The Event proves a team affair

The hundreds of riders, thousands of spectators and throngs of vendors packing Kalispell's Rebecca Farm this weekend are only part of a massive contingent forming a virtual village upon the pristine landscape.

Myriad paid officials and hundreds of volunteers ensure that The Event - an International Equestrian Federation Eventing World Cup Finals qualifier, which began Thursday and concludes Sunday - is as seamless as it is substantial. More than 200 volunteers are expected for today's cross country portion alone.

"In a sport as complicated as this can be, it takes a huge support staff to get it off the ground and keep it running as smoothy and as safely as possible for the horse and the rider," said Rusty Lowe, vice chair of the United States Equestrian Federation safety committee."

An emergency medical technician and emergency medical services officer from Hoover, Ala., Lowe also works with the Equestrian Medical Services Association.

"It takes intense teamwork," he added. "No one person can take credit for making the event a success. From the people that clean up to the people that run the show, it's a smoothly-oiled machine here at Rebecca Farm, and it works well and promotes our sport in the best way."

Eventing is an equestrian triathlon consisting of dressage, cross country and show jumping. With about 50 years of eventing experience as a rider and official, Sally O'Connor knows the sport as well as anyone.

As President of the Ground Jury for national classes, O'Connor heads a group of judges overseeing each phase of The Event's competition. O'Connor, who grew up in England and now lives in Virginia, has never lost her zeal for eventing, which is why she remains involved today.

"You become a judge, I think, because you care about the sport and you want to keep it honest, you want to keep it pure," said O'Connor, whose son, David, is a three-time Olympic medalist, and whose daughter-in-law, Karen, won gold at the Pan American Games in Brazil last week while David coached Canada to second place.

"It's not to be important or anything like that, but it's pay back. You had a wonderful time doing it yourself, and you want other people to enjoy it, so you want to keep it a good sport, an honest sport."

O'Connor and Lowe work together to try and keep The Event as safe as possible. Both of Lowe's organizations conduct research on accident prevention while coordinating with veterinarians concerning rules and procedures to ensure a safe environment for horse and rider alike.

"We also study the trends of accidents and some of the possible causes to see if we can reverse those or prevent them in the future," Lowe said. "But we also make sure that we have proper medical staff on site in case there is an accident that involves the rider. And, of course, from the veterinary side of it, we make sure there's adequate veterinary coverage for the welfare of the horse."

Nine EMTs and five veterinarians will be at Rebecca Farm today, along with one ambulance and a horse ambulance, as cross country is where most eventing accidents occur.

"Logistically, since the course is so spread out in different areas of the property, what we have to do is strategically locate our responders (so that) if there's an accident or a fall they can quickly respond and be there," Lowe said. "It's not just telling an ambulance to show up … Sometimes we have to use four-wheel drive vehicles, we have to work with the course builders to be savvy in the unfortunate event if we had a rider or a horse trapped in a jump or in one of the ditches or something like that."

According to Lowe, less than one percent of rides result in injury, but it is his crew's duty to recognize potential dangers in courses and recommend solution to the Ground Jury.

"It's our job to make them aware of it, and it's their job to take the information we give them," Lowe said. "And that's the good thing about the officials here is we've all worked together so much, and the team here, even the paramedics, it's the same people here every year.

"We all know each other at least by face and most of the time by name, and we all trust each other enough to know that if we see a dangerous situation existing here that we're all going to get together and figure it out."

According to O'Connor, it is that commitment to cooperation that makes The Event at Rebecca Farm one of the finest in the world.

"This venue is equal to anything I've seen," she said. "I've been in Australia, I've been in New Zealand, I've been in France, I've been in Italy, I've been in Poland, I've been in Sweden, and this is on a par with anything.

"It's a world-class facility, it really is."

O'Connor has attended all six editions of The Event. She said the willingness of Rebecca Farm owner Rebecca Broussard and her staff to heed recommendations from everyone involved is crucial.

"It takes all year to prepare," O'Connor said. "On Monday, when it's finished, they will start planning for next year, and they will take the lessons they learned from this year's event and make next year's event even better.

"And It involves everybody. If you think of the amount of volunteers we've got here today, they've been sitting out here from 8-5, at their fence, recording every horse that goes by."

Today's cross country begins at 7:30 a.m. The CIC three-star riders - those vying for World Cup Finals berths - will compete beginning at 1:25 p.m.