Red Hills Horse Trials
Encyclopedia
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, USA and is one of the equestrian
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
world's top events. It is an annual major eventing
Eventing
Eventing is an equestrian event comprising dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This event has its roots in a comprehensive cavalry test requiring mastery of several types of riding...
competition held by the United States Eventing Association
United States Eventing Association
This article is about the U. S. Eventing Association. For the United States Energy Association, see The United States Eventing Association is the organization responsible for organizing, promoting and adjudicating equestrian eventing within the United States of America...
, Area III and the 16th event held in Area III consisting of Dressage
Dressage
Dressage is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games...
, Cross-country
Cross-country equestrianism
Cross country equestrian jumping is an endurance test, and is one of the three phases of the sport of eventing; it may also be a competition in its own right, known as hunter trials or simply "cross-country" - these tend to be lower level, local competitions.The object of the endurance test is to...
, and Show jumping
Show jumping
Show jumping, also known as "stadium jumping," "open jumping," or "jumpers," is a member of a family of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes commonly are seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics...
.
History
Begun in 1998 under organizers Sallie Ausley (wife of DuBose AusleyDuBose Ausley
DuBose Ausley is an attorney in Tallahassee, Florida, USA.DuBose Ausley is the senior partner and former Chairman with the law firm of Ausley & McMullen, P.A. in Tallahassee. He is also Director of TECO Energy, Inc...
) and Sylvia Ochs, it is named for the sloping
Slope
In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line describes its steepness, incline, or grade. A higher slope value indicates a steeper incline....
terrain
Terrain
Terrain, or land relief, is the vertical and horizontal dimension of land surface. When relief is described underwater, the term bathymetry is used...
and rich red earth known as the Red Hills Region
Red Hills Region
The Red Hills Region is a unique 300,000-acre area of the southeastearn United States overlapping parts of southwestern Georgia and north Florida.-Location:...
of north Florida and south Georgia. The RHHT, held in early March and draws over 40,000 spectators and visitors to view over 200 riders and their horses.
Non-profit affiliations
Non-profit organizations that benefit from this event are Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park owned by the Northwest Florida Water Management District and managed by the city of Tallahassee, Tall Timbers Research StationTall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy
Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy is a research and learning facility located in northern Leon County, Florida, just off County Road 12 on the north side of Lake Iamonia...
to sustain science research, land conservation and educational initiatives, Tallahassee Friends of Our Parks Foundation and Red Hills Horse Camp for children.
Venue
Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park
Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park is an open natural park located in northern Tallahassee, Florida, United States and operated by the City Of Tallahassee...
hosts the Dressage and Stadium Jumping events while adjoining property owned by Tallahassee ecologist and horse enthusiast Colin Phipps hosts the cross-country event.
The cross-country course was designed by Captain Mark Phillips
Mark Phillips
-Ancestry:-Issue:-Sources:...
, Chef d'Equipe and Technical Advisor for the United States Equestrian Team
United States Equestrian Team
The United States Equestrian Team, or USET, was founded in 1950 at the Coates estate on van Beuren Road in Morristown, New Jersey, and is the international equestrian team for the United States...
and a former member of the Great Britain Olympic team. The cross country course was built by Scotland's Hugh Lochore. It features a variety of formidable obstacles, including water, banks and ditches, which wind through Phipps' arboretum
Arboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
. There are four dressage rings, the stadium course, and stabling facilities.
Divisions
CIC-W *** and CIC**; Advanced, Intermediate, and Preliminary divisions. Entries automatically are entered in the USEA Gold Cup Series.Dressage
"Dressage" is derived from a French word that means "training." It is a prescribed set of movements has its roots in the EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
when the European riders developed a sequential training system considered to be the basis of modern dressage. Judges look for a supple, balanced and lively ride that showcases the horse's natural athletic ability. Judges evaluate each movement on a zero to 10 scale.
Cross country
Fence
A fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary. It is generally distinguished from a wall by the lightness of its construction: a wall is usually restricted to such barriers made from solid brick or concrete, blocking vision as well as passage .Fences...
. Competitors must negotiate the course at the correct angle, height and speed to clear fences. The rider may inspect the course beforehand, but the horse leaves the starting box not knowing what lies ahead, demanding absolute trust between horse and rider.
Stadium jumping
The final phase has horse and rider jump a series of painted fences in an enclosed arenaArena
An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
. If a horse falls, balk
Balk
In baseball, a pitcher can commit a number of illegal motions or actions that constitute a balk. In games played under the Official Baseball Rules, a balk results in a dead ball or delayed dead ball. In certain other circumstances, a balk may be wholly or partially disregarded...
s or knocks down any portion of an obstacle, a penalty point, or fault, is added to the score. Stadium jumping tests the obedience and suppleness of the horse and demonstrates that sufficient stamina and fitness still remain after the cross-country event.