World Equestrian Games 2010: most prestigious competition brings 900 horses, 800 athletes to Lexington, Kentucky [Sept25-Oct10]

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They are coming from around the world. The horses and riders. The media crews and fans. The exhibitors and entertainers. This fall, the world’s most prestigious equestrian competition comes to Lexington, Kentucky. The largest equine event in U.S. history, the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games will bring more than 900 horses, 800 athletes, 1,000 media outlets (NBC will cover the event), and between 200,000 and 300,000 spectators to the Horse Capital of the World from September 25 through October 10.

“Being the first time the United States is hosting, the 2010 Games are especially significant because they will demonstrate the move to globalize equestrian sports,” says Kate Jackson, vice-president of competition for the games. “As many as 60 are expected to compete, and it will be the largest number of horses ever flown overseas for an equestrian competition.”

The 2010 Games will showcase Kentucky and its important role in the horse industry. And the event will be a financial boon: According to Jackson, “The games are expected to have a $150 million economic impact on the state.”

Held every four years (as they have been since 1990), two years prior to the Olympic Games, the World Equestrian Games (WEG) are governed by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the international governing body of equestrian sport recognized by the International Olympic Committee. While equestrian events in the Olympics consist of three events (eventing, jumping, and dressage), the WEG comprise eight disciplines.

Here’s a quick thumbnail of each discipline in the WEG and what the judges will be looking for from each horse and rider.

Dressage
Dressage actually means “training” in French. Specifically, the idea is to develop the horse into a happy athlete through “harmonious education... it makes the horse calm, supple, loose and flexible, but also confident, attentive and keen, thus achieving perfect understanding with its rider.” Judges score horse and rider on a combination of movements and gaits; in the freestyle competition, the rider designs an original test of movements, set to music.

Driving
The idea here is to drive — in this case, a team of four horses — with finesse, control, and accuracy. On a three-section course not to cover more than 18 kilometers, the driver navigates through a series of twisting courses and marked obstacles, some which include cones set close together with balls balanced on top. The winner is the team with the lowest number of penalties.

Eventing
A three-day test that includes dressage, cross-country jumping, and stadium jumping, eventing showcases the horse’s jumping ability, endurance, and willingness to continue after the previous days’ competitions.

Para Dressage
A new event for the 2010 Games, para dressage pairs riders with physical disabilities with horses in a dressage competition, which includes the crowd-pleasing musical freestyle event and special guidelines for these competitors.

Reining
The only Western event in the WEG, reining showcases horse and rider doing circles, small and large, in slow and fast movements; rollbacks; and 360-degree spins, among other patterns. Easy to spot: This is the competition where the riders are wearing cowboy hats.

Jumping
Jumping tests both the horse and rider over a course of obstacles, demonstrating the horse’s freedom, energy, skill, speed, and obedience in jumping as well as the rider’s horsemanship.

Vaulting
In vaulting, a combination of gymnastics and dance is performed on a cantering horse, displaying strength, coordination, rhythm, and balance of both the rider and the horse. Vaulters compete individually, in teams, and in pairs, and are scored based on their performance of seven designated exercises. There’s also freestyle vaulting, which, like freestyle dressage, is a routine set to music.

Endurance
As the name implies, this competition tests the speed and endurance of a horse over a distance of 100 miles with at least five compulsory stops, so veterinarians can check the horse’s fitness. The course comprises loops of 10–25 miles, all starting and finishing at Forego Polo Field at Kentucky Horse Park. Competition starts at 7 a.m. The speed for the winning horse is expected to be about 11 miles per hour, and the winner will be the most fit horse and rider that completes the race in the shortest time.

Kentucky Horse Park is the venue for the World Equestrian Games and one of the leading equestrian competition venues in the world. With numerous competition facilities, the largest all-breed equestrian museum in the world, and dozens of breeds of different horses at work and play on its sprawling 1,200 acres, the Kentucky Horse Park is the only park of its kind in the world. Besides the 16 days of competition during the World Equestrian Games, there are lots of other horse-related things to do here — from horse-drawn tours and horseback riding to pony rides and live horse shows. Part working horse farm, part equine competition facility, part educational theme park, this state-owned park was the natural choice for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

The initiative behind the Kentucky Horse Park is simple. Created by a group of visionary Kentuckians and leaders from state government and the equine industry, the idea was to create a “people’s farm,” so locals and visitors alike could come and learn more about horses, the horse industry, and the Bluegrass region. The Kentucky Horse Park is also home to the National Horse Center, a collection of 35 state, regional, and national equine organizations. For more information about the Kentucky Horse Park, visit www.kyhorsepark.com.

World Equestrian Games to draw hundreds of thousands to Kentucky Horse Park

Beginning Sept. 25, Lexington, Kentucky puts its image as the Horse Capital of the World to the test as it hosts the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The three-week event can be described as the Olympics for the equestrian world. The games began in 1990 and are held every four years. The 2010 Games mark the first ever to be held in the United States. "We want to give everyone the opportunity to come out and be a part of it," said Amy Walker of the World Games Foundation.

To help put the scope of the event into perspective, Walker said the site of the 2006 games in Germany would fit into the parking lot of the Kentucky Horse Park. Those games were held on about 40 acres. The Kentucky Horse Park will utilize nearly 900 of its 1,200 acres during the games.

The 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games is not your ordinary horse event. Athletes from all 50 states and 55 countries will participate in eight different equestrian sports. For five of these sports, this will be the highest level of competition. Three of the sports are represented at the Olympics.

The Horse Park's main stadium, which seats 7,500, opened about two years ago. During the games, the venue will have another 22,000 seats added. The stadium will be home to dressage, jumping and eventing competitions. About a quarter-mile up the road, a temporary stadium lines what is usually an empty field. Here, athletes will compete in the sport of driving, which involves athletes and horse-drawn vehicles. Walker said one of the largest competitions centered here is a driving endurance marathon, which she described as a 100-mile horse race in just one day. Another relatively new addition to the Horse Park is the indoor arena, which sprawls out on a small hill overlooking the pastures of the park. During the games, this venue will hosts the reining competitions, events that spotlight Western horses. The arena also will host vaulting, an event best likened to gymnastics on horseback.

According to Lisa Jackson, marketing director for the Kentucky Horse Park, 900,000 people visit the park each year. During the three weeks of the games there may be more than a quarter-million people roaming the grounds. In all, 400,000 tickets were made available for the games.

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Photos courtesy of Kentucky Horse Park, kelecyn.com, equestrian.org.au, cowboysindians.com, Ken Braddick / dressage-news.com, alltechfeigames.com, Lexington Convention And Visitors Bureau, and worldequestriangames2010.info