BRIEF HISTORY OF EVENTING IN NEW ZEALAND

Some History of the NZPCA Horse Trials (now called Eventing) Competitions. Most of the information written here is a condensed version taken out of the Boots and Bridles Book, compiled by Betty Carson and with the permission of NZPCA.

When did Eventing Start? Big question. Over the centuries the horse has played a huge role in communication. The most classic is the riders who delivered the mail. They rode in all weathers and negotiated whatever obstacle they encountered.

During the wars of independence, the horse played a similar role, but now they were in battle as well as being used for communication. The horse (and rider), had to be very fit and needed to ‘race’ over rough terrain, jumping cannons, fences, gorges even, and people. Many died in their ‘duty to man’ but their legacy lives on to today. The modern day ‘eventing’ competition is a far cry from those bygone days, but a glimmer of their history is seen in the cross-country phase of Eventing.

The idea of the championships came from outside the pony club movement, when in 1954 Messrs. John E Butler Ltd presented the A1 Cup (the A1 trademark symbolizing the finest saddlery ever produced in New Zealand), for open Horse Trials competition by riders under 21. The Horse Society (now ESNZ) took this on and made the rules governing it. For many years Mr. Butler made a saddle and gifted it to the A1 winner, and other sponsors – ES Forbes & Co, Horse lands and MSD AgVet, have donated prizes including bridles and covers.

The first event was held at Maraekakaho, Hawkes Bay, where pony club was inaugurated by Mrs Dorothy Campbell. Properties were lent for this event on which a perfect course was arranged: two dressage arenas for dressage, show-jumping with 12 fences and a cross country of 20 fences.

NZPCA took over this event in 1956 (with the Horse trials taking a minor role until 1971).

It was decided to increase the number of riders who could compete by introducing the Dorothy Campbell Trophy for Pony Club riders under 17 years, and the Perpetual Challenge Cup, donated by Messrs. GMS Kelly, RS Pilmer, and DM Lamb. This was commonly referred to as the President’s Cup for teams of four riders from one Pony Club (additional riders were selected from Area Trials competed as individuals). From 1961 the teams represented Areas rather than Clubs and teams were enlarged to six riders.

In 1958 Misses Elaine Knox-Thomson and Suzanne Dickens donated dressage cups for individual winners in A1 and DC sections respectively. In 1969 the NZ Inter Pacific team won the SJ event in Sydney they brought back home the David Jones Trophy, which was from 1971, presented to the Teams Dressage Winners.

Back to 1953, Roads and Tracks were ridden at champs (2.5 miles), then straight into the XC (1 mile), with fences made of Ti Tree sticks no higher than 3ft 6inches. The points system was fascinating with riders pushing their horses to go faster to earn more bonus points.

In 1967 in Blenheim, solidly built fences were built for the first time. That same year, horses were ‘air lifted’ across Cook Strait. Mr Levin stated that this airlift gave him the happiest feeling “We got every aircraft for absolutely nothing – we had no money – they allowed us to fly $1800 worth of Aircraft with the goodwill of the Pony Club. They have allowed us to pay the bill since.”

There were many controversies and ‘discussions’ around this event. One such discussion was by Mr Dick Pilmer for his condemnation of sending an unfit pony cross country when it had not been properly conditioned for it (thank goodness our modern manuals explain fitness and proper feeding). He went on to condemn the race to the finish line and the bonus points structure and by having a more liberal time to finish the XC and to have a vet on hand at the finish to check horses over.

Gear inspections came about around 1968 when gear was falling apart while competing.

A travel fund was set up in 1968 to help those travelling across the ditch. The entrance fee was $7. Of this $3 annually was placed in a travelling fund which was distributed to the Inter-Island crossing after a deduction of 5% which shall be paid to the North Island and South Island as long, as they competed at champs. In the beginning champs were not to be staged further north than Auckland and further south than Timaru.

Riders had to qualify to be in their area team by competing at an Area Trials. This was hotly competitive, and riders were ‘balloted’ out if more than 30 riders applied. This was truly the right era to be in, as every Area built ‘new’ Area Trials courses to test out the riders and their mounts. Centralisation was discussed around 1990’s but was dismissed as each Area hotly contested the right to build new courses and this aided in our top riders competing successfully overseas.

The decade of the 1970’s in Pony Club was the time for consolidation. Magnificent XC courses were being built with 3 heights. Training 95cm, DC at 1.05 and A1 at 1.15 meters.

In the 1980’s our country was starting to show its superiority in world events and interest in Horse

Trials really took off. These events became family affairs which kept everybody busy and ‘broke’ and wore them out trying to keep up. Parents reassured themselves by asking “What child that rides a horse reasonably successfully fails in life?.”

Waitemata Rodney hosted the Horse Trials Champs in 1987 at Avondale Racetrack where the A1 height was lowered to 1.05 meters. The same as the DC. Beth Fife who was the TD at the time said, “this course proves once and for all that you don’t have to build A1 course to get results,’ sentiments echoed and reinforced by two National Instructors Cheryl Mondes, and Suzanne Dickens.

In 1993 the Hillary Commission gave a Fair Play Award which rewarded the team that embodied the very best in Pony Club ie Fair Play, good sportsmanship, and horse mastership.

The object being to bring together members from all over NZ into centres where perhaps they have never been, to meet and make friends with other members, to allow us to receive hospitality from these other Areas, not wholly on a competitive basis. The entertainment is the highlight of these, and it is with much enjoyment that hosts and musicians see our young people enjoy themselves with a loud dance and social occasion at these champs.

Moving along and changes were made again. The A1 height was moved up to 1.10, the DC was 1.05 and a new Mark Todd height was added in 2010 for the 95cm. This caused a lot of angst suggesting the champs was being ‘dumbed down’ with the addition of the 95cm but to this day it holds the largest number of riders. Ages were changed from 12 & under, to 14 & under to now 16 & under for the MT 95cm level. The DC ages were 16 and under and now 20 and under. The A1 age is now 24 years and under. Roads and Tracks have long gone and instead of running champs over a couple of days, it is now spread over 3 days of competition with an arrival day and a course walk day, so around 5 days in all.

Many more trophies have been donated for this event. A list of these and the past winners can be found following this link: https://www.nzpca.org/asset/downloadasset?id=8b20eb19-2908-4458-87c0-662a9ecd770c For me it is still the epitome of the best of the best in Pony Club.

There are 3 phases in the Eventing competitions: Dressage – which is a test to show the obedience, accuracy and discipline of both horse and rider, the Cross country - which shows the courage and stamina of both horse and rider, to jump any objects that are put in front of them, and finally the Showjumping - which is a test of stamina and agility and tests the fitness and ability to respond to the rider after the ‘faster’ cross country phase.

Riders throughout New Zealand still compete each year, in their Area Teams, for the prestigious Perpetual Challenge Cup. It holds huge kudos to win these trophies and the riders in each of the teams need to be celebrated for their dedication and their long hours / years of training to develop a partnership with their horse, to reach the standard required.

 I feel this is harder to achieve in this modern world, where the horse is no longer used for farm work which was a huge factor in their fitness and confidence especially for the cross country.

(Kindly  written by Marj Steiner. Chairperson of the 2024 Eventing Champs Committee).

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NZPCA Horse Trials Championship Previous Host Areas and Venues.

https://www.nzpca.org/asset/downloadasset?id=d92f72c7-6c5e-428d-ac56-cf409de397fb