Expert: Mara Keith-Hunter
Contact: www.sycamore-stables.com
Bio: Mara Keith-Hunter is a lifelong equestrian and head coach for the Hampshire College equestrian team. She rode in the Intercollegiate National Horse Show for two universities.
Filmmaker: David Pakman

Duration : 0:1:19

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What do the judges look for?

What tack do I use?

There is a stubben eventing saddle and a Amerigo eventing saddle. What do you do?

How can I find an eventing instructor?

Is this sport fun?

Is this sport hard compared to jumping?

What horse breed is most common?

Will the judges like my Arabian if that is the horse breed I choose to go with?

What kind of things should I be looking for in a eventing horse?

Thank you in advance! If there is anything more you would wish to tell my I would love to hear it

I don’t compete in eventing, but primarily because I can’t afford a horse right now. It’s the sport I intend to compete in when I have a horse.

As far as what judges look for; just like in regular dressage, judges want clean movements executed with a minimal cue. In cross country, you just want to get over the fences fast and clean, but you want your horse’s stamina to last. You’re only marked down or disqualified if you fall off, your horse falls, or your horse refuses a fence. Cross country is judged on time – you want to get done as close to the allotted time as possible. Show jumping is just like normal show jumping. Errors earn you penalty points – the least penalties earned wins.

For tack, you want saddles for all three events if possible, but for the very lowest levels, one all-purpose saddle can work, and beyond that you can get by with a dressage saddle and a close contact saddle (to be used for both cross country and show jumping). I’m not sure about bit requirements and so on – I’d suggest looking at the United States Eventing Association site and seeing if they have the rulebook posted (or whatever the association for your country might be). I wouldn’t buy an eventing saddle until you’re sure you like it, and you want to get to higher levels.

For an eventing instructor, I would suggest you talk to your show jumping instructor, or find someone who does jumping and dressage. Call people in your area and see if you can get someone’s name. Again, the eventing association might be able to help; many associations have directories of trainers.

Fun? Having not gotten the chance to do it yet, I can’t say for sure, but it looks like fun to me!

Most of eventing is jumping; you do dressage first day, cross country second, show jumping third (at higher levels…for low levels you’d do all three in one day or you’d do dressage and show jumping day one and cross country day two). However, you need the stamina to ride over a course of very sturdy jumps for cross country. The levels used for eventing aren’t the same as levels used for dressage or show jumping – Grand Prix show jumping is higher than CCI**** show jumping fences. I don’t know of the exact level correlations though, although I’m trying to get that figured out. Visit http://equinerevolution.cwahi.net in a month or so and I’ll hopefully have it in the library.

Thoroughbreds tend to be the most common in the breed, but it’s definitely not exclusive to them; Teddy O’Connor competed at the highest levels and he was part Shetland Pony. Unlike many sports in the equine world, there’s no bias based on breed; however, Thoroughbreds tend to dominate because they’re really the only breed who have the strength and stamina to gallop several miles and jump fences, and then go through show jumping the day after.

What you want in an eventing horse: they have to be disciplined and quiet enough to handle dressage, but they need the strength and stamina to handle cross country (they’ve got to be able to gallop 3-4 miles), and have the speed to make it over a jumping course. They’ve got to be sound. If you can get a Thoroughbred with the X factor (which gives an enlarged heart) that’s a bonus. Off-track Thoroughbreds are really popular, because they have a lot of the qualities to compete at the upper levels (although many breeds compete at the lower levels).

An instructor could tell you a lot more than I could, but that’s a bit of what I know.

If you want to try it virtually, I HIGHLY recommend the game "Equestriad 2001" if you can find it. I think it was really overlooked, but it has the Rolex, Badminton, and Burghley courses as well as the 2000 Olympic course, along with a bunch of famous horses and riders (though I like to make my own!). Most English-riding oriented games will feature eventing, although each element might be separate.

Duration : 0:4:49

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Here are my questions:
How much do you think that this will cost to build?
How much property do you think that I will need to build this?

if i were you, id go with at least 100 acres.

and it’ll cost a butt load of money like a couple million

Expert: Mara Keith-Hunter
Contact: www.sycamore-stables.com
Bio: Mara Keith-Hunter is a lifelong equestrian and head coach for the Hampshire College equestrian team. She rode in the Intercollegiate National Horse Show for two universities.
Filmmaker: David Pakman

Duration : 0:1:48

[youtube f-HOcvcZ4Ko]

Please answer those questiions in CAPS.
Sorry for writing so much!

