Round the world via XC courses?

[RachelFerd]

A lighthearted one, but one of my guilty pleasures is browsing the Cross Country App course library and taking a look at events in a wild variety of settings from around the world. Have a flick through these and see what you think about some of these pretty exciting courses and/or amazing locations...

AUSTRALIA - Wandin Park 4* with a mad broken bridge fence
BELARUS - Ratomka Minsk 4*L - a little more rustic than we're used to seeing...
BELGIUM - Tongeren Midden - jumping over the globe!
BRAZIL - 2* Rio de Janeiro - palm trees everywhere...
BULGARIA - Ruse cup for young horses (and riders)
CANADA - Bromont 4*L - lakes and forests for the backdrop
COLOMBIA - Haras del Marques 2* - looks like its at ridiculous altitude
COSTA RICA - La Finca 1* on a very bijou compact site
DENMARK - European pony champs at Vilhelmsborg
ECUADOR - Esmil Parcayacu 2* - think this jump is a direct copy of one that is usually at Stafford!!
FRANCE - Le Lion D'Angers 7yo champs - probably the most stunning course in the world??
GERMANY - Ostbevern 2*S - featuring this terrifying hand sculpture
GUATEMALA - La Aurora 1* - which appears to be pretty much in the middle of a city
INDIA - Delhi 2*L
INDONESIA - Arkav Novice - no idea what height it is, but course looks fun!
IRELAND - Millstreet 4*L - love this elf house bank!
ITALY - Pratoni Del Vivaro 4*L - venue for worlds later this year - looks like there is some serious terrain (look at this drop!!)
JAPAN - Tokyo Olympics, obviously!
LUXEMBOURG - Hartival 90 - with this terrifying owlhole
NETHERLANDS - Boekelo 4*L
NEW ZEALAND - Puhinui 4*L with a sea view
NORWAY - NM Feltritt 3* with a viking long boat
PERU - Escuela de Equitacian del Ejercito 2*S
POLAND - Bialy Bor European Juniors champs
PORTUGAL - Barroca D'Alva 3*S
SOUTH AFRICA - Northern Farms 80cm - a very friendly looking course
SPAIN - La Dehesa 1*L - built in what appears to be a giant sandpit
SWEDEN - Segersjo Young Rider Europeans 3* - feat terrifying boat house step out of water
SWITZERLAND - Avenches Europeans 4*L
USA - Galway Downs 4*S - eventing in California looks a bit different to our muddy fields...
URUGUAY - Tacuarembo 3*S - featuring scary killer whale in the water
ZAMBIA - Mazabuka 1*

Anyone have any other countries to add? Or must-see courses from round the world?

 

[Bernster]

Ooh what a great post thx will take a look. Already got vertigo from that bridge fence!

 

[stangs]

Great thread RF. There's something very addicting about learning about equestrianism in other parts of the world, isn't there? Delhi course is definitely my favourite out of those visually.

Some additions:
Video of some XC from Tokyo Uni's Equestrian Club's channel. There's lots of videos on there if anyone wants to watch eventing in Japan (search with XC or クロスカントリー if you want to see the cross country).
SEA Games XC in Indonesia - 18b is quite pretty
In Bangkok - highlights the understandable lack of the room near the city
Also found this rather cute little jump in Russia.

Now off to see if I can find some desert XC courses in the Middle East.

 

[Wishfilly]

Excellent idea for a post, really interesting!

 

[vickie123]

The Brazilian lake looks rather swampy. Home for an alligator or two. Thanks for posting, some locations I would never have expected to see a cross country course.

 

[RachelFerd]

Great thread RF. There's something very addicting about learning about equestrianism in other parts of the world, isn't there? Delhi course is definitely my favourite out of those visually.

Some additions:
Video of some XC from Tokyo Uni's Equestrian Club's channel. There's lots of videos on there if anyone wants to watch eventing in Japan (search with XC or クロスカントリー if you want to see the cross country).
SEA Games XC in Indonesia - 18b is quite pretty
In Bangkok - highlights the understandable lack of the room near the city
Also found this rather cute little jump in Russia.

Now off to see if I can find some desert XC courses in the Middle East.

Oooh these are interesting - some really nice riding in that video from Bangkok too.

 

[RachelFerd]

The Brazilian lake looks rather swampy. Home for an alligator or two. Thanks for posting, some locations I would never have expected to see a cross country course.

