Despite the bad publicity of the event and his own misfortune, Phillip Dutton likes the concept of Express Eventing. The problem, he said, was just that the courses weren’t appropriate for the arena.

 “The timing of it at the end of the year was quite good. I think it’s important to get good horses and riders,” he said. “It was not a pretty sight to see some of the best horses having trouble. My horse was great—I just went off course, which was embarrassing.”

Part of the problem for the horses, said Dutton, was the short grass footing. “It was quite slippery, and the horses were slipping as they were jumping, so that created a lack of confidence. The cross-country part was too hard for that arena, and the show jumping didn’t flow, either. There was so much hype about the event, but I think it would have been better to have a softer course and get to know the arena,” he said. “Hopefully [the organizers] learnt from it. It’s a good concept and could be exciting and well-received if it’s done right, not just in England but in Las Vegas and other parts of the world.”

Dutton thinks Connaught, who wasn’t troubled by the course, still “has another big event or two left in him” and plans to confer with owner Bruce Duchossois about where his next event will be.

Buck Davidson agreed that the idea behind the event was fantastic. “I felt privileged to be a part of it with so many great riders and horses,” he said.

“It’s too bad the success rate was not higher. There were just so many jumps in such a small arena, that it was really hard to remember where you were going, and you had to be really accurate on your lines when you were just trying to remember where fence 8 is,” Davidson added. “Having a little more time to react [would have helped] and maybe even arrows. I know that sounds stupid, but when you’re in the arena, it’s really quite confusing. I must have walked the course 12 or 15 times.”

But like Dutton, Davidson hopes to see more of this type of competition. “I hope the show goes forward because I think the idea is terrific,” he said. “It was really exciting. It was tragic about Mary’s horse, but I’d love to see more of these shows happen. They treated us great, and the facilities were fantastic.”