Eventing is the ultimate test of horse and rider - comprising three disciplines – Dressage, Cross-Country and Show Jumping, the scores from each test combine to produce an overall total.

The ultimate form of Eventing competition is the THREE DAY EVENT when each test takes place on a different day starting on day one with Dressage, day two consists of two sections of Roads & Tracks separated by Steeplechase and finally (long format with steeplechase), the challenge of the Cross Country course. On the final day, there is Show Jumping completing the triathlon of disciplines. The sport also comprises ONE DAY EVENTS with all three tests on one day or TWO DAY EVENTS where competitors Dressage and Show Jump on day one and the second day is the Endurance day with cross country.

It is a sport at which Britain excels and recent medal success has brought it to the forefront once again. It is also one of a handful of sports where men and women compete on equal terms and the genuine amateur can compete against a world or Olympic champion.

Eventing (or sometimes referred to as Horse Trials) originally evolved from the training of cavalry horses. The sport is rather like the pentathlon in that it combines different disciplines in one competition and is run on a cumulative penalty basis. The competitor with least penalties at the end is the winner.

The first test is dressage, which comprises a set sequence of compulsory movements in an arena 20 metres wide and 40 metres long (60 metres at higher levels of competition). The test is judged by one or more judges who are looking for balance, rhythm and suppleness and most importantly, obedience of the horse and its harmony with the rider.

The show-jumping phase is one round of jumping with a maximum time allowed and the objective is to jump all the fences clear inside the time. The fences are not as high as top level show-jumping but are quite substantial for horses which are not specialists at show-jumping. Fences knocked down and refusals incur penalties as does exceeding the time allowed.

The third phase is the cross-country where a course of natural obstacles has to be jumped - again inside an optimum time - being over the time incurs penalties and being well under it is of no benefit and unnecessarily tires the horse. Stopping at obstacles or falling off also incurs penalties.

All horses need to build up their levels of skill, the sport has different levels of competition: Novice, Intermediate and Advanced through which horses progress as they score points and gain experience. This leads to an interesting feature of the sport which is that all riders compete in Novice classes with the top riders on their young horses competing often against relatively inexperienced rider who can and do beat them on occasions. Also men and women compete on equal terms - there are no distinctions or single sex classes.

The vast majority of competitions are One Day Events - so called because all three phases take place on the same day - first the dressage, second the show-jumping and finally the cross-country. In 2004, 198 events were organised nation-wide with 182 actually being held, providing some 59,079 competition opportunities.

A typical One Day event affiliated to British Eventing with an independent organiser requires in addition to the facilities to accommodate all three phases, a supporting team of some 200 officials and helpers: the majority of whom will be voluntary, devoting much time and effort for the love of the sport.

At the higher levels of competition in the Intermediate and Advanced levels each phase takes place on a separate day - hence ‘Three Day Event’.

At a Three Day Event both the dressage and show-jumping tests are longer and more difficult than those at One Day Horse Trials. While the cross-country phase is much more substantial and is called the “speed and endurance” which is comprised of four elements in the long format and simply cross country in the short format. In long format (with steeplechase), the competitor firstly rides about 2 1/2 miles on roads and tracks mainly at a trot. Secondly there is a steeplechase course of about 1 1/4 miles over 8 brush fences at a fast gallop followed immediately by a further 3+ miles of roads and tracks before a 10 minute compulsory rest before the start of the cross-country. During the 10 minute rest the horses are checked by a veterinary surgeon to ensure they are fit enough to start the cross country. The cross-country is about 3 miles long over approximately 27 obstacles, the size depends on the level of the competition.

Domestically, competition horses are graded according to the amount of points won at affiliated events:

Classes are designated to the level of points and are at the following levels:-

The Championships follow in a four year cycle: Europeans, World Equestrian Games. Europeans, Olympics. Qualification is achieved by competing in selected 3 and 4 star events and their subsequent selection process by the NGB.

International Three Day Events take place in 22 countries throughout the world from South America to Canada and from Belarus to Australia and New Zealand. But the country which stages the most international Three Day Events is Great Britain with ten events - 4 star (Burghley and Badminton), 3 star (Bramham, Blair and Blenheim), 2 star (Burgie, Hartpury College and Weston Park) and 1 star (Blair Castle, Hartpury College, Aldon and Weston Park).

British Eventing is the governing body for Eventing in Great Britain and regulates the sport as well as organising and scheduling many events throughout the country.

Following the decision in 1996 to become independent of the British Horse Society and its charitable umbrella, the sport established itself as an independent company limited by guarantee – the British Horse Trials Association Limited. As such it had its own identity and has took up founder membership of a legally constituted British Equestrian Federation (BEF). On January 1 2001, the governing body changed its name to British Eventing (a company limited by guarentee - registration number 3218925) in line with the world-wide acceptance of Eventing as the official name for the sport.

Current membership categories include; Full, Joint, Syndicate, Life, Associate, Family, Individual and Junior.

International equestrian sport is governed by the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) (www.horsesport.org) which is based in Lusanne, Switzerland. The British Equestrian Federation (www.bef.co.uk) acts as the international secretariat on behalf of the Olympic disciplines (see below) and represents their interests in all matters concerned with the FEI and other National Federations, as the FEI only recognises one governing body in each country.

In turn, we look to the BEF to advise and represent us on the entire international scene, especially GB run international Championships, rules and specialist advice on all urgent veterinary matters.

BE is totally committed to the aims and objectives of the BEF as the co-ordinated way forward for the Olympic disciplines.

British Eventing’s Directorate and Management consists of a Board of 6 (minimum) to 12 (maximum) elected Directors including the Chairman with the power to co-opt additional members, supported by specialist committees. The staffing consists of a Chief Executive supported by a Sport & Technical Manager, Marketing  & Sponsorship Manager, Opperations Manager, IT Manager, PR & Communications and Administration Manager, with a dedicated headquarters’ staff and a field staff of five Regional Directors, Technical Advisers, Scorers and voluntary Stewards.

The above information has been sourced from the British Eventing Website for more information click on the logo below.