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Covid Competition, Near and Far

By Whitney Weston

For many horse and rider teams who have been training for years, the future during COVID looked bleak as competition after competition was canceled. Then the unthinkable happened: the Olympics were canceled! At that point, equestrians knew they were in for a long ride back to normalcy.

For the past year, competitions have been slowly getting back into swing. There are directives given from our national equestrian governing body, the United States Equestrian Federation, that have helped keep our community as safe as possible during competition. Everyone on showgrounds must wear masks, keep social distancing and sign waivers upon entering. There is typically a volunteer at the entrance gate who receives the signed waivers, and gives the competitor a wristband to wear during the show. While there are still no spectators allowed, there is one loophole to seeing these great competitions … volunteer! We would not be able to hold horse shows without volunteers. You generally do not need horse experience, and will be taught everything you need to know for your shift. Often volunteers receive “swag” and food and drink! To volunteer, go to carolinahorsepark.com/support/volunteer. For other venues, check in with the show manager for volunteer opportunities or visit their website.

The Carolina Horse Park in Raeford is our local competition venue. It draws competitors from all over the country for competitions in several disciplines, including dressage, driving, eventing and hunter/jumper. Every March, the Carolina International is held, where teams from all over the country come to compete against the nation’s best in eventing. This is followed up by one of my favorite series, the War Horse Event Series, which kicks off in May and ends with the Championship in November. Here you will see the entire range of horses and riders, from kids and ponies jumping small logs to Olympic hopefuls training their mounts for the next big event.

This year, we are very excited to see a new partnership with Sedgefield Show Series at the horse park. Sedgefield has managed a large series of hunter/jumper competitions for the past 15 years at the Greensboro showgrounds. They have since outgrown the facility and plan to hold 12 competitions this year at CHP! This allows for more competitors to test their skills in the ring on the hunter/jumper circuit, but as an eventer, I am thrilled for the opportunity for my students and me to cross-train.

Since the sport of eventing involves three phases (dressage, cross-country and show jumping), these added competitions will allow us to practice our show jumping over striped and different colored poles in the arena, without the distraction of dressage and cross-country on the same weekend. I encourage students to pick apart the triathlon that is eventing, master each phase separately, then put them all together for a successful weekend of eventing.

And a true sign that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel: The Tokyo Olympics are back on! They will now run July 24 to Aug. 7.

Most of the equestrian action will be held at the Baji Koen Equestrian Park. Built in 1940 and used for the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games, it is situated just west of Tokyo and will stage the dressage and jumping competition.

The eventing cross-country element will take place at Sea Forest Cross Country Course in Sea Forest Park, Tokyo Bay. The Olympics is a goal many riders set their sights on. The first Olympic Equestrian event was held in 1900. There have been many changes in the disciplines and rules of these sports over the past century, but the equestrian games still retain a uniqueness that separates them from all other Olympic sports. The Olympic Equestrian competitions are the only ones that involve animals. Equestrian is the also the only Olympic sport that has men and women competing against each other.

The next time you see horses being ridden on the trails as you drive by or at a competition, it’s amazing to think that men and women all over the globe are riding horses as well. We are able to speak to horses, even though we might not know the owner’s language! PL

Whitney Weston is a professional horse trainer with more than 30 years of riding experience and competing at the international level of eventing for 15 years. She trains out of her Southern Pines farm through Valkyrie Sporthorses, and runs Southern Pines Riding Academy.

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