This decision has split the sport. Now the most hopeful scenario I can envision is that somehow we develop parallel leagues. And I think the FEI has allowed this to happen. I wish the FEI Three-Day Committee had taken a different approach, but we have to deal with the situation as it is, not as we wish it to be.
As for helping riders develop, this split complicates my job and the jobs of other coaches. Before this format change was instituted, riders aiming for the top always knew they needed to build the kind of horsemanship that eventing has prided itself in developing. Now I'm going to make the argument to the people I coach that this level of horsemanship is a worthwhile goal in and of itself-beyond the Olympics, beyond medals, beyond everything else: Just the sheer joy of understanding horses, in every aspect and under every condition, is a reward that's worth all the effort.
Read more from Jim in his monthly "Cross-Country with Jim Wofford" column in Practical Horseman magazine.
