A Conversation With… Eventer Marty Hopkins

As editor Lisa Broadwater recently learned, comprehending all the ins and outs of the intense (and intensely complicated) sport of eventing can take some doing. For starters, there’s the sport itself — do you call it “eventing,” “the three-day event” or “combined training”? (Any and all are fine.) And what the heck does CCI **** mean?(Fans of eventing recognize the symbol-laden acronymn as the pinnacle of eventing competitions.)
To get a expert’s eye view of the sport, Broadwater turned to Marty Hopkins, who not only has competed in eventing for several decades but has taught (and continues to teach) a number of successful eventers at her Crestfield Farm in west Little Rock.
But first, for those who don’t yet speak the language, a few basics about eventing: Combined training began as the ultimate test for a Cavalry horse (it was introduced as a competition at the 1912 Olympic Games). In today’s combined-training events, the horse and rider are tested in three distinct disciplines during three days of competition. The first day features a dressage test, during which a series of classical movements that demonstrate the horse’s obedience, suppleness, harmony and balance are performed in an arena .The second day features a cross-country test, which measures the speed, stamina, courage, boldness and jumping ability of the horse and the rider's knowledge of pace and use of the horse across country. The third day features a stadium-jumping test. The course is designed to test the horse's and the rider's ability to negotiate a variety of fences of differing heights, widths and technicality.
Broadwater talked to Hopkins as she was giving a jumping lesson to one of her eventing students, several of whom were in training for an upcoming competition. Afterward, the two continued the conversation outside the barn, joined by several more students (who proved much less press-shy than Hopkins, who preferred to let her students do the talking).

Horsemen's Roundup: Did you grow up riding?
Marty Hopkins: No, I probably started when I was 12 or 13 years old. I rented horses for $7 an hour — that kind of thing. I saved all my pennies and did that.

HR: How did you get from there to here?
MH: I met somebody that trained Thoroughbred race horses my last couple of years in high school, and a year or so after that I galloped race horses and broke young Thoroughbreds at a big training farm outside Little Rock. That was around 1972.

HR: Did you like galloping horses?
MH: Well, yeah, but it wasn't something I was gonna last long doing. I had various and sundry injuries. There were two of us that rode, and we rode anywhere from 10 to 16 horses apiece a day. And these were horses that were not broke, for the most part, so it wasn't a question of whether we were going to hit the ground; it was how many times we were going to hit the ground and how easily did you bring yourself up.

HR: I've heard eventing described as an equestrian triathlon. How is it like a triathlon?
MH: Because it's three very different disciplines, and they all test very different aspects of the horse's ability. Dressage tests the suppleness and obedience and education in the basic elements of good riding. Cross-country tests boldness, endurance and willingness to do what is asked of him. And then, for the stadium jumping, after two days of hard work — especially the endurance phase — now he has to come back and jump an intricate course of elements that are easily knocked down. So he has to be careful and still very, very fit and willing to do the work.

HR: When did you get into eventing and how?
MH: When I started eventing, back in the mid- to late '70s, it was one of the few sports that was judged in a non-subjective manner. The only thing that was subjective was the dressage test, and even that had such a strict criteria that you could succeed if you followed the rules. The cross-country and jumping phases were self-determining: You either did them or you didn't, and you were in the time or not. You knocked down rails or you didn't. It was my preference to be able to compete in that kind of sport rather than the beauty pageant-type sports, like Pleasure classes and such.

HR: Had you done any of that other stuff?
MH: I had done all of that other stuff.

HR: So, eventing was better suited to your personality?
MH: Yeah, it was more of an overall accomplished horseman, I felt.

HR: Who was doing it here when you started?
MH: Me.

HR: How do you get into it if you're the only one doing it?
MH: I had gone to school in West Virginia and had lived in Pennsylvania and had been exposed to those things. I went to riding school in West Virginia, and I went as a Western major. I studied reining and cutting. That was also my first exposure to any sort of quality English riding. My estimation of English riding was that it was something for odd people. It was a little too bizarre, because I was from here and there was really no one here that did that.

