Editing Eventing (section)

==Horse==
[[Thoroughbred]]s and part-Thoroughbreds currently dominate the sport at the top levels because of their stamina and athletic ability. In addition, many [[warmblood]]s and warmblood-thoroughbred crosses also do well. In the UK, [[Irish Horse|Irish sport horses]] have been popular for many years.

Because larger horses are favored, animals with some [[draft horse]] breeding are also seen, notably the [[Irish Draught]] and [[Clydesdale horse|Clydesdale]] crossbreds.  However, smaller horses can also excel; for example, the third place competitor in the 2007 [[Rolex Kentucky Three Day]] CCI competition was [[Theodore O'Connor]], a {{hands|14.1}} gelding that was a cross of Thoroughbred, [[Arabian horse|Arabian]] and [[Shetland pony]] breeding.<ref>"Karen O'Connor and 'The Pony' Theodore O'Connor Wow The Crowd, Finishing Third"  Accessed June 21, 2007 at http://www.horsesdaily.com/news/eventing/2007/07rolex/04-29-oconnor.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827152504/http://horsesdaily.com/news/eventing/2007/07rolex/04-29-oconnor.html |date=2016-08-27 }}</ref>

An event horse must be very responsive to succeed, as a horse that will not listen to a rider on the cross-country phase may end up taking a fall at a jump. The horse should be calm and submissive for the dressage phase, with good training on the flat. For cross-country, the horse must be brave, athletic, and (especially at the higher levels) fast with a good galloping stride and great stamina. The horse does not have to possess perfect jumping form, but should be safe over fences and have good scope.{{Opinion|date=May 2024}} Scope is a broad term used to describe a horse's potential to jump big jumps.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Worden |first1=Dr. Tim |title=Q&A: How can you tell if a horse has scope? |url=https://horsenetwork.com/2020/02/qa-how-can-you-tell-if-a-horse-has-scope/#:~:text=It%20is%20a%20general%20term,is%20well%20trained%20and%20rideable. |website=horsenetwork.com |date=10 February 2020 |access-date=17 November 2020}}</ref> The best event horses are careful over jumps, as those who are not tend to have stadium rails knocked down on the last day. The horse also needs to have sound [[horse conformation|conformation]] and good [[horse hoof|feet]].