About the World Cup
The International Saddle Seat World Cup showcases the Saddle Seat style of riding, our American breeds of horses and our American athletes, as well as talented international competitors. It is the perfect opportunity to view the freshness of youthful amateur horsemanship in a competitive team atmosphere where sportsmanship abounds.
The International Saddle Seat World Cup is an equestrian competition with its roots in the early 1980’s. Since being formalized as a multi-national competition in 1996, the event regularly hosts five nations, with several new countries nearing entrance to the event. The competition typically features athletes from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Namibia, and South Africa. Australia, Germany and Sweden are working towards participation in the event in the near future.
The competition is unique and very American since the style of riding in the competition was developed here in the United States in the 1800’s. Whereas most equestrian competitions involve best individual times completed or heights attained, this event is distinguished by featuring amateur riders competing for individual scores that accumulate towards a total team score. Thus equestrian competition, which is generally viewed as an individual sport, moves into the realm of team competition in the Saddle Seat World Cup event. Both Three- and Five-Gaited equitation are represented in the Saddle Seat World Cup. All five participating nations will be competing in Three-Gaited competition, while most countries are fielding teams for the Five-Gaited event.
Each nation’s five-rider team consists of amateur riders with a minimum age of 14, who will compete on horses that are supplied by the competition hosts. The riders draw their team’s horses from a pool and then are assigned their individual horses by their coaches. No rider will ride a horse that he or she has ever owned or shown before. The competition consists of four segments, to be completed in two phases held on different days. Each phase has two segments—a rail session where riders work as a group, and individual workouts. The workouts involve individual execution of a pattern decided upon by the international panel of judges and provided to the coaches and riders prior to the competition. In each segment, the top four scores from each team will be kept (the lowest score is dropped).
The manner in which this competition is conducted is unique in the horse world and is designed to be more entertaining to an average audience that is not educated in the finer points of equitation. An Olympic-style scoring system is used, with the result being the audience’s ability to more easily follow along and anticipate the outcome throughout the competition.
The patriotic desire to earn possession of the historic Saddle Seat World Cup trophy, crafted in South Africa with pure gold and studded with diamonds, ensures a rousing competition. The beautiful Five-Gaited World Cup trophy is an equally sought-after prize. Every participating country aims to take possession of these coveted awards as well as bragging rights to the title of best in the world.