Skull cap, whip, studs, body protector. All these items are sure to be on any five-star event rider’s checklist for cross-country day. Dog (or teddy bear on a leash if for some reason you don’t have one) and an egg and spoon? Not so much. But for the 2020 NAF International 5* Event, those items were essential.

While no horses will be leaving the start box for at least a few more weeks, Rachel Wakefield of Uptown Eventing hatched a plan for a virtual event to raise money for various healthcare charities, recruiting riders from 11 countries for the cause.

After a hilarious first horse inspection, (seriously, you’ve never seen a jog like it) riders performed a dressage test, but for the jumping phases things got a little wild. All exercises took place on foot. Cross-country included things like unloading your gear into a wheelbarrow, the ever-popular egg-and-spoon race, dog (or teddy bear) agility, bobbing for apples and more. To finish the course, selfies were required at the finish line. In addition to finishing over optimum time, penalties could be accrued for dropping anything, losing your dog or missing a fence.

Italy’s Vittoria Panizzon looked egg-cellent as she prepared for the egg-and-spoon challenge. We think we’d stop here for a fresh omelet if we had the choice. Photos Courtesy Of Virtual Eventing

Great Britain’s Archie Smith Maxwell was serious about swapping from his tall boots into his Wellies for the course walk portion of cross-country.

And the following day riders felt the burn, as show jumping required navigating a course of poles on a bike with penalties awarded for using either an electric bike or one with an engine.

Great Britain’s Tom Crisp (who is also a firefighter) shows off his virtual show jumping skills.

Double-clear rounds were hard to come by, and in the end, it was Great Britain’s Kirsty Chabert who emerged victorious with Classic VI on a score of 32.8. At the close of the event, almost $200,000 had been raised for charity, with the silent auction, raffle, virtual shopping village and art gallery running until May 16.

Kirsty Chabert celebrates her victory.

Tom Crisp opted for an indoor cross-country day.

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@tom.crisp21 has some game tactics today, he opts for a nice cool indoor school instead of braving the beautiful British Summer sunshine! We’ve only seen FOUR clear rounds so far! This is clearly proving to be a challenge to some of these professional athletes..!! Tom Crisp picks up 5 jumping and 11.3 times faults to take him to a score of 53.8 ahead of Show Jumping tomorrow. THE TOP THREE SO FAR – @gemma_tattersall regains an early lead with 31.4 after picking up only 5 jumping faults, @joemeyereventing flys up the leader board in to 2nd after a faultless round remaining on his dressage score of 34.0 and pathfinders @warren_lamperd stays in contention in 3rd with one of only four clears of the day so far on 36.7 We hope you’re enjoying the action! PLEASE REMEMBER TO DONATE HERE – https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROSomeoneSpecialPage?pageId=1157025

A post shared by Virtual Eventing (@virtualeventing) on May 9, 2020 at 4:26am PDT

No British rider Matt Heath isn’t taking a nap mid-course. After fitting a duvet into its cover (or two pillows if that’s all you had) riders had to lie down for three seconds.

Germany’s Anna Siemer navigated the bending poles as part of the dog agility course with her wheelbarrow packed full.

Anna Siemer shows off her mad show jumping skills on the final day.

Vittoria Panizzon was joined by Chequers Play The Game following her run.

Watch replays of the events here: https://www.virtualeventing.com/