I'm a veteran documentary filmmaker, and I filmed just about every sport in my career, but none as difficult as three day eventing, horseback riding, competitive aspect.

Writing Olympic level.

You're about to see a clip from the documentary I made on this subject where men and women equally compete in what I thought was the damn scariest sport I've ever seen.

I hope you enjoy it.

I start psyching myself up.

Just just the adrenaline starts playing, but at the same time, I can't get the legs can't turn to jelly.

So I take a few breaths and calm down.

Grey Goose horses starting to dance a little bit because he knows what's going on.

So I talked to him a little bit.

Petty mitts.

Okay, Grey.

You know we'll be out there in a minute.

Are they calling me three?

Well, help.

This is the second day of the Lexington, Kentucky three day competition.

54 32 one, go.

The first day was a massage test.

The third day will be a showjumping test, both of medium difficulty.

But this is endurance day, and it's the most difficult.

It's divided into four faces this is phase B.

The Steeplechase, a two mile course with 10 obstacles for the best score.

It must not only be ridden cleanly.

543 two, one go.

But in a very fast 26 miles per hour.

Before this comes, phasing six miles of roads and tracks.

After this steeplechase, riders will go on to Pacey another nine miles.

In these 1st 3 phases, riders make every effort to conserve their horses strength.

The danger is so great that after phase, see the rules require the horse be given arrest here.

Yeah, you have about 14 minutes till your start.

I'll give you three minutes warning a lot of 50 that's and show officials check the horse to see if he's fit to continue.

They check temperature, pulse, respiration.

A grooms.

Keep the horse moving so that he will not stiffen up or get a chill.

Let me see him, Pam.

Just keep walking.

Mike Bluhm has a hard time leaving his horse to the care of his assistance.

His groom say that he cannot overcome the urge to do everything himself to be.

I would Goldman.

We watched him jogging.

Freeman another, you know, in the locker room.

They put on the band music and get you all stirred up.

Here.

You've got a pretty much do it yourself you've got.

You've got phase A and face being Facey to kind of get you ready.

But the cross country is the meat, and that's where you have to go out of their on fire on fire.

But thinking just before I get on the horse just before the cross country phase itself, I'm watching horse.

I want to see what vibrations till I get off.

What kind of looked as he have in his ideas, he looked as if he has a little hot cold buried in their glowing with fire.

I don't care if he's sweating or dry.

I want to know what hiss spiritually qualities because this is a This event is a crucible, and if it is done properly, it burns away everything that it's false, an unreal about your training, and it reveals what was correct and pure and proper in how you prepared that horse.

Three two Torrance begins Phase D.

It's only about five miles long, but within that five miles there are 25 fixed obstacles, each in its own way extremely difficult and challenging on horse and Rider must maintain an average speed of 21 miles per hour.

They're going to detonate, trusting it's one of the most grueling tests in equestrian sport.

Originally a camel retest he was meant to simulate battlefield conditions might have three or four fences in a row.

And what will make the sense ride?

Well, defense.

When I say the fence, I mean the whole combination ride well is whether the rider can be so accurate through the combination.

The combination will not be easy and whether he can adjust his speed for that particular type of combination and keep the speed and not be able to let his I waver one way or the other, because minute he does, his horse will follow his eye and go off.

You've got to be very quick.

You've got to think in the air when the horse leaves the ground.

You guys say Owen long.

It sounds like it happens in slow motion.

It happens in split seconds.

Jim Warford, Michel Blanc, Torrance Watkins approaches the single here, the horse must jump down into a dark bitch, turned sharply, then jump back out again you've got to find out where the rough fences are, the defenses that have caused trouble.

You may have to change your route toe a couple of jumps because of bad footing or because of the fact that you have read the course long when you walked in.

It's very easy to be overconfident to back off and let your guard off.

That's dangerous.

You've got to consider and ride each jump there.

No gifts.

Everybody feels it's not gonna happen to them.

They're not gonna wreck.

You know it's gonna happen eventually, but when we go out there, we don't believe it.