HR: How did you end up in West Virginia?
MH: I found a riding school. I had done the racehorse thing, and I realized I was not going to live long. I had a lot of replaced parts, lots of scars. The school was Meredith Manor, and at the time, Kay Meredith was an international competitor and judge. I used to go back to the school and do teaching-technique seminars and stuff like that.

HR: How long were you there?
MH: I went to school for a year, and then I lived in Pennsylvania and had a variety of horse jobs there. I traveled around the country a little bit, goofed off. Did my horse stuff. And decided I didn't really want to do that for everyone else for the rest of my life; I wanted to do it for myself. So I came back home and leased a piece of property. That was Meadow Creek; it was about 38 acres or so.
It was overgrown and had this pathetic little cow barn that was falling down in the middle. So we jacked it up in the middle. There was a person here I road horses for, and I also started my teaching thing for her. I showed her horses; she had Arabs. That wasn't really my thing, but I did have an opportunity to start teaching and had a little bit of clientele. I started my little stable in 1974. We started going to events; we started being pretty successful.

One of Hopkins' students, Bessie Means, is practicing her jumping in the ring. After clearing several jumps cleanly, she moves into position slightly early, and she and her horse bobble the jump.

HR: What happened there?
MH: You're coming at the fence — stride, stride, stride, and your mind starts playing games with you: Now? Now? Now? And if you get a little eager and jump ahead of the horse, that's what happens. However, on a great-big fence, that's a deadly thing to do because the horse cannot lift his front end if you're laying up there on the front of him.

HR: Is that what causes most falls?
MH: It causes a lot of them.

The horse jumps a fence and bucks as it gallops on to its next jump.

HR: Why'd he do that?
MH: Because he's happy. He's one handful of horse. Bessie makes it look real easy, but — I've ridden this horse quite a bit for her and he's really a lot of horse. See, that was six strides.

HR: Do you count the strides?
MH: You bet she's counting them. You get where you can regulate the stride a little bit — that's your goal: to regulate the stride so you can forecast it. Then you're not so inclined to get in front, like she did a minute ago. Because when you're going over the bigger jumps, you can't afford to get out on her neck prematurely.
This is exactly the horse you want if you're going cross-country and jump a bunch of jumps. He's a going rascal. He's really not inclined to stop, he's so courageous.

HR: Are there different skills necessary for cross-country and show jumping?
MH: You bet. Show jumping is very, very exacting. It has these distances, and you've got a horse that's very, very fatigued because he's done the cross-country distance the day before. He's fatigued, he's sore, he's got all kinds of aches and pains. And those rails come down with very little bit of a push. So if he doesn't give you a maximum effort and continue to be extremely careful, you're going to have a knock-down. And that becomes faults, and the faults are added to your overall score, and then your score is diminished and you lose.

HR: Did I hear you say a minute ago that you don't practice cross-country?
MH: Well, sure, you have to practice some. But the idea with the cross-country jumps is your horse doesn't get to see those beforehand. When you ride a cross-country course, you get to walk the course and know where you're going, but the horse sees the jump as he is presented to it for the first time [during the competition]. So he's got to learn to be very courageous. And obedient. So, once you've exposed him to some cross-country, there has to be a great amount of familiarization with the type of obstacles you encounter.

HR: What's the difference in cross-country and stadium jumps?
MH: Cross-country jumps don't fall down; they're all natural elements, supposedly — fallen trees, ditches, brush fences.

HR: Does every course have the same number of jumps?
MH: No, it depends on the level of the competition. The course can vary from 10 or 12 to 30. And you have to make the distances within a certain amount of time, depending on the level you're showing at.

Means finishes her lesson, and the conversation moves to the barn.

HR: What does CCI stand for?
MH: I can't remember. [An international three-day event is known as a CCI — in French, “concours complet internationale.”]

HR: What about the star system?
MH: Here, we're gonna get an expert. Shannon!

Shannon Treece, an eventing student preparing for a Training Level competition, appears from inside the barn.

SHANNON TREECE: The easiest way to explain the star system is that a three-day event can take place at four levels. There's a preliminary level; two-star is the intermediate level and three-star is the advanced level. There are only three four-star events in the world: one is in Kentucky and two are in England. They are the ultimate test for three-day event horses. The Olympics are four stars; the World Equestrian Games are four stars, and these three events they hold annually: Badminton, Burghley and Rolex.

