And all of the tests of our sport that we’ve evolved to have become more about the communication and the relationship between the horse and the rider. In the olden days it was more horses jumping over fences and seeing if it could make it-no bigger than today, but the proficiency has developed so much, that the defining difference now is really not whether you can make it or not, but it’s the relationship between the horse and the rider. Personally, my biggest reason for supporting getting rid of it is that our sport has evolved so much to be so much about the partnership between the horse and rider. These people develop their horses for so many years and they compete so often and they work so hard to develop top horses and they take such good care of their horses, so that’s one factor. When you think about horse welfare and you think about the sport, it would be an absolute tragedy if something went wrong. The reasoning behind it was, one, it’s very risky. Interestingly enough, I think there was only one federation that even commented on taking the horse change out the WEG, so it was very strongly supported by the stakeholders in the sport and that includes riders. We asked some top figures in the sport for their reactions to the changes: You can see all the changes to WEG show jumping on the FEI website. In addition, the maximum height at the World Games has been raised from 1.60 meters to 1.65 (5’4″). Only the top 12 will jump the final round, and a jump-off would break a potential tie for individual medals. Only the top 10 teams and individuals in the top 60 after Round 1 will move on to Round 2 if a rider is in the top 60 individually after Round 1 but his team does not qualify for Round 2, they are able to jump in Round 2 for an individual score.Īfter a rest day, the top 25 return for Round A of the individual jumping. Instead, athletes will contest two rounds of team competition over two days with different courses-after which team medals will be awarded. Traditionally, the three individual medals were decided by the top four riders jumping four rounds and trading horses for every round, so each rider rode every horse. The FEI has eliminated not only the first round of competition, the “speed leg,” but also there will no longer be a “final four” competition for individual medals. 19-22 in Tokyo, was the move to three-man teams at the Olympic Games, but another major change that affects show jumping in the World Equestrian Games flew a bit under the radar. The big news to come out of the Fédération Equestre Internationale General Assembly, held Nov.
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