The course designer of the Maarsbergen International Horse Trials is Eric Winter from Great Britain – a well-known name in the eventing world. Eric started as a jumping rider (participation in shows like Horse of the Year Show, Hickstead). In 1986 Eric started to focus on eventing. In 1989 and 1990 he participated in the competitions in Badminton and Burghley. Eric has represented Great Britain several times as a team rider. After his sporting career Eric focused on designing of cross country courses.
Meanwhile many crosses carry his signature: the Asian Games, the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials and ten times the cross country of the Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials. He was Technical Delegate (TD) of the Badminton Horse Trials from 2011 to 2014. In 2016, Eric was asked to accept the position of course designer for Badminton Horse Trials. Together with the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event and the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, this CCI 5* forms the Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing. Together with his wife Lizzel, Eric runs the Severnvale Equestrian Centre: a busy training center with over 50 horses where lessons are given at every level, from children who start riding till eventers at CCI5* level.
Using his experience, Eric tries to improve safety in the eventing sport. He participates in the British Eventing Cross Country Safety Advisory Group. And he is course designer and Technical Delegate (TD) for the FEI, and a A-list course designer and Technical Advisor (TA) for British Eventing.
Our construction team consists of enthusiastic volunteers who roll up their sleeves on one of the many working days to build beautiful fences. This year we gave our construction team a new challenge: to make our fences look softer and rounder, without changing the difficulty of the fences. We are getting help from Dominic Moore of Jump 1 Equestrian Construction, a colleague of our course designer Eric Winter. We tell about the development of our course in a number of videos that we post on our social media. We speak to Dominic Moore, Harold van Rossem and Maartje Siemons. Do you want to watch all videos? Click the button!
Videos about course building
We would like to tell you more about the cross country fences that you will see in the fields of Maarsbergen Horse Trials.
Water area and lake