The Ride to Lexington: Cross-Country

Eventers from team USA and team Canada on their way to the 2010 WEG (World Equestrian Games) in Lexington, Kentucky - and a few others from Argentina, Ecuador, Holland and Mexico who've competed in the US recently. From my archives.

At the 2010 WEG Tipperary Liadhnan and Mr. Wiseguy were withdrawn before inspection and Azteca was spun from the opening jog. This was obviously a big disappointment to the riders but eventing requires a partnership and it don't work if the other is not feeling well.

The Canadian team got a silver medal with Great Britain in first, and New Zealand second. The highest placed individual was Michael Jung and Sam (GER), with William Fox-Pitt and Cool Mountain (GBR) and Andrew Nicholson aboard Nereo (NZL) at silver and bronze resp. The US team place 4th with the highest placed US rider being Boyd Martin on Neville Bardos. They placed 10th, not bad for an $800 race-track reject.

It was the first time since 1978 that the World Championships of Eventing were held on US soil, and they had over 170,000 spectators back in '78! I guess I'm mad about this sport. If you want to know more about eventing see the following links:

http://useventing.com

http://eventingnation.com

Most of the video was shot with a Lumix GH1 and stock lens, Sanyo FH1 for the remainder.

• Category

  Sports

[Kate Cameron]

Great! :) What program did you use to make this video?

[buzzterbrown]

Thanks - Adobe Premier Elements.

[mario300ab]

Im a Hunter, so I dont know much but is cross country supposed to look so messy?

[buzzterbrown]

Riding cross country requires a different technique from show hunters (jumping on the flat) but it's like the riding done by fox hunters (jumping on terrain). Which one do you mean?

[PrettiPepi]

"Look ugly, get the job done." was a motto of one great eventing team, forget which one, I think it was the British team though, and it seems to sum up cross country well sometimes! on a big course like this the riders are just totally focused on getting the best performance they can out of their horses and quite often when they have to make split second desicions it ends up looking ugly! they are all fantastic riders though...

[Dandyizbeast]

Becky Holder was the only person I saw that didn't either pull themself into 2 point by pulling their horses mouth, or didn't yank the reins at the beginning of the jump. I am not as good as them, but if they are going to be moving on the horse's backs as much as they do, they need to loosen up on the reins at least a little bit...

[Limo nade]

Ils sont vraiment tous de très bon, gentil et incroyable chevaux !!

[Sabi Schöni]

I hate this sport !!!!

[SilverStirrupProd]

It's not the fact that they need to loosen up their reins a bit.. they're plenty long. Their bodies just need to be independant of their hands. It's really difficult in these kinds of situations (especially awkward distances to banks or in water combos), but you can tell a good eventing rider from a great evevting rider in these situations.

[Ellie WIison]

Azteca was so freaking perfect

[yoshmosh85]

Unfortunately, this sport requires that you lean back and hold back as much as possible.

[Lani Osgood]

Well in xc you are basically beating the clock and getting over the jumps. Timing and also which part of the jumps and sometimes there are optional jumps, or two or three combinations of ways to jump a certain part of the course. If a certain level of neatness can be acheived as well, then that is just a bonus but as far as im aware, no pionts are added for landing awkwardly although it may take you those extra few seconds on the clock be cause of your stumble. :) hope that helps

[kelly klarenbeek]

I'm driving myself cross country but what I find is that people are too hard on the bit perched pulling!

[Dandyizbeast]

I bet @Echo Savage could do it on her horse Troiya! She isn't famous but she is my favorite YouTuber! She has ridden Troiya tackless since he was 4, and he is 13 1/2 now!