HR: How many people do we have at that level?
ST: Very, very few.

HR: Where are most people?
ST: Novice and Training, the two lowest levels, which don't actually have three-day events; they have horse trials. The difference between a horse trial and a three-day event is that although they all involve the dressage phase, the cross-country phase and the stadium-jumping phase, a three-day event also includes three other endurance phases before you even start cross-country. That includes two warm-up trotting phases and a steeplechase.
The good thing about eventing is that the welfare of the horse is supposed to be of utmost importance. So at a three-day event, because it can be so grueling, they have three different veterinary inspections. The first is the jog-up the day they get here. That's where the horses are presented to a panel of veterinarians and judges to see if they're sound to compete.

HR: Do they ever send one home?
ST: They do. They have three checks: one the first day, then you start dressage the next day. Then after the first three phases — the warm-up, the steeplechase, another warm-up — before they start the cross-country, they have a mandatory 10-minute hold, where they take the horse's temperature, jog him, check all the saddlery and make sure their respiration is back to where it should be before they let them run cross-country. And a lot of them get cut then. If they're not back to normal, they won't let them run.
Then, if they're still sound to run the third day, which is stadium jumping, they jog them first thing in the morning. That's when they send a lot of horses out because they've had such a hard day on Saturday. Their muscles get tired and cramp up, or they may have stepped on a rock, or hard ground may cause them some problems, so they jog them on Sunday.

HR: Are there many eventers in Arkansas?
ST: Not nearly as many as there are dressage riders and hunter/jumpers.
BESSIE MEANS: The country is divided into areas, and what has happened is because we have Oaklawn and Louisiana Downs, the East Coast riders are starting to come into this area to look for cheap horses, hidden talent.

HR: Thoroughbreds are used a lot?
ST: You can use any breed, but Thoroughbreds excel because so much of it is based on speed and endurance. They don't do the same type of dressage as Grand Prix dressage because they're not built that way. But they do nice dressage and then go gallop their hearts out on Saturday and still show-jump on Sunday. So Thoroughbreds do well.

HR: How often do you get to compete here?
ST: Most of ours are in Texas, although the one I'm going to in a few weeks is in Kentucky.
BM: If you don't mind staying on the road, you can compete.
MH: You can go to Oklahoma, you can go to Tennessee...But there is only one in Arkansas.

HR: Do we have good horses?
MH: We have a lot of good horses.
BM: Some of the best horses are coming out of this area.

HR: Because of Oak Lawn?
BM: Because they're cheaper.
MH: I don't know if it's because they're cheaper. There are some well-bred horses in Arkansas.
BM: My horse is Arkansas-bred, and upper-level riders have expressed interest in him. But had he been born in Kentucky or Maryland or Virginia, he would have had a much higher price tag.
MH: He still would have to have been found. This is a real big horse area, and people are just now realizing that there are nice horses to be found here. And they're more reasonably priced than East Coast horses.

HR: So more people are becoming aware of Arkansas in general in terms of its horse community?
ST: Yes, and we do have national clinicians come in. The woman who won at the Rolex [Kimberly Vinoski] was here in January and is coming back to do an eventing clinic in June [the 15th and 16th] at Leslie Carter's place [Highland Farm], which is kind of cool.

HR: How many students do you have?
MH: Gosh, I don't know.
ST: People trailer in from all over to ride with her.

HR: Is she a good teacher?
ST: Yeah, she's the best. In fact, she's taught most of the instructors in this area. She's very good; she's more knowledgeable than just about anybody in this area.

HR: What makes her a good teacher, in terms of eventing?
BM: She won't do it for you. She'll teach you the basics, and she'll give you the tools you need to learn to do it. If you read Jon Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air, it's like you can have all these people with these guides that will take them up and down the mountain, and then you'll have the one person who will teach you that you need to learn how to get up the mountain yourself.
The horse no one else can ride, or wants to even try to ride, Marty will ride.

