Course designer, Uliano Vezzani is world famous for his intuitive and intelligent courses. As a former rider he knows like no other how to build a fair course on the right level. Apart from that, he makes sure his designs develop along the sport and different levels.
"In short you could say that I am the course architect. You have it in you or you don't", Vezzani says. "I am in charge of creating courses; their design, of designing the fences. "The course designer has to choose the colour of the fences, the shape of the fences, whether it's going to be bigger or lighter and so on."
"Having been a rider is key. Every time I design a course, I do it by hand, on paper, and only later I work on it on my computer. Then, when I enter the course, I'll make changes. Because only the course will tell you the truth."
"You'll always try to put some tricky spots in the course, but in a way the horse can figure out how to tackle it. But it's the series of fences, their order, their positioning, that matter. That's a tricky part. "
"When I see that the horses are not fatigued when leaving the course, the rider lets the reins go and the horse is relaxed and calm, then I know I did well", he concludes.
Source: Eurosport