Beginner's guide to Spruce Meadows' first major show of the season
'It is very technical. It’s a game of inches and it has a lot of mathematics,' Ian Allison says
While Calgary's Spruce Meadows is more than 40 years old, following the action can be intimidating for some people.
"You have the non-human element of it and there's no telling on any given day how a horse is going to respond to a different environment or course," senior vice-president Ian Allison told The Homestretch on Wednesday.
"It really is what sets it apart."
He says the competition can be challenging, even for the participants.
"Every day is a completely different course that the riders only have 10 minutes to inspect and commit to their memory because they have to execute their plan at about 25 kilometres an hour cruising around the course," said Allison.
Allison says day sheets available at the venue can be the start of an increased appreciation.
"I think there is some information that we publish in the day sheet that can just give people an indication of the breadth and the international nature of this sport. Every horse's pedigree is published, so you get the breeding, the age, the parents, get a sense of the heritage," he explained.
"You see horses that during the first few Spruce Meadows' years, it's now their offspring and great offspring that are competing at the top of the sport."
The design of the course involves a lot of factors, he said.
"It is very technical. It's a game of inches and it has a lot of mathematics involved in the art and science of course design," Allison said.
"When you see the riders out inspecting the course prior to a round, they are looking at what the course designer has laid out and equating it to a horse stride, typically 12 feet. Course designers use a lot of different shades and colours because horses perceive them differently. For instance, the water jump to them is more of a big black hole. They also have a different field of view. It's more difficult for a horse to jump a narrow fence, because as it comes into that fence, it loses perspective of it."
The five-day Spruce Meadows 'National' wraps up Sunday.
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With files from The Homestretch