Cross Country at the Rolex Three Day
Watch a video from the Rolex Three Day's Cross-Country Course and learn about this fast-paced equestrian competition.
This year's Rolex Kentucky Three-Day is fast approaching. This annual spring qualifying event for the Olympic Games and World Championships draws large crowds to Lexington's Kentucky Horse Park for world class dressage, cross-country and show jumping.
Watch this video and check out photos of the obstacles that riders must jump to get a taste of Cross-Country at the Rolex Three-Day.
Cross Country Video Transcript and Course Photos
DARLEY NEWMAN: We're heading to Lexington to a fast-paced equestrian competition, the Rolex Three Day. The Rolex Three Day is a horseback riding competition on the level of the Olympics or World Championships. Tens of thousands of people turn out to see the highly trained horses and riders who compete here.
Though called a three-day event, this competition lasts four days and each day tests different skill sets. We're here for the cross-country competition, when riders race through a course of solid and sometimes scary obstacles and attempt to finish as close to the set optimal time as possible.
The rider gets to walk the course beforehand but the horses don’t see this course until they're on the course competing. Can you imagine coming up to this jump having never seen it before? All horseback riding requires trust, but the cross country course requires trust to the extreme.
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How you can go: The Rolex Three Day is an annual event that is open to the public. This year, in 2012, the event is held April 26-29. Learn more on the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day website.
