Jonty Evans’ crowd-funding campaign to secure the ride on his Rio horse has received a boost with a £150,000 donation from a private donor, but the Irish rider still needs to raise over £200,000 in the next two weeks if he is to ride at the European Eventing Championships.
Jonty has secured some funding towards the horse’s purchase so he can keep the ride and decided to start a crowd-funding campaign to attempt to make up the shortfall. He is aiming to raise £500,000.
So far, he has raised £283,501.60 towards the purchase of “Art”, with a substantial £150,000 added to the total on Sunday.
“It’s a private donation and the person would then own the horse along with the crowd-fund — if the crowd-fund umbrella was called The Friends of Art or similar, the horse would be owned by this person and the Friends of Art,” Jonty told H&H.
Jonty has plans for fundraising at the Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe this weekend and an online auction has been launched to garner extra funds. There are 15 lots including a lesson with Badminton winner Andrew Nicholson — who Jonty previously worked for — a straw of semen from Art’s sire Courage II and a two-night stay in the Rorke’s Drift Hotel in South Africa. So far £6,030 has been raised via the auction.
Continued below…
Horse & Hound Newsletter
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
As Rosalind Canter prepares to make her senior squad debut at the European Eventing Championships in Strzegom, Poland, here's everything
Jonty needs to raise the total by around 11 August or he will not be able to ride at the European Championships in Strzegom, Poland (17-20 August). The pair finished ninth at the Rio Olympics last year and would have serious individual medal hopes for the Europeans if they can compete.
“My preparation for Rio last year was as smooth as baby’s bottom. There was no glitch and everything worked really well,” said Jonty. “My preparation for Poland is hardly that, but of course if I get the money I’ll give my best shot. The horse feels amazing and is working really well.”
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
