The 50 horses lining up to tackle the Pau Horse Trials cross-country course have a typical “Michelet the Menace” challenge ahead of them: fast, forward and a little bit twisty.
Pierre Michelet, 77, is the longstanding course-designer at Pau Horse Trials, having been at the helm for some 30 years, including upgrading it to the highest level of eventing – now classified five-star – in 2007.
This CCI5* course features 31 numbered fences, which includes four water combinations. The time is bang on 11min, over a distance of 6,270m.
The track follows the same route as previous years at Pau Horse Trials. Horses start close to the stadium and wind their way out to the racecourse – which is used daily as a training ground. They then loop back almost parallel to their first tracks and finish over three fences in the main arena, including two majestic swans at the penultimate.
Domaine de Sers, the venue for Pau Horse Trials, lends itself to a flat, galloping cross-country track. However, the time is often deceptively hard to achieve, as Pierre incorporates plenty of mounds, twists and turnbacks.
He’s also put an exceptionally narrow skinny as a standalone fence, as well as a couple of accuracy tests, in the middle of the racecourse, just when riders might think they can let the throttle out.
Pierre is renowned for setting his combinations on half-strides, as if he's daring riders to take the two strides rather than the three. Those that always hook back for the extra stride won’t be up with the leaders after cross-country day.
Seven key questions on Pau Horse Trials cross-country
The “Waouh” Ville de Pau (4)
“Waouh” refers to the expression riders might make as they head up a man-made bridge and over the small hedge, because lying on the other side is not only a large drop, but also a huge ditch. Horses probably won’t even notice it, but they’ll need to keep their wits about them to negotiate either one of the gently angled arms of the brush that follow at fence 5.
There is a longer alternative here, which avoids the hedge drop and ditch altogether, but is very time-consuming at this early stage.
This a new fence, and a decent early test of horse-and-rider confidence.
Coffin (17ABC)
The Coffin is on quite a relaxed distance and at first glance looks quite innocuous. But what it lacks in tight striding or steep slopes it makes up for as an accuracy test. It’s not only set on an S-bend, but both parts A and C are seriously narrow, while the ditch at B is chunky and cavernous – so horses may balloon and miss their line to C.
Le Palois de la Communauté Pau Béarn Pyrénées (21)
The Palois (meaning a person from Pau) is the biggest of several hedges on the racecourse section of the cross-country course. Riders won’t want to miss their stride here as that ditch is vast. It resembles the Cottesmore Leap at Burghley – perhaps a precursor to another fence with Burghley similarities...
This steeplechase-style fence signals the end of an open, galloping section on the racecourse, as testing combinations now come up thick and fast towards the end of the track.
Gué Cityz Média (23 ABCD)
This is the third water combination and the most demanding. Last year, it caught out several top contenders and the actual accuracy test hasn’t changed enormously although it is slightly softer this time.
The direct route is over a brush-topped house to two offset angled brushes (B/C, then D) in the water. The brush tops will allow some margin for error, but the line is quite tricky to the final D element and will invite run-outs.
“Oops” Forestier (24AB)
Another fence named for the kind of gasp a rider might make mid-air – or maybe if they run past the second part.
This is a sizeable drop – think Burghley Leaf Pit style – on to falling ground, with a bend left to a skinny. The difference between here and Burghley is the lack of successive tricky fences but the drop is still massive and riders will need to get their knitting back to negotiate the B element.
Butte de la Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine (28ABCDE)
The last major test, and it’s a significant one.
This was an influential combination last year, with a couple of high-profile errors, and the question has not really changed. The direct route takes you over another brush-topped house (horses should be familiar with these by now) for elements A and B, then a sharp slope to an extremely tight and offset corner (C and D), with the ground falling away to the left.
Horses probably won’t quite be able to see the angled brush E element until they’re mid-air over the corner.
The long route avoids the first house and the the corner at the bottom of the slope, but it’s a lot of twisting and turning on a tired horse.
This could be the crux of the course – both in terms of penalties and time.
Cygnes de la Communauté Pau Béarn Pyrénées (30AB)
These beautifully carved and painted swans, set on an angle, look sublime, and should jump well as horses finish their round in the main arena. Riders will need to pay attention because horses could be distracted by the crowds and marquees, and the swans are not aligned in a neatly parallel formation.
After that they just need to round the turn and fly the last to stop the clock.
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