Les Smith is a busy man, thoroughly immersed in eventing in the UK, so it was quite an honour to have him attend and preside over the three-star Ground Jury at Kihikihi. He has been to New Zealand before, having judged three times at Richfields and once at Puhinui, but this was his first time to the Kihikihi grounds.
In fact, Les has judged at events all over the world, including CCI4* classes at Burghley and Pau, and in the early 1980s he competed at both Burghley and Badminton. “I became a judge to put something back into a sport that I enjoyed so much as a competitor,” he says. “I have had the pleasure in officiating at some wonderful venues around the world, including the United States, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Poland, Russia, South Korea, France, Belgium and Ireland.”
He is also a director on the British Eventing Board and chairs the sport committee. “British Eventing faces very different issues to the ones you face here in New Zealand,” he says.
The biggest issue Les saw for our three-star riders was their dressage skill. “They need to ride forward, get their horses off their leg and into a connection.” He was also concerned that the riders were playing things safe in dressage, all the time. “You have to go and ask for a 9. Start riding for 9s. If you play it safe, you will only get a 6.”
He is heading back home to judge at Burnham Market in the UK next weekend, an event which sees about 130 Advanced combinations. He thought the standard of dressage was higher in the UK, and doubted the combinations he saw at Kihikihi would feature at the top end of the UK equivalent.
“I do like the New Zealand thoroughbred, however. Fundamentally, they have a great canter, but I was disappointed when the riders went up the long side for the extension that they took so many strides and gained no ground.”
Les also had some thoughts on the cross-country riding. “They have to think about the course. Some of the lines they took, there was no way they were going to make it.”
The stand-out three-star rider on cross-country for Les was Chloe Phillips-Harris. He said he liked the way she “went boldly forward, saw a line and went for it.”
As to the horses? He liked Brent Jury’s horse, SE Hedging, in the dressage. “He looked like a star of the future, and looked like he would come on. He is an impressive-looking horse.”
Les was also very impressed with the venue and the standard of the course-building, both for the cross-country and the show jumping. “The basics are all here; you have first-rate course builders and venues.”
Cross-country course builder John Nicholson, for his part, was full of praise for the Kihikihi Committee. “They had to have a big heart on Wednesday to decide to keep going.”
While the weather beforehand was appalling, it couldn’t have been better during the event and the ground was perfect, as if it had only had light showers.
John now heads overseas for a month, designing courses in Australia, Indonesia, Sweden, Poland and Japan, and has a parting wish.
“I hope the riders have gone away learning something from this weekend.”
