SHOW
JUMPING
At the age of 26, in 1986 Alberta’s Gail
Greenough, now living in Calgary, won the World
Championships in Aachen on her horse, ‘Mr. T’.
“I’ve never forgotten it. It’s a great memory,” she
said.
“Because there was no German in the final four, the
audience latched on to me because, until then, no
woman had ever won it.
“I have been invited back, by the organizing
committee, to watch. This will be my first time back
since I won it 20 years ago. It is very special.
It’s nice not to have been forgotten. I am going to
enjoy the whole experience – spectating and cheering
for the Canadian team.”
Gail
was the first, and only woman to date, to
ever win the World Championship in Show Jumping, and
she was very nearly the youngest.
WHAT'S THE PLAN?
Each participating nation may send a maximum of five
riders, with one horse each, to the Games. Of those,
each Chef d’Équipe will declare which three or four
will make up the actual Team for competition, and
the reserve rider(s) will have the opportunity to
participate in the training session. The minimum age
for the horse is eight years old.
According to Gail, there is a “strategy for the
whole week, as well as one for the next day. Some
horses bounce back from the Speed Class while others
get too excited at the jumps the next day.
“You have to remember that you’re dealing with two
athletes (human and equine) and you have to deal
with them as an entity.
“It’s not necessarily the top five from the Speed
Class that emerge on top, so watch the riders from 5th
to 20th place on day one. Consistency for
the rest of the week counts and you have to be close
to the top. Watch for double clears in the team
competition. I was the only double clear in that
portion.”
Another Canadian, Lisa Carlsen, now living near
Edmonton, has represented Canada as an Olympian
(1988), at the Pan American Games (1987), in two
World Cup competitions and was Reserve for the World
Championships in 1986. She said that “At WEG there’s
a lot of strategy. Everyone has their own, depending
on their horse. Some may not go too fast on the
first day so that their horse is better on the
second day. Another horse may be able to adjust
better from Speed to Grand Prix.”
Jumping competition will take place in Stadium 1.
The show ring is 124m (407’) x 145m (476’) with
grass footing. Since the competition is outdoors,
weather will be another factor in the individual and
team strategies including such things as what types
of caulks (pronounced ‘corks’ and similar to
football cleats) are selected for the horses to
wear.
HOW IT'S SCORED
At the FEI World Equestrian Games competition begins
with a Speed and Handiness Competition. Vying for
€ 60,000 in prize money plus a high position in the
ratings, competitors have to jump a course, with a
maximum height of 1.5m (4’ 11”) in the fastest
possible time under the maximum time allowed by the
course designer. Each rider’s time score is
converted to penalty points, the object being to
accumulate the least number of points. In other
words, the lowest score wins.
DETERMINING THE FEI WORLD TEAM JUMPING CHAMPIONSHIP
On the second day, competitors participate in a
Grand Prix consisting of two rounds of jumping. At
the end of this competition, the FEI World Team
Jumping Championship will be determined.
In a Grand Prix the jumps are higher than in a Speed
class, up to a maximum height of 1.6m (5’ 3”),
and the course should be jumped at an average speed
of 400m/minute (15 miles per hour).
Everyone who participated in the first competition
(Speed) may start in the Grand Prix class.
Only the top ten teams after the first round jump
the second round.
The object of the game is to ‘go clear’. That is, to
jump all of the jumps on the course, in order,
without knocking any down and within the time
allowed designated by the course designer. In this
class, prize money for the Team portion is
€ 150,000 and FEI Medals for 1st to 3rd
place. For Individuals, prize money is € 60,000.
Any time a fence is lowered (knocked down), or in
the case of a water jump if the horse touches in the
water, or on or behind the white tape, four faults
are added to the score (or, if it is a speed class,
four seconds are added to the running time).
A refusal (stop at or circling before a jump)
carries four faults. Two refusals results in
elimination.
A fall also results in elimination.
If there are two or more clear rounds (i.e. a tie
for first place), those competitors return for a
jump-off.
A jump-off can also occur if there are no clear
rounds, but two or more competitors have equal
faults (again, a tie for first place).
A jump-off is an extra round, held over a shortened
course (fewer jumps, shorter distance) with a
reduced time allowed, to break a tie for first place
existing following the first scheduled round of
competition.
TOWARD THE INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP
The third jumping class is another two-round Grand
Prix for the twenty-five best placed competitors
and horses according to the accumulated penalty
points from the first (Speed) and second (1st
Grand Prix) competitions. Again, the maximum height
of the jumps is 1.6m (5’ 3”), and the course should
be jumped at an average speed of 400m/minute (15
miles per hour).
There are very specific rules about what equipment
may, or may not, be worn by or used on the horse.
Similarly, riders must be properly attired, all
wearing approved safety helmets, jackets, white
breeches and high black boots (called field boots),
plus gentlemen must wear ties. Incidentally, they
can be disqualified if they enter the show ring with
a cell phone.
DETERMINING THE FEI WORLD INDIVIDUAL JUMPING
CHAMPIONSHIP
The final competition will determine the FEI
World Individual Jumping Championship. The top
four riders and horses will compete over four rounds
of Grand Prix jumping. Each rider will compete once
on his or her own horse, plus one round on each of
the other competitors’ horses.
Greenough said, “Changing horses is touch and you’re
only allowed two minutes to get used to each one.”
When she competed for the World Championship, her
strategy included watching videos of the other three
horses and riders qualified for the final class and
then equating the way those horses performed to
others that she had ridden in the past in order to
mentally prepare for each ride on other competitors’
horses. It worked. Her advice? “Keep it simple.”
TYPES OF FENCES (JUMPS)
Vertical – height only, just the width of the
rails.
Spread Jump – height plus the width between two
rails set farther apart.
Liverpool
– any jump with ‘water’ on the ground under the
rails.
Combination – two (A-B) or three (A-B-C) jumps in a
short sequence that must be jumped in order. Any
refusal in the middle means the combination (group
of jumps) must be started over from the “A” element.
The spacing, often very close, between these jumps
adds to the technical difficulty.
For more information, please see
www.jumpcanada.ca.
For details on the official rules governing this
competition, please see
www.horsesport.org/ “Rules & Regulations”.
