BY JANTIEN VAN ZON / KWPN
PHOTOGRAPHY: DIRK CAREMANS

In international sport, many KWPN horses are performing successfully. This is also reflected in the WBFSH Eventing Rankings, where KWPN has been achieving strong results for many years. We asked several experienced eventing professionals about the most important qualities of a top-level eventing horse.

Leendert Jan Hofland has been the team veterinarian for Dutch eventing horses for many years and regularly sees the very best eventers in his role. He highlights several important (physical) qualities of top-level eventing horses. “An eventing horse essentially has to compete in a triathlon,” Hofland begins. “These horses must perform a dressage test, gallop cross-country, and jump a showjumping course, three completely different disciplines that all need to be mastered at a high level. That places very specific demands on both the horses and their training. To manage all of this, a horse’s mentality is extremely important.
“In addition, you need a horse that moves easily and with sufficient uphill tendency to produce a correct dressage test, that can effortlessly jump a 1m30/1m35 course, and is also careful over coloured poles. For the cross-country phase, courage, mentality, speed, and stamina are essential. At the highest level, speed and endurance are what truly make the difference.
“I personally prefer intelligent horses with sufficient blood, extremely correct conformation, and bred from showjumping mares. Of course, as in all disciplines, there are exceptions in eventing as well. But if a dressage-bred horse occasionally performs well in eventing, that alone is certainly not a reason for me to start scouting in dressage breeding when looking for an eventing horse.”

Speed and breeding

“An eventing horse must naturally be able to gallop with sufficient speed. Fitness can be trained, but speed itself is very difficult to improve through training. I have seen very few horses increase their speed by as much as 50 meters per minute through training alone.
“Speed is far more influenced by breeding than by training. At the highest level of eventing, an average speed of 570 meters per minute (approximately 34 km/h) is required. In the approach to obstacles and through the many combinations found in modern cross-country courses, that pace must naturally be reduced significantly. To compensate for this, horses need to be able to gallop at 700 meters per minute (around 42 km/h) or faster on other sections. Whether a horse naturally possesses sufficient speed can be assessed quite well early on. It is also important to realize that horses do not need to go faster than the prescribed speed. The fastest horse does not win the cross-country phase; the goal is to achieve the optimum time. Going too slow results in time penalties per started second, just as in showjumping, while going too fast does not provide any advantage.”...

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