bringing steeplechasing back to eventing...

Yes please! I only ever got one go at it, and it was great fun :) Would hopefully mean horses were a bit fitter although I don't know how all the timings etc worked.
 
The speed and endurance phase used to consist of Phase A Roads and Tracks, Phase B Steeplechase, Phase C more Roads and Tracks then a compulsory 10 minute halt before Phase D the Cross Country.

At 4* level the Roads and Tracks were about 20 minutes and 40 minutes respectively to be ridden at 220m per minute - a good trot or periods of walk and canter. The steeplechase was about 5 minutes to be ridden at 690m per minute - a serious gallop.

Phase D could be up to 14 minutes long at championship level, whereas it seems to be more usual for the cross country phase to be 11-12 minutes these days.

For lower levels the distances were correspondingly reduced.
 
One reason was that it was hard to find international events with enough room to stage an event with roads and tracks and a steeplechase and a cross country course. Also the expense, also trying to improve the image of the sport so there weren't any exhausted horses getting stranded on a fence or falling and hurting themselves.

It was supported by some riders, as one side effect was less wear and tear on a horse, and this seems to be so, as it is quite common for horses now to compete well into their teens, whereas in the past Richard Meade and Mark Philips were virtually accused of cruelty when taking 14 year old horses around Badminton. Not sure what the effect has been on safety, as it seems to me that most of the really serious accidents (i.e. fatalities) have been very experienced riders at a high level, rather than the novice riders. I suppose the higher the fence the less chance there is of getting away with an error.
 
YES!! :)

I'm hopefully doing a unaff 3DE and it is going by the old format and I'm so excited for it :D
My instructor said that she went to watch a training clinic and two people in it had both ridden 4* but one had done it whilst road and tracks was in and the other not. Apparently the one who had not done the old format was more un-balnced then the person who did the old format.

It could have been a coincidence (SP?) But I have heard of similar things happening so may not be :)
 
DragonSlayer said:
Why did they get rid of it in the first place? I'm not seriously into following eventing, so don't know!
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The Steeplechase and Roads and Tracks phases needed more space and officials and therefore cost more to run, so locations that are not set up for regular competitions (such as Hong Kong for the Olympics) did not want to run a long-format event. It is all part of the desperation to keep horse sports in the Olympics, when they are considered elitist due to the small numbers of nations competing.

The short format has the advantage that horses can compete at more three day events per year and compete well into their md-teens because the cross country day does not take so much out of them any more. It also (arguably) suits the warmbloods better because there isn't so much emphasis on the "endurance" part of the Speed and Endurance day, at which thoroughbreds tended to excel.
 
I would like to see it back as I think it requires more genuine stamina from a partnership. However, I would prefer to see the order reversed so that the Xc is phase A, and the steeplechase a final phase. That would give the test of stamina in completing the steeplechase under the time, but also respect the safety concerns of tired horses going over big fences, with the additional factor that you couldnt take a horse that was borderline fit for the task over XC fences cos you would know that it needed to have enough left in the tank to steeplechase at the end.

As an additional benefit, it would probably also have stopped some of the cases (in particular thinking of Le Samurai, but I think there have been other less catostrophic instances too) where people push a potentially lame horse over the XC finish, if they know it will need to pass a vet and then complete Steeplechase/ R&T in order to qualify for the SJ.
 
Garnet said:
The Steeplechase and Roads and Tracks phases needed more space and officials and therefore cost more to run, so locations that are not set up for regular competitions (such as Hong Kong for the Olympics) did not want to run a long-format event. It is all part of the desperation to keep horse sports in the Olympics, when they are considered elitist due to the small numbers of nations competing.

The short format has the advantage that horses can compete at more three day events per year and compete well into their md-teens because the cross country day does not take so much out of them any more. It also (arguably) suits the warmbloods better because there isn't so much emphasis on the "endurance" part of the Speed and Endurance day, at which thoroughbreds tended to excel.
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Ah, thankyou for that! :D
 
i have always loved to have ago.. it would be so much more, preperation wise, on the day and rewarding if you have done well... an even bigger test of horsemanship
 
It's not going to come back really, is it. I think it would be better to focus on how to ride today's courses safely and successfully than to pine for the speed and endurance which isn't likely to make a return.
 
I did the BRC champs this year and it was fab and (i thought) worth while. I agree with bringing it back.

With regards to unaffiliated 3DE there's two run at Milton Keynes - May/ June and August/ September i think - although not sure how this will go with the place up for sale. If i remember rightly they ran the steeplechase last year-i didn't compete though as couldn't afford it so could be wrong :confused:
 
You can't do the whole lot in a day... so it would be mega expensive to have to run every Event as a 2 or 3 day, plus for us lot, having to stable at the Event, and pay the entry fees.... I couldn't afford it.

I hate doing steeplechase. And Roads & Tracks would be nice to do at the end, after having done all the jumping phases, as I just can't enjoy the countryside when I'm scared about what's coming next!
 
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