Fair Hill Events, Inc. 501(c)(3) is pleased to announce the inaugural Plantation Field International CIC***, to be held September 19-21, 2008, in Unionville, PA. Already established as a popular venue for horse trials at all levels, this is the first time that Plantation Field will offer an internationally recognized competition.
The event will be held on verdant, rolling terrain in the heart of the hunt country of Chester County, PA, on property owned by Mr. and Mrs. Cuyler Walker and Mrs. Carol Davidson. Plantation Field competitions are held six weekends of every year at this venue. The only other event occurring at this location each year is the Mister Cheshire Foxhounds Point-to-Point.
In addition to the CIC***, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI)-recognized competition will be offered at the two-star and one-star levels, and United States Equestrian Federation (USEF)- and United States Eventing Association (USEA)-recognized horse trials will be offered for preliminary through advanced levels. Prize money will be offered at all levels.
Plantation Field has long attracted competitors from the upper echelons of the sport: winners of past horse trials include Phillip Dutton, Boyd Martin, Stuart Black and Kim Morani. Event organizers are excited to offer an international caliber event for the first time.
“A lot of the time the lower levels are held at the same event as a CIC to make it profitable, but we want to put all of our focus on the upper levels at this event,” said event organizer Denis Glaccum. “We’ve always emphasized to the riders that it’s their event—we do this for you. We want to have a first-class event that is very friendly to competitors.”
Dressage judges will be Marilyn Payne and Brian Ross. Payne is an FEI “O” judge who will be just back from judging the eventing competition at the Olympic Games in Hong Kong. She has also been on the ground jury at the Badminton CCI**** in England among other events. Ross is an “S” rated judge who has judged at the World Equestrian Games and the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event.
The CIC*** cross-country course will be designed by Tremaine Cooper, and the CIC** and CIC* as well as the horse trials courses will be designed by Denis Glaccum. Eric Bull and crew of ETB Equine Construction will build the courses.
“It’s one of the prettier sites in the world, and we believe our venue offers some of the finest galloping terrain around,” said Glaccum.
Vendors will be available on the grounds, and for extra entertainment, a “human horse show” will take place for children. “We set up a course with dog agility jumps and kids come out and jump them,” explained Glaccum. “It’s lots of fun; we’ll probably do that on Friday evening.” Riders and spectators can enjoy a guided cross-country course walk sponsored by Bit of Britain Saddlery with an upper-level event rider.
Three-day eventing is the triathlon of horse sports, consisting of dressage, cross-country jumping and stadium jumping phases. A CIC (translated Competition International Combined) includes these three phases without the steeplechase and roads and tracks elements found in traditional long-format three-day events. Both the CIC and CCI (Concours Complet Internationale) are run under the rules of the FEI rather than the rules of the host country. A CIC Three-Star (***) is run at Advanced (U.S.) level.
What: The Plantation Field CIC***
When: September 19-20, 2008
Where: On Route 82 in Unionville, PA, USA
Official Website: www.fairhill.com
Volunteers should contact: Sarah Connell, (610) 764-0300
Competitors should contact the Secretary, Bambi Glaccum, PO Box 82, 1420 Doe Run Road, Unionville, PA 19375; (610) 347-2024; (610) 347-1001; fax (610) 316-0450 (During Event); [email protected]