THE ISLAND 22 EQUESTRIAN PARK

Jumps no obstacle for course designer

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"Good courses make good horses."

That's the guiding motto international jump course designer Steve Buckman has brought to Chilliwack this week as he gives the Island 22 Equestrian Park's cross-country tracks a thorough going-over in time for this year's three-day eventing season.

Buckman has set up shop at the park and will spend about three weeks with long-time Island 22 volunteers Heinrich Meister and Rolf Wedler replacing about 18 of the park's 120 jumps.

Buckman, who is based on Vancouver Island, has designed courses as far away as New Zealand, but to him Island 22 is a special place.

The sheer size of the publicly-owned park, with five separate cross-country courses comprising a total of about 10 kilometres of track, sets it apart.

"It's a rarity," said Buckman. "We're losing equestrian land to development. It's just worth too much money."

Another rarity, according to Buckman, is the tenacity of the Island 22 volunteers, who have put on a horse trial (a three-day eventing competition featuring cross-country jumping, stadium jumping and dressage) for 23 years.

The average life expectancy of a horse trial in this day and age, said Buckman, is about six years.

"To build the course the first time, people realize how much work is involved," he said. "They're not going to do it again. Well, there's something wrong with this group because they've been doing it again and again and again."

Unlike most designers, Buckman not only designs courses but builds jumps as well.

Having worked as both a faller and a mine planner building timber framing for underground mines, his well-honed chainsaw skills allow him to create obstacles of all sizes and shapes: gates, ramps, roll tops, coffin jumps, cabins, palisades.

The jumps at Island 22 are strategically placed on five separate courses ranging from a 1,500-metre "pre-entry level" course with two-foot-four-inch jumps to a "preliminary" course just over three kilometres long with three-foot-seven-inch jumps.

The key, according to Buckman, is finding the balance between making obstacles challenging and keeping them safe.

"It's very important that you have a jump that not only a good horse on a good day will jump easily but that a bad horse on a bad day isn't going to get hurt on," he said. "That's where the experience comes in."

Although a small section of the cross-country course is open for training almost all year round, the three-day eventing season at Island 22 begins in earnest in April with the Mt. Cheam Horse Trials.

- For more information about the Island 22 Equestrian Park, visit www.island22horsepark.com.

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