Equestrian experts visit Paarl
2008-01-24
FOUR internationally renowned equestrian experts held a training seminar at the Nelson Wine Estate in Paarl recently to update twenty South African Judges and Course Builders on the latest international trends and requirements for designing and building courses for three phase horse eventing competitions. The visit was arranged by the FEI, an international equestrian body, under whose auspices all major international equestrian competitions take place, including the Olympic Games and the World Equestrian Games. South Africa has to date never had a team that qualified to participate in any of these events and the FEI has decided to assist South Africa and other nations in a similar position to get their international equestrian teams ready in a bid to qualify for the Olympic Games in 2012 and for the World Equestrian Games that take place in the USA in 2010. David Evans and Richard Taylor are both Professional Cross Country Course Builders from the UK that traverse the globe constructing cross country courses for international horse eventing competitions. They have just returned from Hong Kong where they are contracted to build the cross-country course for the Olympic Games in 2008. The FEI spent two days on the Nelson Wine Estate, exchanging views and educating South African course designers and builders in the Western Cape. This included constructing a few jumps on the Nelson Wine Estate which can be viewed by the public at the weekly farmer’s market that is hosted on the estate every Saturday morning from 08:00 to 13:00. During the past two years the Nelson Wine Estate has hosted a number of equestrian events on the Estate including the two day Horse and Wine Festival and the Western Province Novice Three Phase Horse Eventing Championships. Plans are afoot to build a crosscountry course on the Nelson Wine Estate that will comply with the standards that are set by the FEI. It will be used to prepare South African riders for the Olympic Games and other international events.
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