Jon Holling is a busy guy. He spent last week coaching the Puerto Rican team at the Central American Games, and this week he is in Lexington coaching the Area IV YR team. I had a chance to catch up with Jon Thursday morning to chat about the Central American Games, which will hereafter be called the “CAGs”–not the same ring to it as “WEGs”, but functional.
A few years ago the higher-ups at the USEF and FEI decided to get top riders to help develop eventing teams in Central America. Ignoring the fact that the US has such a sterling record of sending experts to equip and train people in foreign countries, this coaching exchange program seems to have been a big success at the CAGs. And by ‘exchange program’, I mean that US riders like Jon Holling and Allison Springer gave their valuable time in exchange for the satisfaction of knowing they helped spread our sport.
The CAGs were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which is south east of Miami by about 1000 miles. There were 35 competitors from 6 countries, including Puerto Rico (Jon), Haiti (coached by Allison), and Mexico (Brian Sabo). Eventing is still a developing sport in Central America so the competition was held at the CIC* level. In speaking with Jon, he was impressed with the quality of horses and riders. The winning dressage score was 44–by one of Jon’s students. That said, Jon was very critical about the preparation of the XC course by the organizers. The organizers had not put sufficient turf over the course and so the horses were either galloping over “straight mud” or crushed limestone roads. Try studding for that combination of surfaces.
Most of the competitors were converts from show jumping or other disciplines. Two of Jon’s Puerto Rican team members had worked with Jon in the US for the past year and they were the most experienced competitors at the CAGs, having competed in 12-13 events each.
Jon said that he was most impressed by the enthusiasm of the Central American crowd. Several thousand spectators showed up and cheered loudly for all the riders. According to Jon, XC day almost had the feel of a football game in the States, which bodes well for the growth of eventing in Central America. By the way, Mexico won the team competition.
Thanks to Jon for taking the time to chat with me, and, more importantly, for his never-ending quest to improve and grow our sport. Jon operates Holling Eventing, with his lovely wife Jen, in Ocala, FL. I’d highly recommend Jon as a coach, and I’m grateful that he is going to be a leader in our sport for many years to come. Go eventing.
*Note: Just to clarify the photo of Tony, the red tape is running parallel to the horse’s direction of travel, and is of course not in the landing area after the fence like the unfortunate red tape at the Central Russian Games (CRGs) that caused so many problems.
