Judy’s Note: This article is written by one of my very special students named Rebecca Mullet. I hope it helps you to see thru the eyes of a student as they experience Milestone Farm. This was one of her pages in her senior project.
LEVELS OF EVENTING
There are six levels of eventing in the United States, of course other countries differ because they have different systems, as well as shows, terrains and levels in the sport of eventing.
The first level is beginner novice: Beginner novice is a very easy test along with small showjumping and cross country jumps at their highest 27. This section is for kids that are first starting out and or professionals training young horse and thereof.
The second level is novice: Novice is for those who are starting to move up, and getting more fit and athletic, this is usually practice for the upper levels of riding and widely known for up and coming youth riders. This can also be a section for green horses who need more experience, but the height is at most three feet tall.
The third level is training: Training, is the level in which most riders are getting ready for preliminary and big shows, the jumps become riskier and the dressage tests start asking more technicality from the rider to reflect the attentiveness and fitness of the horse. The showjumping course starts having quicker turns and tighter jumps. More difficult cross county jumps are introduced, like down banks and jumping into water, and the height is around three and a half feet.
The fourth level is preliminary: Prelim is introductory level into the big and international shows, in which the courses are longer, dressage tests contain more difficult movements requiring lateral changes as well as the strength of the horse. Jumps in showjumping begin to have combinations of one of more jumps with only around 12ft or less to jump in between. The height is around four feet tall.
The fifth level and sixth level is Intermediate and Advanced: Intermediate and Advanced are usually blended together because both are seen at the international levels, for up and coming riders and well as practice levels and shows. Both can be seen at the four stars and three stars, and the riders of this section are the riders that are all famously known. These jumps range from four to five feet in the showjumping field and in cross country the height is around four and a half but the jumps are wider and have harder approaches and bigger questions.
Questions are the jumps and approaches, landings, sight, and all other aspects that would influence the horse and rider to make a decision on how to jump this difficult jump. Questions are maybe a ditch, a jump then nine feet to a three foot bank, jumping diagonal and then into water, those are some examples. But questions are the difficulty of the jump and what the rider has to ask the horse to do and participate in to complete the question safely and in time to set up for the next jump.
