‘It’s a different challenge, on a different animal’: William Fox-Pitt compares the cross-country courses of the ’90s to today – but which is tougher?
Cross-country course design has changed dramatically – but has it changed the sport more than we realise? William Fox-Pitt reflects on the fences that defined an era and how the challenge facing horses and riders has evolved
All sports evolve through history. Eventing is almost unrecognisable since it first appeared at the Olympic Games in 1912, practised by cavalry officers, but has continued to transform even in the past 30 years. William Fox-Pitt, who retired from the top level in 2024 having won a record 14 five-stars, says the transformation of cross-country courses is inevitable.
“The sport has changed and will go on changing and we are embracing all the changes,” he says, describing today’s courses as “seriously demanding and technical”. “It’s a very different challenge now, on a very different animal.”
William on Briarlands Pippin at the Beaufort Staircase at Badminton 1992 – these downhill steps were followed by a bounce over an arrowhead
William speaks as a rider with experience both of competing extensively in the long-format days in the 1990s, as well as the current tracks. As Brazilian team trainer, he’s bang up to date with today’s challenges and refutes the suggestion that modern courses are softer.
“What they are doing now is seriously demanding, technical, in terms of both terrain and angles,” he says.
However, a monumental difference is the type of horse and the state in which it starts cross-country. Today’s championship courses are around nine minutes, and while the five-stars are still over 11 minutes, the removal of roads, tracks and steeplechase revolutionises the test.
“We’re not setting out now on cross-country on a horse that has already done 10 miles,” William explains. “At the end of a cross-country course in the long format, they physically couldn’t have done the twists and turns we have now.
“We could go round the whole of Badminton or Burghley with barely a twist or a turn, maybe a bend in the lake. Now you’re doing circles, it’s very different demands.”
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Twists, turns and skinnies: William aboard Little Fire at Badminton 2022
“The modern generation cannot understand how the sport has transformed. If you look at old showjumping videos, the horses were so flat on the last day, they clattered round, because all their spring had gone.
“Our horses were hard and fit, strung-out gallopers, not round and bouncy. We were on eventers, not showjumpers. Some of the horses at the World Championships in Aachen could be grand prix showjumpers and that’s such an interesting comparison.”
He compares his junior and young rider campaigner Steadfast, who had Clydesdale blood, and took him round his first Badminton in 1991.
“Steadfast needed to jump with momentum,” William says. “There was one fence at Badminton that only four riders made it straight through. Steadfast fell over the ditch and into the bank and couldn’t jump out.
“On a horse like they ride today, they all have amazing power and scope and that wouldn’t have been a problem.”
The standard of showjumping in eventing is now on a different level to previous eras, as demonstrated by Tim Price’s brilliant jumper Falco, who has had a total of two rails down in his entire international career
Big and bold versus technical?
There is a view that pits yesteryear’s big and bold tracks against today’s technical ones, but the reality is far more complex. The dimensions of the fences remain virtually unaltered, but the old courses were less dressed, less explicit and more daring. Ground rails and strategic flowerpots were non-existent, where they are now ubiquitous.
“It was simpler technically,” says William, “but you didn’t know how the horses would see and work out the question. We’d all be s***ting ourselves.”
He cites a bounce of parallels at Defender Valley at Burghley in the ’90s.
“We were always told a bounce should never have parallels – this was four rails all looking like footbridges so it was hard for the horses to judge where to land,” he says. “We hoped they’d all fumble over, so long as they didn’t stop... That wouldn’t be OK now.
“I also remember, at Badminton, a drop then two strides uphill to a bounce of upright rails. It looked enormous and your horse couldn’t see the second part of the bounce until they took off at the first. Now the courses are more transparent – both for safety and the type of horse.”
The proliferation of Christmas trees guiding a rider’s route is one of the newer techniques designers use.
“In the ’90s we had none of these trees telling us where to jump,” he explains. “You’re now effectively given a turning point to tell you where to turn and where to jump. So although it’s much more technically difficult now, it’s laid out in front of you.
“Before, for the Vicarage Vee at Badminton, if you were a yard to the right or left of the correct line, you’d land in the ditch. It’s still terrifying, still massive, but there is much less opportunity to mess up.”
The Vicarage Vee in 1991, with plenty of margin for error if the rider’s line was not spot-on
Frightening doesn’t necessarily mean harder.
“I’d say it’s far more demanding now, but in a different way,” William continues. “At the Vicarage Vee, you’d already jumped that ditch three times, and each time your scared horse was getting scareder, so finally they would stop.
“We had grey gates downhill into water at Badminton so horses couldn’t see them well. You’d skid down and clatter over but that was normal. The test was how you coped.
“Pretty pictures weren’t a priority. Most people riding now would not be OK with what we were doing – not knowing whether it was a stride or a bounce, sitting on the back of your saddle.”
William Fox-Pitt: “The fence I really hated”
And William’s worst fence of all?
“The fence I really hated at Badminton was in the Fairbanks area,” he recalls. “It was a tight turn up a bank over log into space, down the bank and two strides over a chevron rail. They copied it at Jerez 2002 [where he won world team bronze].
“Nothing was on a plate, you didn’t know where you’re landing. It demanded bravery – would the horse jump into orbit off a tight turn, how quick was their footwork to come off the bank over the rail.”
The onus was on both horses and riders to think in the moment.
“Footwork and reactions were key,” he says. “You could walk a course five times and it wouldn’t help. Now you need to walk it five times because you need to know the exact stride pattern, so you can show the horse the way.”
It’s a subtle difference – before, you muddled through, riding by the seat of your pants, and success was making it to the other side without falling off. Now if you execute your plan precisely, though the fence may still be daunting, it should look easy.
“Aachen 2026 was a serious track, but horses could see where to go and had the time to judge,” William says by way of example. “While you can’t see the line on the approach, you land and see it.”
Despite the unpalatability of many of the fences of yesteryear, William believes there is a key indicator that today’s courses are in fact more challenging than ever.
“The changes have taken the depth of the fields out at the top level,” he says. “I was 19 when I started riding at five-star – now it’s rare to be under 25 at Burghley. This shows that the sport is now more demanding. More of us could do it before – maybe not well, but we could get round.”
But perhaps the sign of a truly great rider is that they can adapt to whatever is put in front of them. William’s record – 14 five-star trophies, 26 months as world number one and nine senior championship medals – throughout the decades does not lie.
Burghley’s iconic fence: The Trout Hatchery
Burghley’s iconic fence is the Trout Hatchery (pictured in 2019), which has been a mainstay since the inaugural event in 1961 – when it was a working fishpond. It has over the years become a multi-pool complex, but has always been a test of bravery and accuracy.
William Fox-Pitt remembers his first trip round Burghley in 1990.
“You came downhill into the water over a curved wall with a proper 2m drop, then a step up and bounced over a sleeper table under a roof, dropping back into the water and out over some angled rails,” he says.
“My mother said ‘don’t jump anything you don’t like!’ – I wouldn’t have jumped anything if that were the case. But I was terrified of going down to the wall as my horse was strong so I went long and spent about a minute there turning around.”
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.