Latest from Horse & Hound in Olympics

Could the Olympics return to London sooner than we think?

Lucy Elder — Tue, 06 May 2025 12:16:53 +0000

London 2012 remains a golden glow in many memories – but could we see the Games return to the city in the not-too-distant future?

London mayor Sadiq Khan said he would like to see the Olympic and Paralympic Games return to London in 2040.

London has hosted the Games on three occasions: 1908, the rescheduled Olympics in 1948, and the spectacular 2012 edition. If Mr Khan gets his wish, London would become the first city to host the Games four times.

The news came with that of a report by the mayor’s office showing major sporting events hosted in the capital last year generated a £230m boost for London’s economy.

“Building on London’s success, the mayor has talked up his ambition to bring more of the biggest sporting events in the world to London. Sadiq has expressed his support for a bid for the Olympics and Paralympics to return to London in 2040,” said the announcement.

At 28 years between the last Games and 2040, it would be the shortest timeframe in which a city has rehosted a summer Olympic and Paralympics.

London and Paris are the only two cities to have hosted three runnings of the modern Games, although Los Angeles will soon join that exclusive club with LA28. Tokyo and Athens have also hosted twice.

A spokesperson for British Equestrian told H&H: “The spectacle and success of London 2012 was pivotal for sport in this country and positively impacted an entire generation. A bid to have the Games back on British soil – or any global Championships – would be very welcome and undoubtedly have our endorsement. We’ll watch with interest for any further developments.”

“I was in Paris last summer and I saw the transformation of their city,” said Mr Khan, in an exclusive interview with The Times. “But we could knock it out of the park in relation to the Olympics, using the assets we already have in the aquatics centre, the stadium, the velodrome. And we could have some events outside London too. London could be a hub.”

He said 2040 makes sense for London “because we could do it in a brilliant way, but also very cheaply”, in reference to existing infrastructure that already exists, adding that “the benefits would be humongous”.

In the announcement, Mr Khan added: “London is the sporting capital of the world and I am proud that we have such a strong track record of staging the biggest and best international events in our great city.

“This report highlights the significant economic and cultural benefits major sporting events provide for our city and the huge pride and excitement they create for Londoners and visitors.

“These events shine a global spotlight on the capital and inspire young Londoners to get involved in grassroots sport, and I am focused on bringing even more to our city as we work together to build a better, healthier, more prosperous London for all.”

UK Sport director of events Simon Morton said: “Live sport is a fundamental part of the UK’s social fabric, and this is embodied brilliantly by London and its love of hosting global sport.

“We welcome these findings as further, compelling evidence of the truly beneficial economic impact that is being felt by towns and cities that host major sporting events. With our event hosting partners, we aim to continue bringing more global sporting events to the UK that help reach, inspire and unite the nation.”

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Eventing confirmed for LA28 Olympics following success of Paris 2024

Lucy Elder — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 16:45:55 +0000

Eventing is confirmed for the LA28 Olympic Games following the “historic success” of Paris 2024.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board finalised the sporting programme and competitor numbers at a meeting in Lausanne yesterday (9 April).

Equestrian sport will retain the same number of places and medals as it had for the Paris Olympics. This means team and individual medals for each discipline, and 200 horse/rider combinations across the disciplines, with a split of 75 for showjumping, 60 for dressage and 65 for eventing.

“We are extremely pleased with the IOC decision,” said FEI president Ingmar De Vos. “The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games were a historic success for equestrian sport, which proved very popular with the live crowds and TV and online viewers worldwide.

“It’s great news that our numbers remain unchanged and we are looking forward to delivering exciting sport at the same level of excellence.”

The IOC board also approved LA28’s “venue master plan” – details are yet to be announced and these will come from LA28 organisers “at a later date”. H&H reported last year that Galway Downs, an existing facility in Temecula, had been proposed as the equestrian sport venue. But Mr De Vos said last week that “the venue will be decided soon and it’s all open”, adding that the FEI is under a non-disclosure agreement.

