Stepping up to the plate may be one of the most overused clichés in sports writing, but it truly describes the actions of Jonathan Holling and Peter Gray. These busy professional eventers committed to running four horse trials a year at the Florida Horse Park rather than see the events disappear.

The number of events we’ve lost in the past few years is worrisome. Whether it’s the economy, ever-shrinking land resources or weary volunteers, we’ve seen some fantastic competitions fall by the wayside. Two years ago, two CCI**s, Radnor (Pa.) and Virginia, came off the calendar, and the Florida Horse Park hosted the only fall two-star on the East Coast. This year the Red Hills CIC*** and horse trials (Fla.) cancelled because of low entries, although organizers promise the event will be back in 2010.

When financial difficulties forced the Florida Horse Park out of the horse trials business, Gray and Holling decided they weren’t going to lose their biggest local event without a fight. This fall the horse trials will run with Gray and Holling at the helm, although the Fédération Equestre Internationale divisions won’t be on the schedule. By next spring, the CCIs should return.

Holling and Gray certainly had some self-serving reasons for taking on the horse trials. After all, no one wants to trailer hours away when you have a great facility in your own back yard.

But there was more to their decision than simple con-venience. Anyone who’s been party to organizing an event knows there’s nothing easy about it. They took on this thankless task as a way of giving back to the eventing community. Sure, that community includes their students and clients, but Holling and Gray saw a resource that was too precious to lose and decided it was worth their time and sacrifice to keep it.

Holling is the chairman of the U.S. Eventing Association’s Professional Horsemen’s Council as well as a member of the Board of Governors. Gray is also a member of the PHC. In the wake of the safety crisis of the past few years, it seems like professional eventers have realized they need to speak up and take responsibility for their sport if they want it to remain intact.

Sometimes, when a group of professional riders comes together to make change, they focus on what they want and forget that without the support of juniors and amateurs, their jobs wouldn’t exist. Holling and Gray’s generous action is the kind of professional choice that will build goodwill. And that goodwill makes it easier for professionals to suggest rule changes that benefit them, because people see that the sport is their priority, not just their wallets.

I’ve heard concerns about a growing rift in eventing between professionals and amateurs as their goals seem to be diverging. I’ve also heard professionals deny this rift exists. But sometimes actions speak louder than words, and Holling and Gray stepped up to the plate when they decided to take on this extra project to benefit everyone.