Eventing (or sometimes referred to as Horse Trials) originally evolved from the training of cavalry horses. The sport is rather like the pentathlon in that it combines different disciplines in one competition and is run on a cumulative penalty basis. The competitor with least penalties at the end is the winner.
 Dressage - CIC 2003 at Allerton
The first test is dressage, which comprises a set sequence of compulsory movements in an arena 20 metres wide and 40 metres long (60 metres at higher levels of competition). The test is judged by one or more judges who are looking for balance, rhythm and suppleness and most importantly, obedience of the horse and its harmony with the rider.
 Showjumping at Bramham Horse Trials 2005
The show-jumping phase is one round of jumping with a maximum time allowed and the objective is to jump all the fences clear inside the time. The fences are not as high as top level show-jumping but are quite substantial for horses which are not specialists at show-jumping. Fences knocked down and refusals incur penalties as does exceeding the time allowed.
 One of Allerton's intermediate cross country fences 2004
The third phase is the cross-country where a course of natural obstacles has to be jumped - again inside an optimum time - being over the time incurs penalties and being well under it is of no benefit and unnecessarily tires the horse. Stopping at obstacles or falling off also incurs penalties.
 Over the garden wall at Allerton
All horses need to build up their levels of skill, the sport has different levels of competition: Novice, Intermediate and Advanced through which horses progress as they score points and gain experience. This leads to an interesting feature of the sport which is that all riders compete in Novice classes with the top riders on their young horses competing often against relatively inexperienced rider who can and do beat them on occasions. Also men and women compete on equal terms - there are no distinctions or single sex classes.
British Eventing is the governing body for Eventing in Great Britain and regulates the sport as well as organising and scheduling many events throughout the country.
The vast majority of competitions are One Day Events - so called because all three phases take place on the same day - first the dressage, second the show-jumping and finally the cross-country. In 2004, 198 events were organised nation-wide with 182 actually being held, providing some 59,079 competition opportunities.
A typical One Day event affiliated to British Eventing with an independent organiser requires in addition to the facilities to accommodate all three phases, a supporting team of some 200 officials and helpers: the majority of whom will be voluntary, devoting much time and effort for the love of the sport.
At the higher levels of competition in the Intermediate and Advanced levels each phase takes place on a separate day - hence ‘Three Day Event’.
At a Three Day Event both the dressage and show-jumping tests are longer and more difficult than those at One Day Horse Trials. While the cross-country phase is much more substantial and is called the “speed and endurance” which is comprised of four elements in the long format and simply cross country in the short format. In long format (with steeplechase), the competitor firstly rides about 2 1/2 miles on roads and tracks mainly at a trot. Secondly there is a steeplechase course of about 1 1/4 miles over 8 brush fences at a fast gallop followed immediately by a further 3+ miles of roads and tracks before a 10 minute compulsory rest before the start of the cross-country. During the 10 minute rest the horses are checked by a veterinary surgeon to ensure they are fit enough to start the cross country. The cross-country is about 3 miles long over approximately 27 obstacles, the size depends on the level of the competition.
Three Day Events and International One Day Events are given a star rating according to their level of difficulty, please see table below:-
Star rating Level Notes
* (one) Novice
** (two) Intermediate
*** (three) Advanced Europeans
**** (four) Championship Olympics, World Championships
Domestically, competition horses are graded according to the amount of points won at affiliated events:
Grade I 61 or more points ADVANCED
Grade II 21 to 60 points INTERMEDIATE
Grade III 1 - 20 points NOVICE
Grade IV 0 points PRE-NOVICE
The Championships follow in a four year cycle: Europeans, World Equestrian Games. Europeans, Olympics. Qualification is achieved by competing in selected 3 and 4 star events and their subsequent selection process by the NGB.
International Three Day Events take place in 22 countries throughout the world from South America to Canada and from Belarus to Australia and New Zealand. But the country which stages the most international Three Day Events is Great Britain with ten events - 4 star (Burghley and Badminton), 3 star (Bramham, Blair and Blenheim), 2 star (Burgie, Windsor, Hartpury College and Weston Park) and 1 star (Blair Castle, Hartpury College, Aldon and Weston Park).
The UK also has 14 international Three Day Event Dressage Judges, 8 international Three Day Event Course Designers, 13 Technical Delegates, 8 Chief Stewards and 20 Veterinarians.
Great Britain is the most significant country in the sport of Eventing, evidenced by the fact that many of the world’s leading riders (who are not British) choose to base themselves here. Such riders include Andrew Nicholson and Blyth Tait (New Zealand), Matt Ryan and Andrew Hoy (Australia) and many Japanese, Korean and Scandinavian competitors, while squads from many other countries frequently visit the UK to compete and train for periods of many weeks at a time. Already, Greece, Italy and Holland have said their squads will be based in Britain to prepare for Athens. In addition a number of foreign national squads employ British coaches.
Text on this page courtesy of British Eventing.
Photographs © John Thornton 2003-2005
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