There may or may not be a trot-up. Make sure you check!
It’s that time of the season when you’ve got a few confident Novice runs under your belt and you’re looking through the BE schedule wondering whether you could take the plunge into the world of international eventing and enter a CIC*. There are a lot more CIC*s on the calendar now so you have a lot of options. As with other levels of competition some CIC XC courses are more straightforward than others so it’s worth asking around to find a good one to start at. From experience, and that of other competitors, Gatcombe is usually considered fairly kind whilst Somerford is probably top end difficulty. However that is not set in stone, and as always different types of courses can suit different horses and jockeys. Some prefer big and bold whilst others excel at the technical bits.
Are you qualified?
The basic qualification is two Novices with a dressage under 50, show-jumping 16 faults or fewer and clear XC with under 36 time. As always this is a minimum qualification and you would be well advised to at least double the number of necessary runs. Horses must be at least 6 years old. You and the horse must be registered with the FEI. This is one of the very few bargains of the eventing world with registration costing a mere £17 each for horse and rider. Forms can be downloaded from the BE website here (near the bottom of the ‘BE membership forms’ section). Allow plenty of time for this, although BE can do it fairly quickly in an emergency! Then you just need to go ahead and enter via bdwp/BE as for a normal event.
Vaccinations
This horse had its last flu vacc on 5/1/13 so is OK to compete at FEI competitions for 6 months and 21 days after this ie. until 26/7/13
It is a common misconception that horses need to be vaccinated every 6 months for FEI competition. Not true! A horse must have received its last vaccination within 6 months and 21 days of the competition starting (but not in the 7 days prior to the competition). Unlike at BE your passport WILL be checked. You usually have to hand over your passport to the secretary at the beginning of the competition so that it can be inspected and stamped by the FEI vet and you can collect it after the competition is finished. It’s worth going back through your vaccination record to make sure that it is 100% correct before you enter. Ask your vet to check it if you’re not sure.
The Format
It is likely that the 3 phases will run in the usual one-day format with XC last, and as of 2014 this will definitely be the case. I have show-jumped last at a CIC* in the past but it’s definitely easier following the regular format! There may or may not be a trot-up – there doesn’t have to be one anymore – so look carefully at the information for the particular event. The details usually appear at the top of the bdwp page once it gets close to the date of the event. If there is a trot-up remember that it’s not Badminton – your horse should be presented plaited but you can pretty much wear whatever you’re already in, so long as you’re clean and tidy. No catwalk outfits required! Most CIC*s run over at least two days so expect to have day-before dressage. Some busy ones even run two days of dressage so you may conceivably end up doing your test on the Thursday and the jumping phases on the Saturday for instance. Obviously if you’re not local the stabling adds considerably to the cost of the event.
Top hat and tails are a matter of personal choice and look very smart…
The dressage will be in a 20×60 arena and the trot work is all in sitting, with the exception of the first medium trot where rising is usually allowed. Spurs are no longer compulsory but double bridles are not allowed.
…however you will not look out of place dressed in navy or black jacket and hat.
Top hats and tails are a matter of preference. Usually I find that about two-thirds of the competitors wear them so it really is up to you what you feel more comfortable in. You will not look out of place if you wear a navy or black jacket instead. You must wear a bridle number for all three phases (and on your headcollar if you’re stabled on-site) and usually you don’t need to wear your BE number bib for the dressage.
The show-jumping is slightly bigger than Novice with a 1.15 height limit and tends to be more up-to-height and slightly more technical. As a guide if you’re jumping Newcomers BS tracks (including jump-offs) you’re probably reasonably well prepared. You must go in the correct number order. It is considered correct to halt and salute the judges’ box before you commence your round. Navy or black jackets are worn for this phase.
The XC is theoretically the same dimensions as Novice but expect the track to be slightly longer, the fences to be up-to-height right from the start and the course to be more technical.
So there you go. CIC* in a (top) hat. Please feel free to ask any questions below. Kick on and good luck!
Hi there
Nowhere near a CIC1* yet but keeping this advice as i’d love to do one next year.
When you say halt and salute at the Dr judge at the start of the test – is this before you go in? where do you do that – near the car, or close to the arena entrance? or does the test have the halt/salute on entry up the centre line already?
must practice sitting trot!!
Also, what colour numbers are the XC fences – will look out for them at a few shows I’m heading to this season.
and lastly – can you wear tails and a normal hat? I love the idea of top hat and tails, but wouldn’t wear the top hat but would love the tails as they look so smart! 😀
Halt and salute the SHOW-JUMP judges, the salutes in the dressage test are the only ones you need to do for that phase.
I’m afraid that the number colours vary. I’ve seen purple used, green (where there’s no intermediate track) and orange (where there’s no BE90 track). It’s usually quite obvious after the first couple of fences and should be printed in the programme.
Tails and crash hat are absolutely fine and increasingly common. I suspect my top hat will be obsolete by the time I ever get around to 2*!
Great article, could you run through the differences between CCI and CIC*? Is there a huge difference in technicality/dimensions or is it just a way to charge a higher entry fee 😉
Thanks
Used to be a bigger difference between CCI and CIC until the FEI went to the Short Format CCI. 🙁 Now it’s less different… bit longer XC and bit tougher all around and definite jogs/vet inspections.
Here in the US, we still have a few fantastic organizers that are offering classic format 3-days. Unfortunately only 1 at the 1* level, but many “educational” ones at the Beginner Novice thru Training levels. I’m a FIRM supporter of the long format. I think a lot of horsemanship is learned because of this format. I wish more people would support it even if the (insert word not fit for public expression) FEI doesn’t count them for any qualifications anymore.
Ah sorry misread it!
I Always halt and salute when going in to SJ. It’s polite and has been drummed into me!!
Well said Tammy ! CCI must showjump third, and usually on the last day, using 3-day format. CIC usually showjump before x-c, often on same day as dressage and can be over with in two days, or even one ! CCI generally has longer course and more jumping efforts than for a CIC. The old steeplechase phase use to be such FUN !! True long format needed more horsemanship, time and thought and less pure horse-power. It allowed the amateur, one-horse rider have a better chance against big-gun professionals… Of course that also made it much harder to be a big-gun professional. Nowadays, unless you are a pro with a stable full of valuable horses, it is very difficult (not impossible) to break into the big time top prizes.
Thanks you guys for answering the CIC/CCI question. CCIs are definitely more fun and more of an achievement to complete. However I feel that the CIC* is a great introduction to FEI eventing and a fairly good yardstick of how ready you are for a CCI*.