Riding today

Eleonora Ottaviani is the show director of the San Patrignano CSI5* and Vincenzo Muccioli Challenge, a position she has held since 1997, the year of the first edition of the community’s show jumping contest.
Since she is a great show jumping expert at international level, so much so that she is also the Director of the IJRC (International Jumping Riders Club), we decided to analyze the sport’s current situation with her.

What is the current situation of top-level international show jumping and what problems does it have to face?
“International show jumping needs more certainties and has to acquire greater credibility. This will be the objective in the coming months and years. The international federation and national ones must provide guarantees, but there must also be a greater assumption of responsibility on behalf of the riders. They must realize that they are the ambassadors of our sport, and of the models of which they must be an example. It is important for them to understand that to be successful at top level, talent alone is no longer sufficient, but they have to use their brains too. They must be well informed of regulations and the norms, particularly veterinary ones, to avoid infringing anti-doping rules due to a rash use of medicine.”

Is greater professionalism therefore necessary on behalf of this world’s players?
“I’d say yes, on behalf of everyone, but that does not mean that everybody involved in show jumping must all be paid professionals. There’s always room for volunteers, who do their part for passion, but they too must do so with the utmost professionalism. If this is the key objective, then as the German’s say, we need to some “keine theater”, looking at the substance and not the form, avoiding the possibility of scandalous scoops due to doping or internal bickering. Because we must not compete among ourselves, as can happen between riders and the federation, but against the other niche sports that are replacing us in the recruitment of sponsors and are taking away our television coverage, such as golf and sailing.”

How should contests change in order to increase their spectator figures?
“Having already said that there must be more professionalism, the entire show jumping world must work more with the media to create a ‘personality’. In everybody’s eyes, a rider is a man wearing a cap, red jacket and gloves who jumps obstacles and may be a duke or prince. This however was show jumping thirty years ago, when it was an elite sport only practiced by noblemen and soldiers. Nowadays, as has always been the case in Germany and Holland, this is no longer the situation in Italy. It is a sport for everybody. As well as this, the public must be made to realize that horses can help people, by means of horse therapy.”

Regarding San Patrignano, what is the secret of a contest that in just fourteen years has shot to success?
“Perhaps the secret was that of following the same dream as Vincenzo Muccioli had. When I met him and he spoke to me for the first time of his dream of creating a show jumping contest in the community, he told me he wanted sport to be at the centre of the event. I immediately agreed with him. As well as this, the contest’s strong point is in the fact that it is an event that is completely independent from any kind of authority – of a sports nature or any other kind – and political or economic aims. As well as these reasons, if our contest is so successful, the merit is also due to the care we try to take with the details.”

What at the new features of this edition?
“This sport gives everybody the possibility of showing his or her worth and emerging. This is why participation this year is also open to emerging riders from nations that have won fewer prizes or have no sponsor, as well as successful champions. We will therefore host 23 year-old Dutchman Maikel Van Der Vleuten and riders from Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary and Australia, whose entrant is Chris Chugg. Edouard Rothschild will also be competing. We invited him because he kindly conceded us the date of his contest, normally held at the end of July, since – due to changes in the calendar – we had to move our contest and he amicably avoided the two important events being held simultaneously. We also have a new designer, Holland’s Louis Koninckx, a professional who has already shown his ability at the Rotterdam and S-Hertogenbosch contests and is also a psychologist. Lastly, in agreement with coach Marcus Fuchs, we made the effort of including additional Italian riders. They are young talents, who could be included in the Italian team from next year.”