On the eve of the competition at the Red Hills International Horse Trials here in Tallahassee, cross country course designer Hugh Lochore and Sinead Halpin joined forces to walk the course and share their thoughts. Red Hills is incredibly well-supported by the local community and there were a couple of local media outlets who turned up to do interviews as well.
It was fascinating to get a course designer’s perspective and hear Hugh’s thoughts on why he had designed certain combinations a certain way, or put a particular jump in any place (the second water is much tougher than the first, because he told us he likes to get the horses’ feet wet first before giving them the more serious test here); he stressed that keeping the flow was paramount on a track like Red Hills. He also explained why he likes brush so much – it adds height, or at the second water to help the horse understand the question more clearly. The penultimate fence on the Advanced/CIC*** tracks, which incidentally are practically the same but for two combinations, is a simple double to stop riders from gunning for home and going flat out to the last fence. The course runs over this 42 acre site for the last time this year. In 2014 the whole event will take place on city-owned land where the dressage and show-jumping currently take place, and which has more space, great terrain and a ton of potential. Hugh has wonderful visions for the new course, and is excited that local government have already committed to help with the site. Meanwhile, Sinead, fully recovered from the USOC fitness evaluation, an Australian/Canadian/American dance party (exactly – wild!) and being pulled over en route to Red Hills for missing the Ag Station completely, is looking forward to a gentle weekend riding On Cue in the Open Preliminary Division. Friday is a long and busy day, starting with dressage for all divisions, and the show-jumping for the CIC** and CIC*** divisions beginning at 2:30pm, and Saturday promises to be just as jam-packed and possibly even more exciting with the CIC* show-jumping and all the cross-country running between 8am and 5pm. Thanks as always for visiting Eventing Nation, and please come back for lots more from Tallahassee. Go Red Hills Eventing!
