POINT OF VIEW
Jennie Brannigan and Nina Gardner’s Luna, winners of the 4-Year-Old division of the YEH at Fair Hill in 2015.
previously not been allowed are now able to hold events. With more facilities able to participate in the sport, there is growth opportunity. I could see that the same could be said for the newly proposed format.
Q: How could DX Eventing promote the Sport? According to a USEA press release, “In its initial propos- al the task force has indicated that in order for the sport of eventing to survive and thrive in the future, new, interest- ing and cost effective competitive opportunities need to be introduced. As proposed, a national leader board would be kept by the USEA with DX organizers submitting results to the USEA. Like Combined Tests and horse trials, DX Eventing could range in test and course difficulty from the Beginner Novice to Advanced levels.” The task force has also suggested that DX Eventing could
be a training ground for officials. Judges could include feder- ation-licensed judges, participants or graduates of the USEA Judging Training Program, or ICP instructor of the appropri- ate level to that being judged. If the DX Eventing jumping phase offers any cross-country fences of Intermediate or Ad- vanced level, the federation official would need to be select- ed from the “R” registered and “S” applicant eventing judges and/or technical delegate. JB: Obviously I’ve enjoyed doing the Young Event Horse
classes, and it’s great for the sport that spectators can see everything from one spot. The Wellington Showcase is pretty phenomenal, and the timing is great because you can use it as a first run for the season. For the upper levels, it cuts down on the possibility of your horses getting hurt. For the young horses, the format is great because it’s not like you have to over prepare them. At Wellington, there’s a lot of prize mon- ey and if there was a whole series of doing just that, I think
46 March/April 2016
Wendy Wergeles, judge and clinician and founder of the Event Derby, here at the Fresno County Horse Park (CA) where she organizes Event Derby Competitions.
there might be people who would focus primarily on that format.
I think competitors really enjoy the fact that the Welling-
ton Showcase is early in the year so they can get their horses going, and it’s fun to go out and see everyone. You can see everything from one vantage point and they have fun social- izing. Last year I had eventing people down, and show jump- ing people who’d never seen eventing before. I think that’s a huge advantage of the format. WW: I think the USEA does a fabulous job promoting
eventing within the sport, but a pathetic job of promoting it outside the sport. The fact that the Event Derby is very versa- tile is a great thing: within the basic structure you can gear it to your situation. A great benefit is that this can be organized at any level.
I started it in my backyard in Las Vegas on a total of about three acres, with water, a bank, ditches, a small and large arena, and half a dozen other portable solid cross-country jumps and show jumps. I’ve done them at Galway Downs, I’ve done them at Flintridge and Fresno County Horse Park. I’ve been approached by an exclusive hotel that has about a 30-acre piece of land that they’re currently not using, and the manager asked me to look at it to talk about putting something on at the hotel. That might be fun for prelim and above with a bunch of prize money, similar to Wellington, to promote the sport to a wider audience.
Q: Barbara, as an adult amateur with a busy schedule, how could the shorter DX format be beneficial to meeting your competitive goals? BM: I don’t see them as that beneficial to my competi-
tion goals. For me, I see it more as something I might do for fun. I don’t see it helping me reach my competition
Courtesy Wendy Wergeles
Sally Spickard
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