Event riders beat the wintery blues and plan wedding in 12 days

Two event riders from Cheshire found a novel way of passing the time during “the big freeze” — organising their wedding.

While their base in Crowton, Cheshire lay deep in snow for weeks, event riders Hayden Hankey and Dee Kennedy planned and organised their wedding and honeymoon in 12 days.

The couple had originally planned to get married in the summer. But while they couldn’t get their horses out to competitions, or even exercise properly — “and had nothing better to do” — they decided to bring their nuptials forward.

Their wedding takes place at Nunsmere Hall in Sandiway, Cheshire on Thursday (21 January). After that, Hayden and Dee will escape the wintery weather to honeymoon in the Maldives.

Then it will be back to work — Dee, who won Osberton CCI** in 2009 with Chequers Boy, hopes to aim the horse at his first advanced this season, while Hayden says he has “lots of nice young horses to bring out show jumping and eventing”.

Dee competed at Badminton Horse Trials for the first time last year, and wrote an weekly online diary for Horse & Hound in the build up as well as a daily audio diary when she was at the event itself.

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