The Lost Art of the Classic Three Day Event

This article is from the January 2021 Horse Deals magazine.

Ema Klugman is an Aussie-bred, American-raised, young event rider. With wins and placings up to 4 Star, Ema has secured a position in the Australian High Performance Next Squad, flagging her as a rider to watch for the future. Ema teaches clinics around the US and maintains a group of clients at her base in Maryland, where she runs a sales and training operation.

In Australian Eventing, the modern, shorter-form event is what we’ve grown to love. But as young American-based event rider, Ema Klugman explains, the younger eventing generation may be missing out on the valuable knowledge and skills provided by the experience of the long format event. Ema takes up the story.

Over a decade ago, the eventing format changed from a long-format competition emphasising endurance to a shorter format competition. The main difference between the old format and new format is that the old format had four phases on cross country day—A, B, C and D. Riders were on their horses for over an hour, doing a combination of trotting, steeplechase, more trotting, and finally the cross country course (the phase we all know and love!). The short format jettisoned phases A, B and C; now we just do phase D, and we call it cross country.

In America, where I live and compete, there has been a resurgence of the old long format competitions. They are called the “Classic Series,” and there are only a few per year. These competitions re-invent the long format but at the lower levels (Beginner Novice, Novice and Training levels, which are the 85cm, 95cm, and 1m levels). The idea is to re-create the experience of the old format and also educate horses and riders.

I recently competed in a classic long format for the first time. My experience was overwhelmingly positive, and I believe my young horse benefited immensely from the competition as well. It’s beneficial for both riders and horses because it requires quite a bit of fitness work and planning in advance. You have to set it as a goal, and then work backwards about three or four months to figure out a good fitness plan for your horse.

The other thing I found is that it’s a competition, but it’s also designed to be an educational week. At least half the competitors, including me, had never done a long-format before. All the organisers and clinicians knew that, and they were there to help us have a good time. Their goal was to get everyone across the finish line. I felt like I had very little idea what I was doing when I arrived on Wednesday, despite having competed in several four-stars. The long-format is just different from any other event, particularly on Saturday (endurance day, with all the different phases). By Friday afternoon, I knew exactly what to do and how to do it, and I felt confident about the next day. The staff did a really good job of educating the riders.

The long format event gives you time with your horse in a way that many people do not experience these days. The event itself has you trotting and cantering through forests and around fields, but importantly, the lead-up to the event involves a lot of preparation, hacking and fitness work, which requires you to spend ample time with your horse. Preparing for the event gives you an opportunity to learn more about your horse — what is she like as she ramps up her fitness? Is she naturally easy to get in shape or is it hard work for her? With the goal of a big event in mind, you will get familiar with feeling her legs daily and taking note of any abnormalities. You will follow a schedule and learn the importance of the lead-up events.

The event itself was also a great experience for my horse, RF Redfern (aka Fern). The Training Three-Day Event basically felt like a mini FEI event. Fern had to learn how to trot up, how to compete on consecutive days, and how to showjump on the final day after quite a big test of roads and tracks and cross country. This was hugely beneficial for her education. When she goes to FEI events next year, it should feel familiar to her.

Fern is quite careful, which can make her jump a little too high in the cross-country phase at times. However, I felt that after doing about 40 minutes of trotting and over 2 minutes of galloping steeplechase jumps, she was really in front of my leg and taking me easily to the fences once I started phase “D.” I think the base of fitness required for this event will serve her well in her career going forward, as I think she could be a serious horse for the top level.

Another reason I believe the Classic Three-Day is a wonderful addition to the competition calendar is that it connects you to the history of our sport. In a world where we are rushing from one thing to the next, it was amazing to experience the sense of calm on roads and tracks, where it was just me with my horse trotting through the forest, competing in a great sport that has given people joy for over a century. While the short format of eventing is here to stay, in both the United States and Australia, reintroducing a few of these old format three-days is a great way to get back to our sport’s roots and spend quality time with our horses.

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