A couple of blog posts ago, I began introducing the eight equestrian disciplines that will be featured at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. I started with eventing, which in many ways is the bedrock of modern English equestrian sport. This week, let's take a look at eventing's close relative: jumping.

Jumping (aka show jumping or stadium jumping) is one of eventing's three phases: in an arena, over a course of "frankly fake" obstacles. No pretenses of navigating hill and dale, logs and split-rail fences, here: The obstacles are brightly colored, often extremely fanciful in nature (a car! a row of beer bottles! a lady's fan!), and topple at little more than the touch of a hoof. And in jumping competition, it's all about going fast and "clean" -- without time penalties or "faults" incurred by knocking down a rail, putting a foot in the water jump, or a horse's refusing an obstacle.

Because jumping is easy to follow and colorful and exciting to watch, it's the most popular English-riding sport, and the one that gets the most sponsorship, the biggest audiences, and the best TV coverage. Of the WEG disciplines, it commands the highest ticket prices and will undoubtedly sell out.

Jumpers are supreme equine athletes, and jumper riders are pretty gutsy people. Just look at the size of the obstacles. In Olympic competition, for example, obstacles have a maximum height of 1.6 meters (about 5.3 feet). Spread obstacles can be two meters (6.7 feet) in breadth, while triple-bar jumps can be 2.2 meters (about 7.2 feet) wide. Water jumps can have spreads of up to 4.5 meters (14.9 feet). The courses range in length from 500 to 600 meters. Course designers may arrange obstacles as single jumps or as combinations, the latter meaning that the distances within them are related (translated: get to the first one out of synch with the necessary striding and you're in a heap of trouble).

Speed is essential, as are jumping ability and bravery. A good jumper also needs to be careful, meaning that he does everything in his power to avoid "rubbing" an obstacle. He must be able to swap leads in midair so as to land primed for a quick turn, and he needs to be "ratable" enough to allow his rider to set him up for a good approach instead of charging wildly with excitement. Some jumpers indeed give the impression of being nearly out of control, but more often than not those aren't the ones with the fastest, cleanest rounds. Good jumpers don't waste energy, effort, strides, or space. They can collect and extend their strides gymnastically, much like a trained dressage horse. In fact, there's an old saying in the jumper world that dressage is what you do between the fences -- or that jumping is dressage with fences in the way.

The sport of jumping seems to attract colorful characters, both human and equine. Some riders are known for a flamboyant style, or a less-than-classical position in the saddle, to name two examples. And some well-known horses have become successful jumpers in spite of (or is it because of?) unruly behavior, unorthodox jumping style, and distinctly oddball pieces of tack and equipment, especially when it comes to bits and bridles. In the end, it doesn't matter if a horse looks like a cow or jumps like one; if he can get over the fences in a fast, clean, reliable fashion, he's good to go.

And in that same vein, jumping is one equestrian sport that's refreshingly free from subjectivity. There is no judging of performance per se; the results are objective and quantifiable. Your Uncle Ned can tell whether a horse knocked down a rail just as well as the jumping experts can, and so the sport is spectator-friendly. It's glamorous, exciting, and often complete with a nail-biting finish as the final few riders compete in a "jump-off" to decide the winner, complete with blazing speed and eye-popping turns and maneuvers that would give a cutting horse a run for his money.

It seems as if every entity today has "naming rights" -- stadiums, airports, schools, even horses. Sporting events are no exception, including the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games.

Make that the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Alltech, you see, is the title sponsor.

I hope I'm not the only horse enthusiast to admit that, prior to the WEG sponsorship announcement, I'd never heard of Alltech. The name puts me in mind of a computer company -- perhaps a maker of motherboards or a stable of tech-support wizzes a la Geek Squad.

I was therefore surprised to learn that Alltech is an international animal-health company headquartered in (you guessed it) Lexington, Kentucky. The equine sector is just one facet of its market, and its products revolve around things like yeast and enzymes.

A fermentation specialist might seem an unlikely bidder for top WEG naming rights, so I decided to poke around and find out a little bit about this company that's invested heavily not only in the competition itself, but also in high-visibility pre-WEG events in Lexington itself. Here's a sampling of what I learned.

Alltech's sponsorship of an international equestrian event made more sense when I discovered that the company has offices and distributors in 119 countries. It produces what its Web site (www.alltech.com) terms "feeding solutions" for the animal-health and animal-production industries. Among its products for horses is Lifeforce Formula, a digestive-health supplement. 

Founded in 1980 by an Irish yeast biochemist named Dr. Pearse Lyons, Alltech opened its Lexington-based international headquarters in 2005. In 2007, it announced its 2010 WEG sponsorship. According to the company's Web site, Alltech is the first animal-health company to sponsor an international sporting event of WEG magnitude. The 2010 event will also be the first WEG to have a title sponsor.

At least in Lexington and environs, the sponsor's name is becoming increasingly well known. The Alltech WEG logo adorns digital countdown-to-WEG clocks that dot the city. In September and October of this year, marking the commencement of the one-year-to-go point, Alltech sponsored the Alltech Fortnight Festival, a series of musical-entertainment events held in Lexington and other Kentucky cities and intended to generate excitement about the 2010 WEG. 

There have been other special events and receptions in the Lexington area to drum up support for the WEG, some hosted by Alltech or with the sponsor's presence evident. Most recently, the famed Churchill Downs racetrack dubbed Sunday, November 8 "World Equestrian Games Day." Some lucky track visitors that day won Alltech WEG gift baskets and other goodies. 

