The Adelaide Equestrian Festival is an annual
three-day event held in the
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
n capital of
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
. It was known as the Australian International Three Day Event up until 2022. It comprises
dressage,
cross-country and
show-jumping
Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ...
and is usually staged in late April. The event is unique in being held in a city-centre, taking place in the
Adelaide Park Lands
The Adelaide Park Lands are the figure-eight of land spanning both banks of the River Torrens between Hackney and Thebarton and separating the City of Adelaide area (which includes both Adelaide city centre and North Adelaide) from the sur ...
.
History
The Adelaide International Horse Trials was created in 1997 to replace the Gawler Horse Trials that had been staged in
Gawler
Gawler is the oldest country town on the Australian mainland in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the ...
, north of Adelaide, since 1954. In its period as the Gawler Trials, it was a successful competition and was selected to host the
Eventing World Championship The World Eventing Championships, or the eventing competition in the ''World Equestrian Games'' (WEG), began in 1966. It includes both a team and individual competition for the best horses and riders in the sport of eventing. The World Championship ...
in 1986. On this occasion the Australian Post Office issued a special set of commemorative postmarked covers featuring a set of four stamps called Horses of Australia.
In 2007 the event was renamed the Australian International Three Day Event and was held at the end of November each year. Since 2011 the Australian International is part of the
HSBC FEI Classics
HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational corporation, multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In ...
, an international eventing series of all CCI*****-events around the world.
Australia’s First HSBC FEI Classics™ Competition
16 November 2011
In 2022 the event was renamed the Adelaide Equestrian Festival and held at the end of April each year.
Event
The event, managed by Adelaide Horse Trials Management Inc, is held throughout the East Parklands in separate stages over three days.
The dressage phase is held on Friday on the arena in front of the heritage-listed Victoria Park Grandstand. The cross-country phase is held on Saturday across the parklands and attracts the most spectators. The course starts in the arena in front of the grandstand, crosses Wakefield Road to Ityamai-itpina / King Rodney Park (Park 15) and then crosses Bartels Road into Rymill Park / Murlawirrapurka (Park 14) and then returns to the arena again. The cross-country course has been designed by Michael Etherington-Smith, who has designed courses for the Olympics in 2000 and 2008 and other CCI***** events, and more recently, by Australian Wayne Copping. The water jumps in Rymill Park are regarded as some of the most challenging in international competition. The final show-jumping phase is held on Sunday in the main arena in Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi (Park 16).
The event also incorporates the Australian stages of the biannual Trans Tasman Championship
Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of".
Used alone, trans may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
* ''Trans'' (film ...
, which has been staged in Adelaide since 1985. A youth Trans Tasman is held in the alternate years.
Winners
See also
The other five-star events are:
*Badminton Horse Trials
The Badminton Horse Trials is a five-day event, one of only six annual Concours Complet International (CCI) Five Star events as classified by the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI). It takes place in April or May each year in the p ...
* Burghley Horse Trials
*Kentucky Three-Day Event
The Kentucky Three-Day Event, currently the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event due to sponsorship, is an eventing competition held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. Land Rover Kentucky is a CCI5*-L eventing competition. Five s ...
*Luhmühlen Horse Trials
The Luhmühlen Horse Trials are an annual equestrian eventing competition held in Luhmühlen, Salzhausen, Germany. Riders compete at the highest level: the CCI*****. There are only six events of this kind in the world, the others being the Bad ...
*Stars of Pau
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Adelaide Equestrian Festival
Eventing
Horse Trials, Adelaide International
Equestrian sports competitions in Australia