HR: What does it take to be good at eventing?
BM: Courage — and money. We went to a show four or five years ago in Kentucky, and you're talking about like a $300 entry fee, three days off work, hotel, trailer, horse, tack. My horse bucked me off in the dressage arena. I'm done, three minutes into the show.
I think it takes good basic horsemanship skills. You saw me tripping over that smaller fence? That's not getting the basics right and wanting to do the big, fun stuff before I've done well at the smaller stuff.

HR: OK, Marty, what does it take to be a good eventer?
MH: Keeping your eye on the ball — be that the dressage test, the cross-country ride or the stadium ride. Paying attention to the dressage test and riding as though you're in a dressage test. And paying attention to the things that are required to have a good dressage test, like the accuracy and the gaits that are expected of the horse at the current time. You've got to be extremely accurate, and cool and calm.

HR: What makes a good eventing horse?
MH: A good eventing horse has to pretty athletic, depending on the level you intend to take him to. He's got to have a certain amount of athleticism or he can't get cross-country well. The temperament can vary a good bit. You're going to have to have a horse that's willing to listen to his rider and work with his rider. Because the dressage phase alone dictates that he's got to behave himself fairly well too.

HR: So do you only ride Thoroughbreds too?
MH: I ride everything. I trained and showed an Appendix Quarter horse for years and years. He was Area Three Training Level champion 100 years ago in eventing. He was very successful in the dressage phase, and the other two phases came fairly easily for him. So I pursued the dressage work a little bit, and he went on and showed through Fourth Level and Prix St. Georges.

HR: Are you still competing?
MH: Oh yeah. I haven't competed much in quite some time because I didn't have a horse that I really wanted to compete on. I've ridden a lot of other horses for people and competed them. But I have several young horses that are coming on right now that I'm looking forward to competing.

HR: How much time do you need to spend with them before they're ready?
MH: I have a group of them that are 3 years old that I'm riding right now. You can't even show them until they're 4.

HR: How old was your Prix St. Georges-level horse?
MH: I had him from the time he was 3 until he was 27, so we had quite a history there.

HR: And what are the ones you're working with now?
MH: One's half Holsteiner, half Thoroughbred; one's Trakehner; one’s Oldenberg. A big variety.

HR: How much gear is there in eventing?
MH: There's a tremendous amount of gear. For dressage, you've got to have dress boots, the show coat and some kind of hat. In the cross-country phase, you've got to have a safety vest, which is quite expensive. I think they run $150-$200 for a good quality vest....
The boots are about the only thing that stay the same for all three events. In dressage and stadium jumping, you could wear the same coat. You could use the same saddle in stadium and cross-country jumping. The bridle and reins could be the same. But usually in dressage, they want a little showier, nicer-looking bridle. And a cross-country horse may need some sort of martingale or a different type of bit.
In the jumping phases, you've also got boots that go on the horse, breast straps, jumping bats [a short whip]. He could wear special shoes.

HR: What is it about eventing you're drawn to?
MH: I think it's the overall good horsemanship that is required.

HR: Are eventing horses different from hunter/jumpers?
MH: Sure. For example, Bessie's horse would never go in a hunter class very well because he's a little too high-strung; he has a little too much motion. He's al little too exuberant.

HR: OK, back up further for a minute. What's the difference in hunter and jumper?
MH: That's a huge difference. You could take a horse that had done jumper and do eventing or take a horse that had evented and do jumper work. A hunter course is probably the least taxing athletically because the jumps are placed in predetermined distances and the obstacles are pretty straightforward.
In a jumper class, you're judged on the horse jumping clean; his style matters not at all. In a hunter class, his style matters a great deal — are his knees even? Is his neck nice and long? Is his form pretty as he heads over the fence? Did he leave the ground at the exact appropriate distance to jump the jumps?

HR: How is that different from eventing?
MH: In eventing, you may in fact have a jump where it's very necessary to make the horse shorten to the point that he just barely pops over that jump and then creeps on around the corner. You may have a jump where it's very necessary to open him up and just fly like a banshee — really gallop strong and fly through the air.

HR: What does someone who's interested in getting into eventing need to know? Can anyone do this?
MH: They need to understand the basic elements of dressage to begin.
ST: You need to have a very, very solid basis in your flatwork before you ever jump. Certainly, if you want to compete and do well, dressage is key.