Sponsorship is a funny thing because it's difficult to quantify. With a conventional advertisement, response can be tracked. But a sponsor isn't in it for immediate returns. Rather, it's usually about things like visibility, name recognition, and brand awareness. With its name plastered everywhere and a projected TV audience of 500 million worldwide, it's evident that Alltech will be getting plenty of ink and air time. It will be interesting to see whether the investment in visibility pays off for this company. 

Count me one horse enthusiast who's had her consciousness raised. Now I need for Alltech to explain how its products can help my horse!

I haven't yet had the pleasure of attending a World Equestrian Games, but I take my equine-media colleagues' word for it that the spectacle makes Grand Central Station look sleepy.

At the 2010 WEG in Lexington, there will be eight (eight!) horse sports. They won't all be going on at once, but on any given day there will be multiple events. 

Just what are these "disciplines," anyway? I'm very conversant in some; others, not so much. So I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity to use this blog for (self-) educational purposes. In this and future blog entries, I'll give you a rundown of the sports that you'll be following next year in Lexington.

I'm going to begin with the sport of eventing, for two reasons. One, it's one of the three that's also an Olympic equestrian discipline, so it's high-profile. Two, it's the discipline that bridges the gap between horse sports' practical roots and their evolution to purely athletic and hobby pursuit. (OK, I have a third reason: It's a really great, fun sport.)

Eventing's original name is a big clue as to its raison d'etre. Once known as the Military, it was the cavalry's test of horses and riders. A cavalry mount had to be sturdy, fit, agile, athletic, and obedient. He could be required to traverse many miles of uneven and perhaps treacherous terrain; to jump whatever got in the way; and to be highly responsive and maneuverable in battle. And to get up the next morning and do it all again.

So the cavalry devised a three-phase test. First, while horses were at their freshest (and therefore least likely to be calm and obedient), a dressage test, in which horse and rider had to execute a gymnastic pattern "on the flat" (no jumps) to show the horse's obedience, suppleness, and general adjustability and responsiveness as a riding horse. Then came a long course of cross-country obstacles, requiring stamina, jumping ability, and boldness. Finally, after the demands of cross-country, an arena jumping course as a test of fitness and agility.

After World War II, the horse cavalry was disbanded, but its traditions live on in the sport of eventing, which for years was called three-day eventing to reflect the fact that, at the higher levels, each phase is held on a separate day. 

Event horses are the triathletes of the equine world. No other equestrian discipline requires its athletes to be such outstanding all-arounders. Consider the fact that, in the so-called traditional or long format of a three-day event, on cross-country day, the horses not only gallop and jump the long cross-country course but also complete on-the-flat "roads and tracks" phases and jump a steeplechase course that, although not the British Grand National in scope, is nevertheless a galloping-and-jumping test that's done before cross-country. I get tired just thinking about it!

Eventing has had its (if you'll pardon the expression) share of hard knocks in recent years. Sport leaders and course designers have taken heat for creating technically challenging, "tricky" cross-country courses and obstacles that allegedly have led to some nasty spills and even some horse and rider deaths. A few event horses have dropped dead on course, apparently of previously undetected cardiac ailments, aneurysms, and the like. No one wants to see a horse sport turn into a blood sport, and the animal-rights community monitors eventing closely. 

Fortunately, the eventing folks at the national and international levels are doing a lot to make the sport safer for horses and riders -- although, let's face it, galloping and jumping entail a certain amount of risk. Exhaustive heat-and-humidity studies helped ensure healthy horses at two notoriously sticky locales, Atlanta and Hong Kong, for the 1996 and the 2008 Olympic Games, respectively. Shortened courses and the elimination of roads-and-tracks and steeplechase phases may have helped as well. Designers and builders of cross-country courses are studying and implementing the use of frangible pins, which may help to avoid the rotational type of falls that are linked to many casualties. The 2008 Olympic eventing competition went off without a serious accident and was heralded as proof that the cautionary measures are working.

At the level that we'll see at the WEG, eventing is a challenging but thrilling sport. It may be difficult for those to imagine who have never evented, but the horses love it (well, the jumping parts, anyway; many hate the tedium of dressage). My event horse, an ex-racing Thoroughbred, was too slow for the track but could still run like hell, and he lived to be pointed at an obstacle. Horses, like humans, have distinct likes and dislikes when it comes to occupations. Believe me, you cannot force a horse to gallop and jump the way an eventer has to if he doesn't enjoy it. Watch the sport's equine Ironman competitors and you'll come away with a new appreciation for the heart, cleverness, athletic ability, and scope of a great horse.

 Calling all creative writers: Bayer Animal Health is sponsoring an "Enjoy the Ride" essay contest whose prize is a trip for two to the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Lexington, KY, next September and October.

 The challenge: pen a 150-word essay on how much you love your horse and what he gives back to you. Entrants must be 18 or older and U.S. legal residents.

 Deadline for entries is December 31, 2009.

 Go to www.enjoytheridecontest.com for complete details and rules and to submit your essay online. Good luck!

The painting will initially be stored and displayed at the International Museum of the Horse at Lexington’s Kentucky Horse Park. Louisville, KY,-based Cobalt Artworks hopes to present an exhibition featuring Neiman’s equestrian works in downtown Lexington during the 2010 Games.

Neiman has created artwork for such illustrious sporting events as the Kentucky Derby, the Ryder Cup, and the Super Bowl, so the 2010 WEG is in fine company.

Signed commemorative editions, prints, note cards, and postcards featuring the artwork are available from Cobalt Artworks. I'm a sucker for bright colors and I like Neiman's relaxed style, so I have a feeling one of his prints will be gracing my office wall before the WEG has come and gone.