An interesting conversation with Level 4 FEI course designer Bernardo Costa Cabral for those interested in show jumping course design. His interest was ignited in the late 1980s when British course designer Bob Ellis was working for a show held at the same riding club where 14-year-old Costa Cabral rode in Portugal. Because the ring crew didn’t speak English, Costa Cabral was recruited to serve as a translator.
“I was totally astonished and thrilled to see the way he built a course and said, ‘This would be technical here, and this will be hard for them to jump the vertical, and then the oxer will push them forward,’ ” he said. “I’d never thought about that. I was gobsmacked and overwhelmed by all of that in one afternoon.”