November 17 & 19, 2022
LONGINESS F.E.I. JUMPING WORLD CUP LAS VEGAS
South Point Equestrian Arena, 9777 Las Vegas Blvd South, Las Vegas, NV 89183
“Show jumping, is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics.” - Wikipedia
I think I found a new sport to follow. While looking for things to do in Vegas I saw a post for the FEI Jumping World Cup. Having never seen show jumping live I decided to check it out. The event was happening all week and in trying to decipher the event schedule online it appeared there was a show every afternoon and evening. The best part, the shows were free.
On Thursday afternoon I made my way to the arena, which is part of a large casino south of the Strip. The casino was very busy, but when I found the arena there were too many people. I knew very little about the sport, but could tell they were setting up the course for competition. Next, it was announced the course was open for walk-through, and riders (and what I found out were trainers) streamed out and walked the course, seemingly measuring the distance between the jumps. When the competition started there were 36 horses entered. One at a time they came into the arena. The P.A. announcer introduced horse and rider and gave out other information while music typical of a horse show played in the background. But as the horse approached the first obstacle everything got silent. The crowd intently watched horse and rider make there way through the course of verticals, spreads, double and triple combinations, number 12 in all. If a horse hit one of the obstacles audible gasps could be heard from the crowd. When the horse and rider cleared all the obstacles cleanly, they were greeted with loud applause. I found it fascinating. After all of the horses had gone through the course, the ones that had clean rides (I think it was around 20), qualified for the jump-off. Some of the obstacles were removed, and now the winner of today’s competition would be determined by the horse/rider combination that had the quickest time and fewest errors. Again, it was quite exciting. The winner of the afternoon show was from Ireland.
I was so enamored with the sport, I decided to purchase a ticket to the $150,000 Finals on Saturday night. When I got to the arena, I could tell this course was more difficult than the course on Thursday, which was to be expected. There were also a lot more people in the arena to watch the competition. Twenty-seven horse/rider combinations were entered in the finals. The format was the same as Thursday, with two rounds. Only six contestants finished the first round cleanly and moved on to the jump-off. The first rider, from Egypt, hit an obstacle. The second rider, from Ireland, rode cleanly and had a good time. The last four riders were from the U.S.A. The first two hit obstacles, the third was clean, but her time was slower that the leader. The last rider, Lillie Keenan, bested the leader by just 0.16 seconds. The crowd went wild.
I look forward to the next time I can attend a Show Jumping event.
