Jarod Opperman / The BulletinJ.J. Yenne crosses through the water during the cross-country portion of the High Lakes Pony Club eventing competition in Redmond on Saturday.

REDMOND — When evaluating horsemanship, three tests are better than one.

At least, that is the opinion of Annie Winter, head of the High Lakes Pony Club, which sponsored two one-day horse trials at Parker Eventing in Redmond over the weekend.

On both Saturday and Sunday, horses and riders began the “triathlon on horseback” with dressage and moved on to show jumping before finishing the afternoon with cross-country jumping.

“There’s quite a difference, and some horses are great at cross-country and not good at stadium (show jumping), and vice versa,” Winter explained. “That’s why we think eventing is such a great test of horsemanship, because you have to be good at all three sections. Most people are good at one, but then they really have to get good at the other two.”

The fences used for show jumping are typically brightly painted and positioned on a well-manicured lawn, but cross-country courses are intentionally rugged. The horses and their riders might jump logs, chicken coops, ditches and water.

While watching other competitors take their turn on the cross-country course under the blazing sun on Saturday afternoon, Sarah Buchanan, 16 and of Bend, described cross-country obstacles as “not very forgiving.”

“You also see a lot more loose ponies,” Buchanan commented a few minutes later, as a tiny jet-black pony with a pink saddle trotted back to the stables, her young rider trailing behind on foot.

The cross-country section of the competition also makes up a large portion of the final score: while hitting a rail might earn four penalty points in stadium jumping, a refusal to jump in cross-country costs the rider 20 penalty points. The competitor with the fewest points at the end of the three events wins.

“Cross-country is the one that usually helps decide final positions,” Winter explained. “Everybody usually can do the dressage, because it’s on the flat and they’ve practiced it, and they can go through the pattern at home. There’s not a wide range, usually, of scores. And stadium, again, people can practice at home. But when you come to a farm like this (for cross-country jumping), most people have never seen these jumps before. They can’t school beforehand, they can’t come and pop in and practice. So I’d say the cross-country part questions the horse most.”

Kristine Parker, a 12-year-old rider from Redmond, put it a little more viscerally.

“Usually you feel pretty confident going into dressage, a little bit nervous going into show jumping, and then you feel like you’re going to throw up before cross-country,” said Parker, who should be as familiar with the cross-country course as anyone, given that it is located in her own backyard.

But Buchanan also described cross-country jumping as “the funnest thing you can do on a horse.”

“You don’t get the feeling anywhere else, galloping a horse at a big fence, knowing they’re going to handle it,” Buchanan said. “You can get around and the fences, it’s technical, so you need to be thinking, but the galloping sections you can get up and have fun, and your horse, all the work getting them fit is showing. It’s really exciting, an adrenaline rush.”

Winter said the High Lakes horse trials, which drew 20 riders on Saturday and 24 on Sunday, is the only Oregon eventing competition east of the Cascades (the only other event is held annually in Philomath).

“If you’re living in Bend, and eventing is your sport, you have to acknowledge that you’re going to be traveling,” explained Buchanan, who said she has traveled as far as Southern California for events. “So (the horses) all get pretty good traveling and you get to know a lot of people, which is fun, because you get to meet people everywhere who like eventing as much as you do.”

The weekend competition consisted of five divisions for riders and horses of various experience levels, including a “trot pole” division.

“Trot poles, they’re on the ground, so the riders don’t have to worry too much about jumping,” said Winter, who mentioned a 2-year-old rider who was led around the course by an adult. “We’ve got 8-year-olds and 9-year-olds riding. Most of the big events don’t, because you have to be able to jump a certain height before you can enter.”

Winter said she hopes beginning equestrians who came to compete only in dressage will see how much fun the High Lakes Pony Club members, who include horse- and pony-riders up to age 24, had completing all three events.

“Our goal is to try and make eventing accessible and get people excited about it, because we think it’s the best horse sport that there is,” Winter said. “Obviously this is not Olympic-standard competition, but who knows, there might be an 8-year-old here who will take off through the ranks.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0305, vjacobsen@bendbulletin.com