Equestrian Eventing

Equestrian, or horse-riding competitions, consists of several disciplines, of which eventing, formerly called the three-day event, is the all-around competition of the sport. The three-day event combines dressage and jumping, two separate disciplines, and adds a third competition of riding a cross-country course, often called the endurance phase. Scoring is by a series of tables evaluating each day’s performance, with total score over all three phases determining final placements. Olympic eventing, and most major competitions, now occur over four days, as two days are devoted to the dressage.

Eventing has its roots in a comprehensive cavalry test that required mastery of several types of riding. Eventing was previously known as Combined Training, and the name persists in many smaller organizations. The term “Combined Training” is sometimes confused with the term “Combined Test”, which refers to a combination of just two of the phases, most commonly dressage and show jumping.

The format of the sport underwent major changes in 2004 and 2005, with the creation of the “short” or “modified format”, which excluded phases A, B, and C from endurance day. The primary reason for excluding these phases was that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was considering dropping the discipline of eventing from the Olympics because of the cost and large area required for the endurance phase, with a steeplechase course and several miles of roads-and-tracks. To prevent the elimination of the sport from the Olympics programme, the “short format” was developed by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI).

The last Olympic Games that included the long, or “classic”, three-day format was the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, while major events such as the Rolex Kentucky, the Badminton Horse Trials, and the Burghley Horse Trials ran their last long format three-day in 2005. The short format is now the standard for international competition, such as the Olympics and the World Equestrian Games.

Eventing as an Olympic discipline first appeared on the Olympic Programme in 1912, and has since been continuously held at the Olympic Games, always with an individual and team event. From 1912-1948, equestrian events at the Olympics were limited to military officers and men. In 1952, the events were open to civilians, but eventing did not allow women to compete until 1964. Since that time, eventing has been an open competition at the Olympics, allowing either gender to compete.

The top nations in equestrian eventing at the Olympics have been Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, the United States, and Australia. Dutch Charles Pahud de Mortanges leads the Olympic gold medal count, with four golds from 1924-1932, along with German Michael Jung, with four golds from 2012-2024. Three riders from three other countries have managed to win six eventing medals at the Olympic Games: Andrew Hoy, from Australia, J. Michael Plumb, from the United States, and Mark Todd, from New Zealand.

Eventing is governed by the FEI, which was formed in 1921 by Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and the United States, and had 136 affiliated national federations as of 2024. The FEI governs several different disciplines of equestrianism, including jumping, eventing, dressage, driving, and vaulting.