We Event in the Midwest Too!

I just have to throw this out there, with all the hype of Badminton and Rolex, those of us in the Midwest are feeling a little left out.  For most of you, you couldn’t care less.  In fact, you probably don’t even know what Eventing is, so let me start there.

Eventing is simply the best competitive horse sport around.  I should know; I’ve participated in hunters, jumpers, dressage, combined driving, polocrosse, mounted games, competitive trail riding and endurance.  Any time you get to spend with a horses and horse people is wonderful, but eventing takes things to a whole new level.  It’s for perfectionists and adrenalin junkies.  It’s for the tough and the compassionate.  Eventing requires dedication, adjustability, and a wee bit of insanity.  In what other sport do you take a 1200 lb. animal and ask it to dance like a ballerina, charge through the countryside like a quarterback making a run for a touchdown, and then spring around an arena like LeBron James?  Eventers ride three different tests at each competition.  The dressage test is about precision and brilliance, and a great test of whether or not you can start, stop and steer before they turn you loose on cross country.  The cross country test is laid out across the country side.  The horses and riders gallop around a set course over solid obstacles trying to hit a specific time as they pass the finish flags.  The final test, is much like the dressage, only they’ve put jumps out.  It’s a test of precision and endurance.  It separates the horses that can come back together and jump around after and exciting and tiring cross country run from those not as fit mentally or physically.

So, we’ve established that eventing is awesome.  If you lived on the east coast of the U.S. or in England, you already knew that because every weekend or so there’s an event going on with vendors and spectators, and tons of horse trailers alerting the otherwise ignorant public, but in the Midwest, our events take place and no one comes to cheer on these fantastic athletes.  You’d pay good money to go to a football game and spend hours in a less than comfortable seat next to a rude and smelly fan of the other team.  Same goes for basketball, hockey, and even baseball.  Why not pack a blanket or a comfortable lawn chair, a cooler, and your whole family and spend a day watching these magnificent animals negotiate various tests of their agility and bravery.  Oh, and it’s almost always free to be a spectator at an event.  Plus, the horse people you’ll meet will be friendly, helpful, passionate, and everyone cheers for everybody.   It truly is a great sport.

I’d love to see each and every one of you at a local event this year.  Here in Missouri, your best bet is Mill Creek Pony Club Horse Trials at Longview May 14-15 or Heritage Park Horse Trials August 26-28.  Both events are in the Kansas City area.  Queeny Park Horse Trials takes place in St. Louis June 11-12.  If you’re the dedicated sort, look up Briar Fox Farm, Feather Creek, Catalpa Corner or just visit useventing.com. 

A sports outing doesn’t have to be expensive and you don’t have to live on the east coast or across the pond to enjoy the sport of eventing.  You don’t even have to own a horse.  Get a Fresh Perspective on this little known sport, Go Eventing!