Eventing is an individual sport of the equestrian discipline, where riders compete in three types of races, dressage, cross-country and show jumping, in a single competition.
Dressage: In this stage, riders are required to perform a fixed sequence of moves. The rides are judged for balance, rhythm, control of the horse.
Cross-country: In this stage, riders are required to jump over 30 to 40 obstacles within a fixed time. Riders incur penalties for exceeding the allocated time, or if a horse refuses to clear an obstacle.
Show jumping: This stage has about 12 to 20 fences, each of which has objects that can be knocked down, arranged in a ring format. Riders are evaluated for their technical jumping skills. Show jumping stage is a timed race, where riders have to complete the course within the allocated time, failing which results in penalties. Penalties are also enforced if objects on a fence are knocked down.
Points are awarded to riders for each stage, and the rider with the highest number of points on all three stages combined, after penalties are deducted, is declared as the winner.
Eventing competitions are conducted as a one-day event, where all three stages are completed in a single day, or as a three-day event, where dressage is held on the first two days, followed by cross country and show jumping on the third day.
Similar Sports
- Dressage — riders and horses perform from memory a series of predetermined events.
- Show Jumping — an equestrian event where riders on horseback attempt to jump cleanly through sets of obstacles within a specific time.
- Cross-Country Equestrian — horse riders are required to jump over 30 to 40 obstacles within a fixed time, incurring penalties for exceeding the allocated time or if a horse refuses to clear an obstacle.
- TREC — a French equestrian sport in which the objective is to test both the horse and the rider in competitions consisting of three separate events.
- Steeplechase — a horse racing sport in which competitors on horsebacks race on a long-distance course that has several types of obstacles.
Related Pages
- List of all sports involving horses
- Eventing at the Olympics
- Complete list of sports
- The Encyclopedia of Sports