Olympians in action at event forum
Olympic three-day event gold medallist Leslie Law will be in action alongside British team members Jeanette Bracknell and Sarah Cutteridge at the second Spillers Open Eventing Forum at Addington Equestrian Centre, Bucks on 21 February.
The forum will focus on the new challenges posed by the introduction of “short-format” eventing and will be chaired by British Eventing’s World Class Performance manager and British event team chef d’equipe Yogi Breisner.
The action will get underway with Christoper Bartle providing an insight into the logic and thinking behind the eight new FEI eventing tests, which he has designed along with Christoph Hess.
Leslie Law, Jeanette Bracknell and Sarah Cutteridge will then ride four of the new tests — one-star “B”, two-star “B”, three-star “A”, and four-star “B” — under the watchful eye of Olympic judge Francis Verbeek, who will share his thoughts on their performance with delegates. The riders will then work with top dressage trainer Ferdi Eiberg to improve their results.
After lunch, the Spillers panel of experts will be advising on ways to improve the performance of the event horse through key management areas.
- Ruth Bishop, technical director at Spillers, will discuss the different nutritional requirements of the long and short format
- Dr Ellen Singer of the University of Liverpool Research Group will be revealing the results of the BE-funded comparative study of the effects of the long and short formats, which was undertaken at Weston Park two-star event last year
- A discussion about training methods will be lead by Hartpury College research co-ordinator Rachel Williams
The remainder of the day will be devoted to practical demonstrations of ways to improve show jumping and cross-country performance using arena fences with assistance from Leslie, Sarah and Jeanette. Top international show jumper and former chief instructor of the Irish Army Equitation School John Ledingham and individual Olympic silver eventing medallist, BHS Fellow and coach for the Brazilian event team, Ian Stark will be in charge of the action.
The Spillers Open Eventing Forum is now in its second year and brings riders, trainers, owners and breeders together to discuss ideas and share knowledge. It follows a similar premise to the highly successful Global Dressage Forum and is an official training day for British Eventing (BE) Accredited Trainers and an approved refresher day for BHS registered instructors
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The forum is open to all and tickets are priced £45. To ensure your place book online at: www.openeventingforum.com or call Emma Hunter (tel: 01767 651664).
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