2002 World Equestrian Games

Cross Country Course, Championships' Course

Mike Tucker's world championship cross country course provoked much comment and speculation before endurance day, and the results lived up to expectations. "The cross country is certainly a championship course in every respect," said O'Connor after walking the course. "It's an unpredictable course - it'll be an interesting day." The thirty obstacle (45 jumping efforts) course winds around a farm in the Andalusian country side, with cactus, olive and eucalyptus trees dotting the landscape. The locally inspired fences included olive barrels, aqueducts and a bull ring. Two water complexes formed the hub of the course, centrally located near each other for easy spectator access.

Cross country day certainly lived up to O'Connor's predictions; of the eighty horses who set out on phase A, just fifty galloped through the finish line of phase D. The majority of drop outs were eliminations, and of those, most were due to falls (FEI rules now state that if both the horse's hip and shoulder touch the ground in a fall, the competitor is eliminated). The time proved impossible to make for even the swiftest horses. The fastest time of the day belonged to Vinoski, who was the last competitor on course; she added just 2.4 time penalties to her dressage score. O'Connor and Williams also had clear rounds.

O'Connor was the first member of the US team to go, with a conservative ride that gained him 30.4 time penalties. At the first water complex, Giltedge gave a group of spectators good cause to gasp when O'Connor lost his reins coming out of the water. "I literally missed my rein with my right hand coming out of the water." With only a left rein, O'Connor inadvertently steered his horse slightly left, and straight towards a fence holding back the crowd. In the words of team coach Captain Mark Phillips, "Giltedge is always looking for the next fence", and the horse was quite ready to leap into the crowd when O'Connor regained his steering at the last moment.