ISS last year having this fortune here where I jumped up on the bank very aggressively, he hooked it and it's just like you hung us up by a meat hook.

And I knew at that moment, you know, it was a good night.

Irene and I sort of sat up fed in the rain because we're fortunately in some ways I never try to bail out.

I always you know what?

I'm always waiting for the miracle.

You know.

I don't want the 60 penalty, so I'm gonna ride that guy until he buries me and You know, I was sort of up there, you know, thinking about the brief moment.

Come on, guys, show me a miracle.

And the miracle we showed me was I could survive the wreck.

No, I never felt the fear.

Never beforehand.

Yes, you get a little bit afraid.

You think about it a little bit.

But then you say I had to put that out of my mind.

Because if you ride with the fear, something's gonna happen.

If you go out there with that in your mind, then you're probably riding for a fall.

Jim Warford approaches the water jump.

These are especially unnerving for the horse want because he can't judge the depth of the water.

How?

Four.

It's survival out there.

You know, it's keeping that horse between you and the ground when things are going bad or when the horse makes a mistake that Karen Stipe's.

Okay, one.

The worst accidents occur when the horse pulls on the rider.

Negative.

Run over there and personally contact a sp.

Kentucky State Police Divine Need an escort off post over.

Karen.

Steve's heart stopped.

I don't know.

Come on, get up.

Over.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was administered way need your world.

Karen revived and was brought to a nearby hospital to be treated for a severe concussion.

Amazingly, she was back riding again within a month.

Right through there.

Yeah, just not please.

But you've got blood on it.

That's right.

Right.

Settle down.

I guess I had it coming to me because he slipped a little bit all the way around, but he slipped there and he just looked on.

I almost stayed on.

But I know you couldn't grab around in agony.

Hung in there as long as I could.

Well, I think the good thing about it is that he hurt himself pretty good.

So you feel, Did you?

And I almost pulled him up.

But I thought, Jesus, let's see how tough he is.

And he went down to the water jump right in the next stop, Torrance Watkins at the Lexington Bank.

It's a marvelous thing because you and the horse become one being You're out there on cross country and the fences come up fast.

The horses never seen them.

He knows that I'll never put him in a bad place.

It may look like it's impossible to get through there, but He knows that if I say you can do it, they're great.

Do it this way.

Then he'll do it.

Absolutely.

Trust me.

Marvelous feeling.

Jim Warford finished the course with a good time.

Did I hear them call me for a refusal someplace?

Or was that somebody else?

How are you going?

Hey called you then.

They correct, right?

I guess one of the magical parts of the sport is being able to go out there, and it was like climbing Everest.

It's there.

You're gonna do it.

You know, you're gonna face elements.

You know you're gonna face dangerous that normal people wouldn't.

D'oh!

But it's something you have to do, Torrance.

And divorce.

Southern Comfort cleared all the jumps without a fall for refusal.

Lovely course isn't a wonderful time.

Okay, great.

It's clean and very fast.

It's almost out of this world, something nobody can bring you down because you just accomplished something between you and your horse.

And, of course, that it was supposed to be bigger than you.

And bigger.

And of course, that is, um can easily pull you out of the sky and land you on the ground hard.

Um, the feeling having done it right is obviously a feeling of tremendous accomplishment, tremendous pride in the horse and yourself.

But then there's that feeling that is very personal to me, and I really can't describe it.

It's like being in an airplane and looking at it soft, fluffy, pink thunderheads, you know, it's can't describe it.

Hey, not only did Kim Wellness and the Grey Goose jump every fence cleanly, they also wrote the Four Faces without a time fault.

It was a nearly perfect right.

I just you, I think it was possible you didn't breath heart.

You were.

It's not a star Nani Ridge, because obviously you just wonder, Um, always marvelous.

You come away from that so excited and so a static and takes you the whole rest of the day to come down.

You just talk to anybody.

You confined about it.

It's just marvelous.

And the winner of the Gladstone Trophy here in 1982 Kentucky three day event number 14.

The Great News, written by 46.6, Lexington, Tampa and Gladstone with the climax, is of a series of competitions to choose the next United States equestrian teams.

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