The penultimate photoshoot outing for BPS members for 2020 was an invitation from the Barbados Equestrian Association to photograph some action at their FEI Jumping World Challenge Competition and end of year National classes.
A chance to try capturing the thrills (and no spills!) of horses and riders gliding gracefully over jumps was a new challenge for some of the members. The morning was sunny and provided great lighting for the photographers that took up various vantage points around the arena at Waterhall, St. Peter, a beautiful setting overlooking the west Coast.
Each year the Barbados Equestrian Association competes in the FEI Jumping World Challenge, a competition designed by the international governing equestrian body, FEI (as FIFA is to football) for countries to compete against each other without the riders and horses having to travel to a single destination. An expensive undertaking to say the least. Incidentally, the question often asked as to how to travel with a horse? Fedex or DHL normally, and other specialized cargo carriers safely transport the horses when travel is necessary.
Protocols for the competition are closely followed such as veterinary checks for the horses and precise jumping courses identically built and set up in each country. The horses are warmed up by their riders like any top athletes and their performances on the courses are timed. The results of each country taken during the year are sent to Switzerland for world ranking and also ranking within the Caribbean region.
It was soon learnt that it is an advantage to know the sequence and direction of jumping courses to figure out which way the horses are travelling and whether they are jumping towards the camera or in some cases, from the direction of the sun, making lighting quite a challenge in this fast-paced sport. Before the signal was sounded for the commencement of the event, various camera angles and levels were chosen by the photographers, for experimentation, to capture the exciting heights of the jumps during the exciting competition.
Two riders competed in the FEI World Jumping Challenge. It was a thing of beauty to see such a high level of coordination between horses and these riders in achieving flawless and gracefully jump stations over the several hurdles.
The jumps for the year-end National Classes commenced after the courses were set up and the riders had gone on foot to familiarise themselves with the circuit. Most of the riders handled their horses well and received commendable ratings from the judges.
For the photographers it was a great experience at this fast-paced sport event, taking long shots and panning to keep up with the horses as they filled the frame. The Barbados Photographic Society thanks the Barbados Equestrian Association and the owners of Whitehall Equestrian for their kind invitation and look forward to more opportunities in 2021.