This is a special year for someone who enjoys good show jumping as much as I do. In June I was lucky to get to spend another wonderful week in Aachen, Germany, where I got to see the best European competitors. Our own pressure-packed and beautifully presented selection trials followed three weeks later (see p. 40). And, to cap it off, I anticipate attending my seventh consecutive World Championships in September.

I’ve always found it fascinating to observe the continual evolution occurring in our sport. The World Cham-pionships, held every four years, provide a unique opportunity to witness the subtle changes’and to see what remains constant.

The formula for determining the World Champion hasn’t really changed over the past 24 years. But one innovation has been added this year: riders now have an optional, non-competitive “warm-up” the day before the championship gets underway. Most riders welcome this brief opportunity for their horses to acclimate over a simple course in the main stadium.

Wednesday is the first of the no less than nine rounds of jumping it will take to determine who will hold the title of World Cham-pion for the next four years. The stamina, consistency, and cool nerves of the leaders will be exquisitely tested before the winner emerges.

The opening competition’ which, unlike the Olympic Games format, counts toward both the team and individual results’consists of a single round over a “smaller” course (if you can call 4’11” small!). Scoring is under Table C with faults converted into seconds. The rules call for a Table A course, which translates into a long course with big square oxers, careful verticals, tricky distances, and often options in the track.

History has demonstrated that being either clear but too cautious or fast with more than a single fault will make victory on Sunday unlikely. Should two of the four riders on any team have trouble in this round, even superb performances the next day might not be enough to put the team on the medal podium.

Leading off with a speed competition adds one more complication. For many horses, this isn’t the optimal preparation for the following day’s two-round Nations Cup. Course designer Avelino Miraveles is almost sure to demand calm, focused performances, over a big, careful and technical course each member will have to jump twice on Thursday.

The horses get a well-deserved day off on Friday before the top-echelon competitors continue their quest for the individual title. Saturday, again, consists of two rounds’but this time the two courses aren’t identical. The second round will be shorter but equally difficult, and the pressure will now be enormous. A single rail or time fault can mean the difference between the chance to ride for the title and going home with memories clouded with “if only…”

At this point, after five rounds of demanding jumping, there is still no winner’this has all been “qualifying” for the opportunity to be one of the four to ride the final day.

The scoreboard is reset to zero so that the leader has no greater chance to win than the fourth qualifier in this rider test. Each rider will first perform on his own mount and then on each of the other three horses. Can instinct, training and experience produce almost instant partnerships with three new horses sufficient to jump faultless rounds over a short but testing course?

The winning rider will be cool under pressure, relying on experience and solid preparation to reduce reliance on the “luck factor” as much as possible.

And, what kind of horse will it take this year? Over the last 20-plus years, the effect of ever more sophisticated breeding programs in so many European countries has become increasingly evident in the competition arena. But, it’s still a good bet that the top four won’t look very much alike’or even gallop and jump in the same style.

In 1978, Gert Wiltfang’s rather heavy and raw-boned Roman and Johan Heins’ Pandur, who could have passed for a plow horse, were striking contrasts to Michael Matz’ elegant and fine-boned American Thoroughbred Jet Run and the compact fireball Boomerang, the mount of Eddie Macken. Each of the subsequent championships has seen an equally physically diverse foursome go into the final day.

What is a certainty, though, is that this year’s top horses will all have enough of what we usually refer to as scope’the physical ability to jump high and wide. The horses that have been awarded the under-publicized (in my opinion) best horse title at these championships have all had the ability to make the biggest jumps look like child’s play.

Watching Calvaro V canter over giant oxers for four days in 1998 made even the worst airline experience getting there well worth the hassle! And Gem Twist’s performances in 1990 with Greg Best left no doubt in anyone’s mind that he deserved the title. In 1986, the championships demonstrated the incredible jumping talent contained in the rather unprepossessing package that was Jappeloup.

Bold and powerful were the most essential characteristics of a show jumping horse two decades ago. The heavier poles and deeper cups of that era didn’t require the carefulness that today’s materials demand. Coupled with the ever more technical questions asked by today’s course designers, the delicate nature of the jumps has elevated “carefulness” to the top of the list of vital traits for a winning show jumper.

Back in my riding days, and even well after, we spoke of “making a horse careful.” Few big competitions were won without a special schooling session the day before, along with an arranged “bump” in the practice area just before going into the ring.

Careful observation has convinced me that those times are past’at least in terms of winning international events. Rules, and especially their enforcement, have altered the playing field. With the format of a championship requiring consistently careful performances throughout a grueling week, and schooling so carefully supervised, even the cleverest rider or trainer has small hope of producing enough faultless jumps to emerge the winner on anything less than an inherently careful horse.

Today, more than ever, it takes a truly special athlete to rise to the top. Those rare superstars combine all the ingredients: power, experience, willingness to work with their rider, and physical soundness, together with a generous helping of that special something that many horsemen refer to as “quality” or “class.”

Just as in people, this element of in-nate character can be described as the honesty and integrity to have what it takes’especially when it counts most. This is what separates the true superstars from all the other talented jumpers we see at the shows.

And, each and every one of these horses only reached the pinnacle because an equally special horseman recognized quality when he or she came across it. Someone applied time, patience and restraint while nurturing that special character through years of mindful training. The giant heart that marks the true champion can often be the easiest to break’ should the demands placed on it be too great, too soon.

I’ll bet that this year’s World Equestrian Games, like so many before, will spotlight one or two inspiring examples of just what can be accomplished by a horseman and his partner when they’re both what my mother always called “class acts.”

I can hardly wait for Spain!