While most riders will think a showjumping round is all about jumping every fence without fault, one of the trickiest elements of any round can often be the time allowed. Quite often in classes where the standard of riding is high, it’s this element that is used by course designers to separate the good from the great. Riders and coaches are often overheard saying, “Make sure to get this inside turn,” or “I’ll need to kick on here to save time,” which highlights how tight the time allowed can be. This is heard even more when international course designers come to build our South African World Cup Qualifier classes. While many riders locally seem to have mastered the ability to beat the clock, there’s always space to learn, so we reached out to some of the top riders and course designers in the world to give us their tips.
Marco Behrens – Understanding Why The Time Allowed Is Tight
Marco Behrens, German FEI 3* course designer, and a name that most South African World Cup Qualifier riders will remember from his strict times allowed at many Maple Ridge WCQ events, is notorious for tight times on his tracks. According to him, “the showjumping sport [has] changed a lot in the last 10-15 years; the training of [both] horse and rider [has become] more and more specific and the footing [in the arenas has become] better and faster and, therefore, the time allowed is a bigger effort than ever, as often the course designer has only the one chance to separate the field.”
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He gave an example of a recent FEI competition in San Giovanni, Italy, with big sponsorship and high demands for the show to be competitive and exciting. “Last weekend I was on an international show in Italy with competitors from 21 different countries. In the small Grand Prix over 1.40m, we had 110 riders, which would have meant 20 to 25 riders in the jump-off. Of course, these are too many to create a real thrilling jump-off, so I had to set a real effort with the time allowed (although the speed was supposed to be 375 m/min). It is a big problem if the footing is that perfect and the ring that large like on this show in San Giovanni.”
He set a tight time of 75 seconds, and the first few riders all came home in 81-83 seconds, incurring time faults in the process. Despite this, Behrens said the time was fair, although this wasn’t without protest from some of the riders. “When I walked to the warming up after a few more starts, Italian Olympic rider Gianni Govoni came to me and started a discussion. He criticized the time allowed [as being] much too short and, for sure, there wouldn’t be a jump-off.”
Govoni was proved wrong in the end as the competition had 15 clear rounds, but Behrens says “it took a long time the riders understood the main problem.” He went on to tell us that “most of them rode [turns that were] too big, and the only chance [riders have] to beat a short time allowed is riding shorter turns.” It’s not about speed, according to Behrens: “You cannot go faster than the course is built for. A distance keeps a distance. Of course, you can skip one stride out from time to time. But one stride makes 0.7 seconds at a speed of 375 m/min.” By that logic, he says that every turn needs to be economical, saying that “[leaving] 1-3 strides out per turn makes a big difference.”
The Italian rider who complained about the time allowed, Gianni Govoni, ended up being well within the time and needed less than 69 seconds for the first round.
Martin Fuchs – “Rhythm is key”
Martin Fuchs is a rider that needs no real introduction – the 28-year-old world-famous rider and current world number 2 knows how to ride a quick round, be it in the first or in a jump-off. According to him, beating the time allowed starts from the beginning of the round. You have to, “from the first jump in the course, push for the time allowed,” according to Martin. He makes a good point about the technicality of the track, too, telling us: “Often, the course gets harder by the end so you [should] rather try to make up some time right [at] the beginning of the course.”
But how does one go about making the most of the ‘easy fences’? To do so, he advises riders to “make some short turns.” This doesn’t mean you need to take risky corners though, as he says that “sometimes you can make a short turn without [taking] any higher risk at the [next] fence. It could be, like, landing and [turning] right away after a fence and looking to the next fence.”
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Above all, he advises riders to “keep a nice rhythm throughout the whole course.” This is very often a problem riders face where they spend so much time changing paces and unsettling the horse that they lose seconds without even knowing it.
Cian O’Connor – “Find the quickest route”
Cian O’Connor, owner of the jaw-dropping Karlswood Stables outside of Dublin, Ireland, and a regular competitor on the Longines Global Champions Tour has an abundance of experience. He’s competed at two Olympic Games for the Irish national team, winning Bronze in the individual event in London 2012, and has been a team winner of the FEI Nations Cup – an event where even a single time fault can throw a country’s chances of victory down the drain.
For him, he says it’s all about efficiency on the course: “Don’t waste time between jumps. Always look for your next jump on course and try to take the quickest possible route to get to it, without taking any unnecessary risk which may result in you having a fault.”
Other Tips From The Top, Locally and Abroad
The world’s best riders have an abundance of tips for saving time. Often, even in a jump-off, racing around a course can be dangerous and still not bag you the win. Instead, riders should keep a steady rhythm that allows them to maintain pace rather than have to slow down and speed up repeatedly, often causing slips and unnecessary falls.
Recent interviews with riders on the Longines Global Champions Tour have resulted in great pieces of advice, some of which seem simple, but we often don’t think of. When walking the course, everyone strides out their related distances, but often, we don’t count strides on our turns. As Marco Behrens, Cian O’Connor, and Martin Fuchs all agreed, you need to keep your turns tight. One of the easiest ways to do this is to count strides through the turn. Watch riders competing before you to count how many strides they managed in a turn, and make sure that you’re not wasting time in this one specific area.
Another area where riders often don’t take much notice is where the course designer has measured the track. Often in larger classes, the designers will include a short turn or two into their measurements of the course length (which is not always shown on the course plan) to ensure the time allowed is as short as they can fairly make it. If the designer is measuring with a wheel while you walk the course, look at the lines they take. If they take an inside line you’re not comfortable with riding, know that you’ll need to cut somewhere else on the track that they didn’t in order to make up the time.
-The JumpOff-
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