Vancouver Island鈥檚 Peter Holmes has designed courses for some of the toughest equestrian competitions in the world.

He returns to tbird as course designer for the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup and other competitions at the show park on the first weekend of June.

鈥淗e鈥檚 an amazing world class designer,鈥� said Jane Tidball, tbird CEO. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really lucky to have Peter Holmes in our backyard.鈥�

Holmes is one of a small group of international course designers who can create the challenging competitive jumps for elite equestrian events such as the Nations Cup. His design must allow competitors to be challenged but not be so difficult that they knock down rails or do not complete the round.

Spectators will see a variety of jumps, giving rider and horse unique challenges at each.

In addition to the course designer, an event such as the Nations Cup relies on an array of experts, including international judges, stewards, FEI representatives, and more.

And to help spectators understand the nuances of the course, the announcers will be providing information on the various aspects of jumping, Tidball noted.

Tidball noted that people cannot bring alcohol into the show park as it鈥檚 a violation of tbird鈥檚 liquor licence.

But they can bring items for their comfort, such as an umbrella for shade.

Seating it taken care of with vast sections of bleachers from which people can cheer and clap for the riders and their mounts. Horse show etiquette calls on people not to bring anything that makes noise that could spook the horses during their rounds.

Even those who have never eased into a saddle can still enjoy the teamwork and mastery involved in equestrian sports, particularly at this elite level.

It鈥檚 a precision sport, a sport of agility and focus and concentration because it鈥檚 a 1,200-pound animal galloping at 400-metres per minute, making huge leaps.

On Sunday, there is $400,000 on the line in the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup. The competition is one of the highest classifications awarded by the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), the world governing body for horse sports.

The rating reflects the amount of prize money and the level of difficulty for the highest-level show jumping classes.

The competitors will be facing fences up to 1.60-metres in height and 2-metres in width. Each year the course design is done anew, so riders don鈥檛 know what they encounter until the competition, and there鈥檚 a few fun jump themes thrown in. One year it was Ogopogo added to one of the water elements.

There鈥檚 often no need for a scoreboard to understand exactly what happened and when.

Horse jumping is a more subtle sport when it comes to understanding scores, but the best advice may be to just sit back and enjoy.

Nations Cup events are like team sports, in that it is a collaborative effort by a team鈥檚 four riders and four horses to achieve the best score. However, each horse and rider also competes individually.

The most important thing to know is that the team of four riders and horses with the combined lowest number of faults will win.

There are two rounds of competition.

In the first round, the team coach decides the order. In the second round, the order is decided by the faults accumulated by the team.

Once both rounds are complete, the best three scores (the score with the most faults is eliminated) of each team鈥檚 riders will be combined and compared to other teams.

The team with the lowest score over the two rounds wins.

Riders are permitted to walk the course prior to jumping, to better understand the angles of approach and lines they need to take.

A clean round is every horse and rider鈥檚 goal, so spectators will always be cheering when a team completes a round of the course without knocking down rails and does so under the allotted time.

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Jumping terminology

鈥� Every rider hopes for a clean round which is when the horse completes the course within the time allowed and has no faults or refusals.

鈥� Riders who achieve a clean round likely have the best takeoff 鈥� the optimal spot where the horse must be starting the jump to clear the obstacle.

鈥� If a horse stops or runs to the side of an obstacle, this is called a refusal. The first refusal adds four faults. A second refusal results in elimination from the round, but if this second refusal happens in the first round at a Nations Cup, the horse and rider will still return for the second round.

鈥� The order of the competitors plays a part in how horses and riders perform. This is known as Order of Go and is a random order based on a draw. It鈥檚 always best to be drawn last in the order.

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Faults, knockdowns & jumps

鈥� Four faults are assigned to a horse and rider team when they have a knockdown 鈥� when the horse and rider have knocked down the top part of a jump and it lowers the height of an obstacle.

鈥� At water jumps, four faults are incurred if the horse鈥檚 hoof touches the water or the taped boundary marking.

鈥� Time faults are allotted at one fault for every four seconds over the time allowed.

鈥� There is a four-fault maximum for any jump, so whether the top bar jiggles slightly before dropping to the ground or all the rails for the whole obstacle go flying, it鈥檚 the same number of faults.

鈥� Hitting or brushing a rail, but not knocking it down, does not result in a fault.

鈥� A rail in the middle of the obstacle can fall and will not result in a fault. Faults are assigned only if the height of the jump is reduced.

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Jump types

鈥� Vertical gate which is quite easy to knock down

鈥� Vertical wall which is more challenging because of its solid structure the horse can鈥檛 see through

鈥� Oxer, which is a pair of jumps with a gap in between forcing the horse to jump both high and long

鈥� Triple bar, which is three jumps with space in between and rails starting low at the takoff point and high at the other side

鈥� Water jump includes a low obstacle before a 10- to 16-foot stretch of water

鈥� Combination, which is a series of jumps, one or two strides apart, that is dependent upon clearing each jump correctly to set up for the next jump.

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The Nations Cup is happening on Sunday, June 4, with activities from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at tbird.

On Friday, June 2, competitions run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Saturday schedule runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

And Sunday鈥檚 big $400,000 Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup is from 2 to 4 p.m. with gates opening at 1 p.m.

General admission for the Nations Cup is $10 per person, while children five and younger are admitted free.

Spectator tickets for the Nations Cup can be bought online at tbird.ca.

The public is asked to enter the gates at 6975 248th St.

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鈥� READ MORE: Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup

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