Breakaway Adventures: Fox Hunts to the Olympics
Breakaway Adventures: Fox Hunts to the Olympics
Finding a Connection to the Games “Just Across the Pond”
Local Ellicottville Eventer, Heli Kongats training under the watchful eye of Olympic Bronze Medal holder Darren Chiacchia at his Independence Equestrian Center in Springville, NY. Photo / Indrek Kongats
With the 2024 Olympic Games about to kick off on July 26 in Paris, France, it’s not hard to find a connection to the games taking place half way across the world, or as some have put it, “just across the pond.”
Back in 1902, a new sport was introduced to the Olympics on a trial basis but it wasn’t until 1912 that it officially became a sanctioned competition. This sport was called ‘Eventing’. Eventing has become a fan favorite as a spectator sport as it’s held outdoors somewhere in the countryside, in the case this year, it’s held at the Chateau de Versailles, a charming historical setting with a beautiful park and gardens. The Chateau is also referred to as the Palace of Versailles, built in 1623 and in 1683 King Louis XIV had definitively installed the French Court there.
Eventing is an Equestrian sport pitting a horse and rider against time and obstacles scattered along a course nestled in a beautiful countryside setting. The course is called a cross country course with man-made and natural elements including water, ditches and timber.
Eventing has its roots in traditional English fox hunting which was practiced right here in WNY at the Knox Family Farm in East Aurora since the beginning of the 20th century! In 1932, Helen Knox (wife of businessman Seymour Horace Knox, founder of the Woolworth Company who held a controlling interest in Marine Trust [the future HSBC] in Buffalo, NY) and Peach Taylor became the Masters of the East Aurora Hunt which quickly became “a new source of village pride with everyone learning to share the exuberant interest of the huntsmen,” as reported in an article by the East Aurora Shopping Guide in 1968.
Taylor’s grandson went on to become the chairman of the National Horse Show Association as well as an alternative for the 1968 Olympic Eventing Team.
Before Eventing became an actual sport of its own, it evolved from Fox Hunting to Steeplechasing, which had its roots in Ireland and its most prestigious event the ‘Grand National’ held at the Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. British author Dick Francis (1920-2010), who he himself was a steeplechase jockey, made the sport very famous through his series of excellent crime novels. Steeplechasing is an obstacle race also similar to the non-equestrian Olympic sports - the Pentathlon and Decathlon.
Horse and riders in a pack of up to twenty, have to race around a four-mile-long course, jumping over high fences and wide ditches hidden behind rows of hedges. The sport is best described to the non-horse person as a cross between roller derby and demolition derby when it comes to excitement, but has the real elements of physical injury and death like in the Hunger Games!
Eventing isn’t much less dangerous but it still is the only summer Olympic Sport to have this devastating element and may even be more dangerous than Olympic downhill skiing! Many a rider and horse have been killed in Steeplechasing! Closer to home, a local WNY native and 2004 Olympic Eventing Bronze Medalist, Darren Chiacchia (owner of Independence Farm and Equestrian Center in Springville, NY) while training for his second Olympic appearance in 2008 his horse Baron Verdi fell on him. After spending 42 days in a coma, Darren miraculously recovered but two horses in the same Olympic trials died. At this point in time a serious debate was sparked as to the safety of equestrian sports in general!
Today with better safety measures in place like self-inflating body armor for the riders, improved helmets and carefully engineered jumps and obstacles, Eventing is now considered a relatively safe and humane sport. In fact, in stadium horse jumping, also called hunt seat show jumping, it's more likely to have a horse rider mishap as the jumps are much higher and closer together. This hasn’t discouraged celebrities like Bruce Springsteen and Bill Gates from encouraging their daughters to participate at this high level.
The 2024 Olympic Eventing consists of three phases and includes individual and team competitions. The first phase is called Dressage, where a rider has to perform a pattern of moves with their horse in an enclosed dressage arena. Dressage is a judged event that exhibits the highest level of training or equitation that the horse and rider have achieved. The next phase is the cross-country race against the clock, completing the course successfully in an optimum time. Penalties are assessed for missed jumps and being outside the optimized time. The final phase is the stadium jumping event, where again, speed and execution are the factors that determine the winner!
The grueling competition is held over several days! This year’s Olympic Eventing begins Saturday, July 27th with Team and Individual Dressage starting at 9:30am. On Sunday, July 28th the Team and Individual Cross-Country portion begins at 10:30am, finally on Monday, July 29th the Stadium Jumping is held with qualifiers starting at 11:00am. The US team has 9 members led by Chef d’Equipe Bobby Costello and Team Leader Gemma Stobbs!
Once you have had a chance to witness the excitement of this sport firsthand you’ll probably want to compete yourself! Age is not a barrier and neither is money. You can do it in your backyard or there are excellent Eventing facilities, courses and competitions held at the Genesee Valley Equestrian Center in nearby Geneseo, NY! Go out and test you and your horse’s skill, the oldest Olympic Medalist is Australian Andrew Hoy who at 62 won a silver Medal, so there is time for you yet!
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Indrek Kongats is an artist, traveler, outdoorsman, and business owner residing in Ellicottville. He operates River Dog Art Gallery in Houghton, NY, and his Breakaway Classic Adventures specializes in adventure travel destinations. Learn more about him at breakawayclassicadventures.com.