March 21, 2018 
Frédéric Cottier knows a thing or two about show jumping.
As a rider, he won a bronze medal for France at 1988 Seoul Olympics.
As a course designer, he set the tracks at the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy.
And on occasion, he lends his considerable expertise to developing the equine talent that may one day compete at those very world championships in the future.
The Deeridge Derby, held earlier in March, was one such occasion.
Cottier built the courses for the Classic Champions Tour, a series created by Cynthia Hampton specifically for five, six, and seven-year-old horses with the objective of modernizing the show experience for young horses in North America.
“My goal is to offer adapted classes and also to educate riders, trainers, breeders, course designers, judges and officials,” said Hampton. “We need a viable structure capable of identifying, selecting and educating future high-level horses. I believe that we can breed and develop future athletes capable of distinguishing our region both at home and on the international stage.”
Using the European model as a guide, Hampton brings in elite course designers from across the pond to create age-appropriate courses for the Classic Champions Tour.
“I think they the way to design courses for young horses should be completely different,” said Cottier. “Six is a little different and seven is completely different.”
For starters, the French designer advocates for flowing courses for young horses.
“The first class should be more inviting than the second, especially in an impressive arena like the [Horse Network Grand Prix] ring,” he said.
“The first day for the five-year-old especially has to be like a promenade over the arena. It’s an education system. We are not yet in the real sport.”
For five-year-old horse classes, he continued, the first fence and first combination should jump toward the in-gate to be more welcoming to the horses. In addition, the fences should be built of solid materials.
“The construction has to be a little stronger than in the real sport today too, so if it’s a little more massive the horse can prepare his jump by himself much better,” Cottier explained.
Another key element of designing for young horses, said the Frenchman, is “more space” between fences.
“Especially for the four and five year olds. If there is more space, the rider can organize his horse better,” he said.
By age seven, the questions a course designer asks can be “more or less than same” as for older horse, said Cottier, but it’s still valuable to off age specific classes at that stage in a horse’s career.
“It’s good that we can have in Europe a championship for seven-year-old horses because, of course, in a class and against the clock in the jump off they cannot beat the experienced 12, 13, 14-year-old horses,” he explained. “But the technical problems can be more or less the same.”
By age seven, the questions on course can be more or less the same as the top level of the sport, says Level 4 course designer, Frederic Cottier.
The last piece of the puzzle was one suggested by Hampton: jumping on the grass arena instead of the sand ring, a decision Cottier applauded and believes more North and South American shows should take advantage of.
“Even if it’s a little impressive the first time, after two days—honestly, as a rider—it’s more comfortable for the horse because the footing is not blocked like in a sand arena,” said Cottier.
“In Europe, most of the best shows—look at Hickstead, Aachen, Dublin, La Boule, Rome and more—they come back to the grass this year. So that is, I don’t want to say the “queen of the grounds” but if the footing is good, it’s really perfect for the horses.”
This week, the Classic Champions Tour returns to Deeridge Farms for the Palm Beach Open with Ireland’s Tom Holden designing age-appropriate courses for the spectacular grass Horse Network Grand Prix Ring.
Holden has designed courses at some of the biggest horse shows in the world including Spruce Meadows in Canada, FEI World Cup™ Jumping qualifiers in Estonia, Croatia, and Slovenia, as well as the Young Horse Finals at the Dublin Horse Show in his native Ireland.
You can bet, he has his own theory or two on how to best prepare young horses for the challenge.
