I have mixed feelings about indoor eventing. To some extent I feel like it makes about as much sense as indoor NASCAR or indoor golf, but on the other hand it definitely presents a simpler and more convenient environment for spectators–you can sit in one seat for three hours and watch the entire competition from start to finish. Long time EN contributor and by now EN legend Chelan Kozak was kind enough to write a story for us about bringing indoor eventing to the west coast. As always, thanks for writing this Chelan and thank you for reading.
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From Chelan:
So, I had this idea… Actually, someone ELSE originally had the idea of Indoor Eventing (event derby, Express eventing, and derby cross are similar). The thought of bringing cross country jumps to an enclosed space is a fairly new concept–with the intention being to highlight our sport to a group of people who might not necessarily get to see it otherwise. I know, I know, it isn’t REAL cross country. But, it is a means to drawing attention to our little known sport here in North America. Specifically for us here on the West coast of Canada our sport is ‘ahem’ grass roots at best.
I have had the idea of bringing Indoor Eventing to the Pacific National Exhibition or PNE, held here in Vancouver BC, since seeing video of it at Toronto’s Royal Winter Fair. That also began as a little wee demo a few years back, and has blossomed into a destination for many US and Canadian eventers in November every year.
Logistically, it was a tremendous challenge, and required all hands on deck. I went to the HTBC board earlier this year, and a committee was formed. Imagine moving 6 or 7 cross country jumps to a down town venue, having to load, unload, load, unload… We were slated to do two demo performances, one at 2:30 and one at 7:30. Jumps had to be removed between shows.
I’m a rider. I did the PNE course this first year too. What I DON’T know anything about is building or moving cross country jumps. Case in point-–
ME-So can we fit them all on one trailer?
KNOWLEDGEABLE MAN-Uh, no, we will need three trailers.
ME-How much do they weigh?
K.M.-between 800 and over 2,000 lb.
ME-WOW!
And apparently they need a trailer with a ‘flat’ flat deck, not wheels exposed, and yes you DO have to strap them to the trailer, and NO they cannot be stacked. Ditto NO to fitting into a horse trailer, how the heck would one get them out? For those of you dying to know-a forklift can NOT move cross country jumps in arena sand. Oops… The other logistics involved getting the horses (and jumps) into the venue before the fair opens and zillions of people are walking around. Add to this Vancouver traffic and roads not really designed for wide turning trucks and goose neck trailers.
My conversation with the PNE about the jump moving involved the weight of the jumps, and the fact that there was a forklift on hand that could handle the weight. It never occurred to me that a forklift can’t work safely on a sand footing. We soon realized that the tractor that they have at the PNE was not enough to move the bigger, heavier jumps off the flat decks. So here’s me–helping the course setters redesign on the fly as we had to sub in other jumps, letting the riders know that the course had changed, all while trying to get some sort of warm up in the ring while the jumps were getting placed. There is no warm up area at the PNE! We had exactly one hour to get it all in place. Our riders were awesome at going with the flow–we all knew that there would be a strong element of making S*%^ up as we went along! It was the first time we had tried this, and had no real clue how it would all play out. We all had no choice but to figure it out, help each other, and get it done. At one particularly hairy point during the first jump set up, I turned to someone and said, “Who’s idea WAS this anyhow??”
The second jump set up was much easier, as we knew which jumps we could move, and the one’s to leave out. We even did an added third round-as the PNE requested more, more, more! The horses were a bit tired by round three, but they are all fit Preliminary and Intermediate horses, so we felt that it was not unreasonable for them.
The scoring was time first, and cumulative scores to win. We had each chosen music to go with our rounds, which was a fun added element. D&L equine services provided prize money for the riders and HTBC provided expense money for the volunteers who moved jumps and came to act as judges, timers, etc. I have to say that seeing my little baby idea come to fruition right before my very eyes was pretty exciting! It was a complete team effort–support people from several hours away in our province came to help move jumps, set fences, judge and ride. Words are not enough to thank everyone who helped out. We even had a (planned) air vest demonstration. One of the riders jumped off to show how air vests work. We thought that it would be a positive thing to let the general public know that eventers are safety conscious.
The horses loved it! They all performed well in the unique atmosphere. Not only was the competition venue different for our horses–the rest of the experience was as well. Barns are open to the public and getting the horses to and from the arena requires navigating through crowds of non horsey people with baby strollers and every type of hazard you could imagine! Not to mention that heavy horses and carriages are everywhere. I know horses in Southern Pines get used to carriages, but our horses are not all so well versed. Insert duck and cow noises from the next alley way over. Helloooo ear stuffers! Six riders participated. Marissa Wolfe won, with myself and my student Kiyomi Foster tied for second. Kiyomi rides my former horse Tasman Sea, so I was more than happy to share the placing with her.
Plans are already underway for next year, with more days of performance, different jumps, and more advance advertising so that more of the public with know we are there and come to see what our sport is all about. Ironically the 2:30 performance had more spectators. The best part for me was back in the barns at the end of it all, when these two sisters (I want to guess 8 and 10 years old) came up to me with their Dad to talk about how much they enjoyed the show. Not horsey at all-these two city kids learned how to give a horse a carrot, and pet him on the nose. One of the girls turned to her Dad and said, “can I get a horse please Daddy? I want to learn how to ride and jump a horse, just like this lady. That was SO COOL…”
BIN-GO… I recall like it was yesterday a similar conversation with MY non-horsey father many moons ago, after the first time I rode a horse. “Daddy can I have a horse, please? Please, Daddy?” My Dad said, “Maybe someday Chelan, maybe someday.”
