Who Jumped It Best: Boekelo’s Devilish Drop

This year’s Boekelo CCIO4*-L cross-country was a step up in the toughness scales, and plenty of tricky combinations on course had riders and coaches putting their heads together — one rider even admitted that he’d walked the course ‘probably eighteen times!’ to get the measure of it all. But there was one complex that stood out above and beyond the rest, as it tends to every year: the main water, which began at 19 with a big, square timber oxer, then followed on a right-handed 90-degree turn to 20A, a huge drop into water, and 20B, a skinny on an island within the lake. Then, it was straight onto a double of skinnies at 21AB, which were set on a forward striding pattern.

The water caused problems for plenty of reasons: it’s one of the busiest, loudest parts of the course, so there’s plenty to get distracted by, and we saw no shortage of runouts at any of those myriad skinnies, even when some riders opted for one of the available long routes. The changing, dappled lighting can also make this water tricky, and many horses, too, can have a stumble when landing in it, depending on how they jump in.

Judging a drop fence isn’t always the easiest of tasks, but that’s what we’ve got on the agenda for you today. Take a look at this selection of horses and riders as they tackle 20A — you can even see 19 in the background! — and see who you think stands the best chance of landing neatly, regathering the knitting, and making neat work of those three skinnies to come.