Date: May 14th 2017
Running order of Divisions: CCI1*, CIC2*
Arena: 300ft x 160ft All Weather
Starters/Clear Rounds:
CCI1* – 9/5(45%) - show jumped after Cross-Country
CIC2* – 4/2 (50%) – show jumped before Cross-Country
Although only thirteen F.E.I. competitors in total jumped both of these courses I am sure the National competitors benefited from these well designed tracks.
The Two Star course had three doubles instead of the conventional double and triple. The F.E.I. rules state that ALL Divisions “shall include two or three doubles or a double and a triple”. The same rule applies to the USEA National Divisions, but only for Preliminary and above.
Taking away fence 4b of the Two Star reduced the One Star track to two doubles but also reduced the technicality to fence 5 by adding two more strides. An easy change was made when reversing the double (6ab) in the One Star by just moving the back pole of the original oxer.
I was also pleased to see that in reversing the triple bar, which was used in the Two Star track, it was turned into an oxer. The take-off position of a triple bar, depending on its size, can be as much as three to four feet closer to its base then a vertical or oxer. Therefore, when it is at the end of a line this can be misread by some horses, if left on a normal twelve foot distance, some horses will ‘chip in’ an extra stride while others will leave out a stride, sometimes to disastrous circumstances. This is why the rules do not allow a triple bar to be the ‘b’ or ‘c’ part of a combination.
By adding a new line in the One Star from fence 8 to 9, it opened up this track with basically two unrelated fences and made it less technical. Fence 8, in the One Star, also acted as a good turning point from fences 2 to 3 and prevented the horses from ‘falling in’ on the turn.
Richard Jeffery
USEF Eventing Show Jumping Course Advisor
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