Like every other sports fan in existence, it’s almost guaranteed that you’re tired of watching old ESPN re-runs and are craving live competition. The solution to your problem may be to delve into a new sport: equestrian eventing.
Equestrian eventing is a three-day competition consisting of three phases: dressage, cross country and showjumping. Think of eventing as the triathalon of equestrian events; it’s meant to test a horse and rider’s endurance and capabilities over three different disciplines and was actually originally invented to train cavalry units. Seems pretty badass, right? To be clear, that was a rhetorical question, “yes” is the only acceptable answer.
I know many of you may not imagine equestrian as a particularly riveting sport, but I promise that if you give it a chance, you’ll find it at least a little interesting. Plus, it’s one of the only sports offering a live competition, so do you really have any other options? No, you don’t, so here comes the NAF Virtual 5* Eventing Competition to save the day.
The NAF Virtual 5* was organized by Rachel Wakefield, who runs Uptown Eventing in Ottershaw, England. Uptown Eventing is known for producing many top Olympic-level horses, such as Lionheart who was ridden by William Fox-Pitt in the 2012 Olympics. Wakefield had the idea to put this event together to raise money for healthcare organizations, according to The Chronicle of The Horse. The event will be taking place from May 6 to May 10 and can be viewed here.
Wakefield and her husband created a framework for the event, which needed adjustments to work in the virtual format. The dressage phase—where riders and their horses perform a designated flatwork pattern—will remain the same and be recorded and sent to judges, but both the cross country and showjumping phases have been adapted for the online format.
The International Federation for Equestrian Sports standards categorize a five-star level cross country course as 11 to 12 minutes long with 40 to 45 obstacles. This would be very difficult to effectively capture on video, as horse and rider pairings would be galloping between different fields. So, it has been adjusted to “eight fun challenges” which have yet to be revealed, according to Wakefield in an interview with The Chronicle of The Horse. Wakefield went on to say that the showjumping phase, which is normally a set course of jumps in a ring a rider must complete in a certain amount of time, would have “a twist” as well.
Another of the event’s creative aspects is that riders are allowed to wear whatever they want, whereas normally they’d be in formal attire for every phase but cross country. I’m sure some interesting outfits will pop up, which is always entertaining. According to Wakefield, the event’s ultimate goal is to fundraise for healthcare charities, so the creative aspects are put in place to not only make the event more doable in a virtual format but to make it more fun.
This event is a great opportunity to experience equestrian eventing without having to trek out to the location. The NAF Virtual 5* even has an online market set up to mimic all the vendors that usually fill the grounds of a normal horse event, so you can get as close to the full spectator experience as possible.
You’re going to want to make sure you tune in for at least the professionals from Team USA riding, which consists of Hannah Sue Burnett riding Lukeswell , Katherine Coleman riding Global Ex, Hallie Coon riding Celien, Meg Kepferle riding Anakin and Boyd Martin riding Tsetserleg. If there’s any one pair you’re going to watch, I recommend Martin and Tsetserleg; they are the best of the best and my personal favorite.
Team USA will be raising money for Americares, which is a global health organization working to keep healthcare workers safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, and if you want to donate you can on the event’s webpage.
The NAF Virtual 5* Eventing Competition is sure to spice up isolation, so check it out and support healthcare workers all over the world while you are at it.