A professional showjumper has to navigate a complicated set of barriers with limited time. That is equally real before the competition begins because the rider, horses, and their assistant workforce ought to tour the event, fast passing to the subsequent one.
A rider travels worldwide nearly every weekend for 12 months, attending dozens of competitions. The logistical challenges of which are daunting. There are journey schedules for a couple of horses and their assist teams to juggle and education to maintain. Grooms come alongside. The riders no longer have much loose time as they scramble from one opposition to another, popping into a new region midweek and frequently leaving on a Sunday for the following occasion.
“It is by no means a 9-to-5 task or one wherein you could clock out when the day’s over,” stated Adrienne Sternlicht, an American rider who became at the gold medal-prevailing group on the World Equestrian Games final 12 months. “It’s truly a lifestyle sport just to this point as there’s no such issue as a day without work.”
She and different riders from around the world have come to New York for the Longines Masters beginning this weekend at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, flying in for much less than every week earlier than leaving for the next competition.
Top riders can regularly compete in approximately 40 shows around the arena annually, typically held from Wednesday to Sunday. In this method, the teams are continuously in transit. “Week in, week out, you % your bag, visit the airport, tour, and stay in a resort,” said Olivier Philippaerts, a Belgian show jumper who could be bringing his horses H&M Cue Channa forty-two and Insolente des Dix Bonniers, each gray mares, to the Masters. “I essentially stay in a motel. I get the best three days home a week, so I am in a hotel more than home.”
Despite that, some riders stated that traveling internationally and attending to compete on the pinnacle level made up for the downsides.
