After 10 years of growing popularity, The Event at Rebecca Farm is going in a completely different direction with its cross country course. And riders couldn’t be happier.

“There’s a lot of good energy for all this,” said Jil Walton, a former competitor who is training a handful of riders at this year’s event.

“The new courses, I think, are going to be great. It’s a different feel because it’s a different designer. His mark on it is going to be completely different from what it used to be.”

Course designer Ian Stark has literally turned the course in the other direction, starting out on the flatter terrain and building towards the hills at the finish.

Stark, who has been designing courses for the last 10 years and currently operates eight three-star events, has added a few different jumps and challenges in an attempt to make riders second guess themselves. One of the signature features of this year is an 8-foot jump nestled behind a ditch, which, seen in person, can be quite daunting.

“I know the riders are sort of thinking this is quite intimidating, this is quite tougher than what they’ve been facing with this particular fence,” Stark said while touring the course Thursday. “For me it’s just a rider frightener so it should be all right.”

The course isn’t quite as tough as he would like it to be, though part of that has been due to the weather this spring. A feature surrounding Rainbow Pond near the back of the course had to be scrapped at the last minute because the water table rose too high.

“Right around the edge and we’d built a new water complex at the end of the pond,” Stark said. “But the water table is so high that this is 5-foot deeper than it used to be. So I got here on Tuesday morning and discovered we couldn’t use it. Hopefully it’s all there once the water does settle down and we can use it in the future.”

In his first year designing the course at Rebecca Farm, Stark said the course is easier than he would have liked, but as he sees the competition and how riders react to the surroundings he plans on upping the difficulty.

“There’s some serious questions but the whole course isn’t full of serious questions, there’s a bit more let up jumps in between,” Stark said.

“For the younger horses and less experienced riders you ask a question then give them time to recover from it then ask another question. Whereas building up over the next couple of years there will be fewer let ups and more questions.”