For sure take lessons for a while. it depends on your ability,and your trainer etc when it comes to how long you need to ride before you lease a horse-it also depends on what you want to do with it. ie jumping,pole bending etc. I had been riding for three years before I leased my first horse. You need to know how to everything yourself,including tacking up,grooming,and riding and controlling the horse.
I suggest leasing the near you. When you lease you want to be able to see the horse as often as possible. There is no point if you would have to travel a long way. It depends on how far away the "country" is. I bet you could find riding stables near you,just google it-or look in your yellow pages etc…there could be adds.
No riding boot are really cheap. But thats an opinion I suppose. Seeing as you probably dont have adult sized or so feet I suggest paddock boots(English…western may differ.). They are less expensive and would fit you better more likely. You will have to find a tack store around your area. You could try and animal feed store\outdoor store or something of that nature. Breeches the same thing..or you can look online…I get my boots from Dover.com. They have good brands. If you dont want very good boots,or are just looking for something cheap,try antique or thrift stores. Really do. Sometimes you find decent boots for very cheap.
I suggest you get good experience with horses first though. Learn how to ride well,and control the animal. Learn how to take care of it. Don’t forget that when you lease many people will NOT let you keep their horse anywhere. Generally the full owner decides where to keep the horse. You usually have to pay half of everything as well. Half the vet and farrier bills,half of the stabling…and the expense of lessons,boots,clothes,a helmet,and saddle.

So I am very interested in Equine Sports. As put by many people, this is the toughest team sport ever! Anyways, I really want to do Dressage, a little bit of Show Jumping, and Eventing! I want the thrill of it all! I know and fully understand that Eventing has Dressage, Show Jumping, and Cross Country. What I want to know is, what are some key points about each discipline, Dressage, Show Jumping, and Eventing. I have looked everywhere to find more information about them, but just can’t find a lot of info, by the way I don’t like using Wikipedia.org. What do you think on these disciplines? If possible, where are some places that I can go to to view these disciplines? Also, for Eventing, what tack do you use? I know the basics, but do you use an Eventing saddle or a Dressage saddle, Jumping saddle, and something else? Sorry for my ignorance! Also, what horse breeds would excel in those three disciplines? I know the right horse can excel in any discipline, I just want a generalization. Websites would help a lot! Thanks so much for your help! Oh, one last question. How can I design a cross country course? Should I just use trails?

Thanks so much!

~In Horses We Borrow Freedom~

Good, credible sites………
dressage:
http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/breedsDisciplines/discipline/allDressage.aspx
http://www.usdf.org/
Jumping:
http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/breedsDisciplines/discipline/allJumping.aspx
Eventing (all):
http://www.usef.org/_IFrames/breedsDisciplines/discipline/allEventing.aspx
http://useventing.com/

Wikipedia is not credible as anyone is allowed to edit it and write what they want in there. So, it’s a good thing you don’t like it.

You already know what I think about these disciplines so I’ll skip that question :-]

For dressage, I have the white dressage pad, I use my trainer’s sheepskin half pad, I have a collegiate dressage saddle, you need a dressage girth, dressage bridle, bit (whatever bit your horse needs and is within the dressage rules), the tack is preferably black (mine is).

For dressage and XC I have a northrun jumping saddle (chestnut colored), with knee rolls and thigh blocks, a regular girth, and I use my dressage bridle as of right now (haven’t bought an different one lol). Any AP pad will do underneath.

You can just roll logs out of the woods as long as you make sure they are secure and not going to move when you hit them. You can make one like this out of tires:

but it needs to be anchored into the ground well.

Edit—-

LOL Whooops! I’m out of it !!! hehe, here’s the picture that I meant to post. Apparently I gave you in invisible link earlier ;-]
http://www.goldenvistaequestriancenter.com/JPEG/TIRE%20JUMP%20IN.jpg

Hey Guys!!!

Well as you all know i took lady out yesterday to tack farm as practice for hartpury qualifiers next week and she flew!! did the 90cm-1m and got 4th then did 1m-1m05 and got 2nd, then i was going to do 1m05, but no one else wanted to do it, so Tina put it up to 1m10 instead + she FLEWWW!!! biggest course she has done since shes been out and shes technically jumped her first newcomers if it was BSJA so im very pleased considering its only the 3rd time i have ridden in this bit i feel like she has been trying for me more and i feel like im not having to pick her up over every jump like before christmas! i know there are a few messy places and we still have a long way to go, but im just chuffed to bits with her and i really do love this horse!

watch this space, this is only the start of ladys showjumping career, she really is a legend!!!

was quite funny :L in the jump off of the 1m-1m05, we had to go over the double but miss the related distance after, but lady bless her heart went to jump the related distance but then realised she had to go inbetween the palm trees and toom eround love the girly.

billy kerr will be riding her at the weekend in warm up rings etc and i shall be riding his sexy rupert so watch out for videos!!!

thanks for all the support and huge thanks to joe who never lets me give up
♥

Duration : 0:4:32

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HELP!!!

Here’s the bridle
http://www.equestrian-tack.com/coplrabrwlar.html

Most Thoroughbreds will fit a Full size just fine. The last Thoroughbred I had actually used a cob, but his face was a little smaller than most. Oversize is more for draft horses or crosses. Call the company, with your horse’s measurements, if you’re not sure.