HOWCOURSEShave
EVOLVEDsince the
FIRST
Grand Prix
We’ve come a long way in the last 50 years since
North America’s first grand prix. Before the first
Cleveland Grand Prix course was built and jumped in
1965, jumper courses in America were very different.
With hundreds of grand prix on the 2019 calendar, it’s
a great time to take a closer look back and how the
courses have changed since the formative years.
Prior to the first grand prix, American show jumping
courses were shorter and simpler, and jumps
were predominantly built of rails. The courses
tended to be circular with only one or two
changes of direction.
CREATING COURSES TO
BUILD AMERICAN SHOW JUMPING
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Continued...
Cleveland
The show jumpers who competed internationally prior to the
1950s were active-duty members of the military. One of the
first civilian show jumping team members was William Steinkraus.
In Cleveland Grand Prix: An American Show Jumping
First, he explained that cavalry officers were accustomed to
competing under international rules over international-type
courses, while the civilians’ experience was confined to very
different national rules and courses.
“European outdoor courses were (and are) relatively long and
complex, using a very wide variety of obstacles including
ditches, water and banks. Many obstacles were wide as well as
high, and typically only knockdowns and disobediences were scored, within a
time limit. The major competition was called the grand prix. American courses,
in contrast, were relatively short and simple, built within an enclosed ring
with no natural obstacles. Except for one class (the knockdown and out),
touches were scored as well as knockdowns, which limited height. Time and
spread fences were rarely a factor, and the major class was named the Stake
(Sweepstake) Class. Standards were high, but it was a different game,” said
Steinkraus.
Show jumping rules gradually changed in the U.S. to accommodate spread
fences, speed, knockdowns only, natural obstacles and other more Europeanstyle
fences. “By presenting the very first truly European-style outdoor showjumping
grand prix in Cleveland in 1965, the organizers played a critical role in
the development of our domestic show-jumping sport,” Steinkraus added.
The Cleveland Grand Prix course was modified from the European courses designer
Laddie Andahazy had seen during his time abroad. The first Cleveland
course was defined by the 844-yard course of 16 obstacles and a total of three
rounds, including the jump-off. By today’s standards, the course path was very
straightforward with long lines and only two changes of direction. However, it
was like nothing the U.S. competitors—or spectators—had ever seen before in
North America.
In Europe, water jumps were 16-feet, and in Cleveland, the water jump for the
first grand prix was 10-feet. The water jump was considered the most hazardous
because of its width. The fences were very intimidating individually and
collectively as a course of obstacles to be tackled in succession. The last fence
of the Cleveland Grand Prix was the Cleveland Wall, a simulated white stone
wall of graduated sectional blocks with pillars on the sides. The course earned
the team of D. Jerry Baker and Laddie Andahazy the 1965 American Horse
Shows Association Course of the Year Award.
TRAINING & Showing
This jumper course at the Cleveland
Auditorium preceded the the
Cleveland Grand Prix.
Steve Stephens competes in the
Cleveland Grand Prix (Wilkinson photo
courtesy of Cleveland Grand Prix: An
American Show Jumping First)
As the Cleveland Grand Prix lead the way for new American grand prix that
were added in the late ‘60s and ‘70s at shows around the country, Cleveland
organizers continued to add new European-style obstacles to their course like
the double bank jump and Pulvermann’s Grab.
Steve Stephens was a winning grand prix rider before retiring from the show
ring to focus on course design. Stephens was the 1970 winner of the Cleveland
Grand Prix aboard Toy Soldier. “The Cleveland Grand Prix used to be the most
prestigious grand prix on the tour,” he said. Stephens’s last appearance in
Cleveland as a rider was when he piloted the stallion, VIP, to a clear round in
the 1986 grand prix. His competitive experience gave him a valuable viewpoint
prior to becoming an international course designer, developing innovative
courses and obstacles.
“In the early years, such as when I won the Cleveland Grand Prix, courses
were very big, very large,” he said. “They weren’t necessarily technical, but in
size, they were bigger than what we jump now.” Stephens explained that decades
ago, fence building greatly contributed to the results a course designer
would find at the end of the class, and he had to consider that factor when
designing. “The jump rails used to be much heavier, and jump cups were
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