I really like seeing the imagination that goes into the different courses - using local materials or taking imagination from local landscape and culture. And I just marvel about the range of *stuff* that our horses just crack on and jump!

 

[Widgeon]

GUATEMALA - La Aurora 1* - which appears to be pretty much in the middle of a city

....and RIGHT next to the international airport!

What a great idea for a thread, thanks for sharing.

 

[Bernster]

Some courses look very compact and almost urban. Some of the water does look a bit swampy. I liked the minion fence in particular.

 

[RachelFerd]

Some courses look very compact and almost urban. Some of the water does look a bit swampy. I liked the minion fence in particular.

There are a lot of examples of squeezing a track into a small plot of land - definitely not the galloping parkland courses we love here.

That said, the Uruguay event looks like fantastic open landscape and terrain, has MIM clips in place where you'd expect to see them and looks like it would be really fun to jump.

 

[teapot]

Beas River in Hong Kong is worth a Google map/street walk. I think you can see the odd Olympic xc fence too.

 

[Lyle]

I've got a photo of myself somewhere jumping off the unfinished bridge at Wandin, circa 2008.

 

[humblepie]

I've got a photo of myself somewhere jumping off the unfinished bridge at Wandin, circa 2008.

Oh wow. I think going along the bridge looks scary enough without jumping off the end.
A couple of the spreads in the Guetamala course look really wide for the height.
Really interesting.

 

[BunnyDog]

FWIW....in the USA link that @RachelFerd posted is the current Galway Downs course.

I rode in the first ever event held at Galway in 1998. As a transplanted east coast rider I was dumbfounded when they were harrowing the gallop track. There was NO grass. It was almost surreal.

As (Bad) evidence of this I present my 1998 video (mute if you don't want to hear Britney Spears music ) Also the video quality is CLEARLY not 4k. So take it with a grain of salt.

It starts with Galway Novice level which is now BE .70. (NOT UK Novice) At the time code of 46 seconds it switches to be the xc from the Fresno Horse Park in the middle of California.

They're both wonderful events that are VERY different from the east coast events. But I loved the eventers in Cali, many are still friends and I was WAY more successful competing out west versus competing in the eastern part of the country. Ha ha ha.

Em

 

[Nicnac]

Some of those make me shudder as can't see evidence of the jumps being secured. Interesting though!

 

[RachelFerd]

FWIW....in the USA link that @RachelFerd posted is the current Galway Downs course.

I rode in the first ever event held at Galway in 1998. As a transplanted east coast rider I was dumbfounded when they were harrowing the gallop track. There was NO grass. It was almost surreal.

As (Bad) evidence of this I present my 1998 video (mute if you don't want to hear Britney Spears music ) Also the video quality is CLEARLY not 4k. So take it with a grain of salt.

It starts with Galway Novice level which is now BE .70. (NOT UK Novice) At the time code of 46 seconds it switches to be the xc from the Fresno Horse Park in the middle of California.

They're both wonderful events that are VERY different from the east coast events. But I loved the eventers in Cali, many are still friends and I was WAY more successful competing out west versus competing in the eastern part of the country. Ha ha ha.

Em

Love it - I mean, the quality is phenomenal, but you do still get a sense of it!

I'm completely obsessed with Tamie Smith and her videos from her gallop track in the California hills - I'd love to be transplanted out over there with my horses - yes I know there's no grass

 

[BunnyDog]

Love it - I mean, the quality is phenomenal, but you do still get a sense of it!

I'm completely obsessed with Tamie Smith and her videos from her gallop track in the California hills - I'd love to be transplanted out over there with my horses - yes I know there's no grass

Except have you see the gas prices there????? YEESH

$5.75/gallon for the lowest cheap gas.

$5.99/gallon for diesel.

And then there's the cost of housing (1BR apt is $1700+/mo and horse board is around $800/mo)

It's almost impossible to live in Cali as a single person. You would need 2 REALLY good paying jobs.

Em

 

[Otherwise]

Except have you see the gas prices there????? YEESH

$5.75/gallon for the lowest cheap gas.

$5.99/gallon for diesel.

And then there's the cost of housing (1BR apt is $1700+/mo and horse board is around $800/mo)

It's almost impossible to live in Cali as a single person. You would need 2 REALLY good paying jobs.

Em

Sorry I had to laugh at this, if I've worked it out correctly at my local pump the cheapest petrol works out as equivalent to $8.97 per U.S. gallon, diesel is even more.