Most of the fields around here have drainage ditches and no tractor path on the outside.
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No, there are not! Weâre losing schooling/unrecognized events right and left!
That is exacty what people are arguing - they need unrecognized divisions AT recognized events for the schooling opportunities because they simply wouldnât get them otherwise.
Running a starter trail or an unrecognized event (there are two very good ones local to me, thank dog) is a CRAP SHOOT with factors completely beyond the organizerâs control (Covid, weather, other sporting events, date conflicts, etc.) and a very large investment of time, money and organization is made before you cash the first entry check. Sometimes the local event fills and the organizers make decent money. Sometimes they donât and youâre just out of luck. You still have to pay the TD and the dressage judges and feed the volunteers and youâve still spent boatloads of your own uncompensated time.
The model here is pretty much the same as whatâs happened at big hunter shows. The mileage rule and the governing body killed off the old B, C and D rated shows, which lead to the A shows adding a ton of unrecognized or schooling divisions. Which fill, even when the rated divisions donât. Which is why youâll see a 2â6" warm up or schooling class at an A show with 40 - 60 entries, and if you get a ribbon, you should bronze it.
So if no one has the answer for more people to start offering good unrecognized starter trials (because as a business proposition, it makes zero sense. You have to REALLY love the sport and have $$$ to risk to do so), the answer is to have inviting unrecognized divisions at recognized events.
As a coach, I would have loved an event that had a level for everyone in the barn, rather than looking at a calendar and saying âSusie and Mary are going to the two day rated HT running novice, but that conflicts with the local PC HT running starter and intro that Sally, Beth, Tommy and Jennifer need to go to. Oh, yeah, and Liz with her new green horse. Wonder who I can get to walk the course with Susie and Mary at the rated trial?â
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