Rolex Kentucky course designer Mike Etherington-Smith of Great Britain has designed the course for the 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong and will design the track at the 2010 World Equestrian Games at the Kentucky Horse Park.

“A lot of what I’m doing [with changes to this year’s course] is looking forward to 2010. It’s a work in progress, and I’m working from 2010 back, hoping 2010 has a different flavor. I’m looking at new lines and different ways of using the Park,” he said.

Prior to 2010, the traditional course will have some major modifications. The same amount of land will be available to Etherington-Smith for the WEG, but he plans to move the Head of the Lake toward the road and reshape it, make the Hollow in the back of the course twice the size it is now and remove the bank at the final water complex.

“There’s quite a lot of groundwork to be done over the summer,” he said. “I want to come up with a different feel to the course so competitors who’ve been around the course here don’t necessarily have an advantage. I want the route worked out by the end of the year.”

He expects many foreign riders to attend the event in April of 2010, casing the course before the WEG. “I want to try to keep it up my sleeve,” he said. “I will have a number of portables ready to put up after that event.”

Etherington-Smith has designed the course for Kentucky for 16 years. He’s the first course designer to create two Olympic courses, having already designed the 2000 track for Sydney.

“My job is pretty simple,” he said. “You try to have an understanding and feel of what is realistic from the horse’s point of view, and you also need a little luck.”

While riders are out on course, Etherington-Smith watches nearly every fence being ridden and studies how the horses handle the questions.

“I have a picture in my mind as to how fences should jump, and if they don’t jump like that, I’ve made a crock up,” he said. “My job is to watch the horses travel the ground, see where their legs go and how they use their head and neck and put that in my memory bank.

You never stop learning, and watching the horses read the questions is very interesting to me.”