Ease the Stress of Eventing on Your Horse

While you are scheduling your horse's activities, find ways to cut down on his trailer time. Does your dressage coach ever come to other facilities to give lessons? Would she do it if you organized several lessons at your barn with other people who also want to keep their horses off the road as much as possible? Maybe that facility I was talking about, the one with good turnout and hacking, is run by a hunter/jumper trainer who enjoys and understands eventers and can teach them. That would be several hours less of trailer time every week, if you do not have to ship out for your jumping lessons.

Speaking of scheduling, remember that just because you live in an area with events every weekend does not mean you should be competing every weekend. Although the racetrack schedules races every day, trainers do not run their horses every day--they pick their spots.

When I map out my students' schedule for the season, I first decide on their "destination" event--their goal for the season--and schedule backward. I have to take their qualifications into account and plan to satisfy all the FEI requirements if a destination event is FEI-recognized.

Even if a destination event is not an FEI event, I may have to include qualifying events, for example for the American Eventing Championships or the various area championships. Then I figure out how many events it will take to have each student's horse at his best possible state of training and fitness.

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How many events does it take to get a horse prepared for each season and qualified for a destination event? That is a tough question and the answer varies from horse to horse. The answer also changes depending on the weather and the state of the ground. I ask my horses to compete less when it is hot and the footing is hard than I do when conditions are more suitable. I don't mind running back-to-back weekends with Novice and Training horses if the footing and weather are good and will occasionally run Preliminary horses back-to-back, but my Intermediate and Advanced horses never run back-to-back. I tend to run my younger and lower-level horses more often, while my three- and four-star horses will only go to from two to four horse trials before they arrive at the Jersey Fresh CCI*** or the Rolex CCI****.

Regarding the competitive schedule for upper-level horses, I think that in the years to come, we will see an increasing "churn" or turnover on our international teams. It used to be that once horses and riders got to the classic four-star level and were successful, they became dependable team members for three to five years. However, it takes an enormous amount of "drill" to produce a successful short format four-star horse. My guess is that our horses are going to reach very high states of training--much higher than in my day--but they are not going to last as long.

I make this prediction not because of the physical demands on our horses, but because of the mental stress that is increasingly placed on them. They are going to lose their form, not because they lose their skills but because they are going to lose their desire. It takes good riders to produce successful upper-level horses, but it is going to take good horsemen to keep them there.

Regardless of your level, keep in mind that the only thing that has not changed in our sport is the horse. When we ride him, we need to remember that he is not a means of transportation; he is not a trampoline for our ego; he is our friend. He does not change, so our unceasing devotion to him and his well-being must not change. That is what horsemen do--they care for their horses.

Reprinted from the May 2007 issue of Practical Horseman magazine.

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