What is Eventing?

Horse Trials or ‘Eventing’ as it is also known, has its roots in the Military and dates back to the early part of the 20th century when the competition was developed to reflect the varied roles of the cavalry horse and provide a challenge for the horse and rider during the times of peace.

Today, the only Olympic sport in which men and women compete on equal terms, the sport has evolved into a multi-disciplined competition combining dressage, cross country and show jumping, a true all round test of horsemanship testing the skills and partnership of horse and rider.

The first phase is the Dressage, a test of basic training, ridden in a rectangular arena testing suppleness, obedience and elegance. The second phase is the Show Jumping, which tests the horse’s jumping ability, with the emphasis on carefulness and precision. The next phase is the Cross Country. This tests the rider’s judgement of speed, and the horse’s boldness, athleticism and ability to negotiate at speed a course consisting of a wide variety of fixed cross-country obstacles.

Great Britain is one of the most successful nations in the history of the sport with more than 230 medals over the 80 years of Olympic, World and European Championships, and many of the world’s leading riders base themselves in the UK because of the strength of the sport here and the quality of the competitions. Currently we boast the Olympic Champion - Leslie Law and the World & European Champion Zara Phillips.

Eventing is one of the few sports where visitors can get really close to the action and the athletes and enjoy a full day or weekend’s entertainment. Visitors to the event can wander around the cross-country course as well as spend time in the trade stands and the arenas, which gives a sponsor plenty of scope to demonstrate products, develop a dialogue with visitors and collect valuable audience data.