Although horse sport in principle was agreed to be part of the LA28 programme in autumn 2023, a slight question mark had hovered over eventing being among the disciplines – although leading FEI figures long stressed their confidence it would be included. To have this now confirmed is welcome news.

Eventing’s inclusion had been contingent on all phases running at the same venue as the pure dressage and showjumping. At previous Games, including Tokyo, there have been occasions where the cross-country has run at a satellite venue.

At a press conference following the meeting yesterday, IOC Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi said: “The executive board has validated the masterplan in broad terms, and that’s a really practical and very helpful step forward.

“As for the announcement, including each and every detail, let’s be clear, this will be the responsibility of LA [organisers].

“What I can tell you is that the key principles that were followed for the establishment of the masterplan was to use and maximise the existing venues, no new permanent infrastructures, maximise also the opportunities within the city of LA and also regroup the venues to avoid standalone. Every time you have a standalone [venue], you are complexifying the operation.

“All these principles were followed, and now the master plan has been adopted. For the details, let’s wait until LA will make the announcement.”

IOC sports director Kit McConnell added that the FEI has been a “really strong partner” in working through all the above considerations and thanked the federation for its “active engagement”.

The qualification process for LA28 was discussed at the FEI Sports Forum last week (31 March to 1 April) and will be voted on at the FEI general assembly in November.

The IOC had previously asked the FEI to submit a new competition format for eventing at LA28, which it did in 2024. An FEI spokesperson told H&H today (10 April) that discussions on the proposed new format have not continued.

“Discussions were conducted at the time given that the Olympic Broadcasting Service had expressed interest in having medals awarded after the cross-country as such a change might have led to increased viewing figures,” the FEI spokesperson told H&H.

“However, given how successful the current Olympic format was in Paris, these discussions haven’t continued.”

The spokesperson added that any proposed changes to Olympic formats will be discussed first at next year’s FEI Sports Forum, and put forward for approval at the 2026 FEI general assembly.

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Key decisions concerning horse sport at LA28 Olympics expected in days

Lucy Elder — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:10:28 +0000

Decisions on the equestrian venue for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and eventing’s inclusion in the programme are expected to be confirmed in the next week.

H&H reported last year that Galway Downs, an existing facility in Temecula, had been proposed as the home to horse sport at LA28 – a change from the Sepulveda Dam recreation area, which had been earmarked previously.

But at the FEI Sports Forum this week (31 March to 1 April), FEI president Ingmar De Vos said that “the venue will be decided soon and it’s all open”.

“We hope, we think – there is an executive board meeting of the IOC [International Olympic Committee] on 9 April, so we believe that hopefully by then the master plan, the venue master plan, will be finalised, and that we will know where we will go,” he said.

“But we are in permanent contact with the Los Angeles organising committee about this – everything’s going in the right direction, but we are under a non-disclosure agreement so we cannot say anything.”

He added that the FEI is also awaiting confirmation of its quota of competitors – it is seeking 200, as in Paris – and the events, by which he means individual and team medals in each discipline.

Mr De Vos was asked for information on the question over the LA venue, during a press briefing after the forum.

“What we can say is that the venue has not been finalised yet,” he said. “The organising committee is looking at a lot of different aspects, such as the climate such as the costs.

“They want… and this is very clear instruction also from the IOC, that we need to be as cost efficient as possible, which means that there are maybe some other options that do not necessarily need a remote Olympic Village. So they are looking at that.

“The organising committee is finalising the cost calculations of the different possibilities.”

Eventing’s inclusion is contingent on all phases running at the same venue as the pure dressage and showjumping, and the decision on this is also expected on 9 April.

At the forum, Mr De Vos shared positive news on the increase in digital engagement and broadcast figures for Paris 2024 on previous Games, and what this means in the wider picture.

“I was very happy that I even received a phone call from the IOC director general [Christophe De Kepper] congratulating us on our performance on digital and on broadcasting,” he said. “That’s very important, because this has helped to consolidate our position in the Olympic programme.”

The qualification process for LA28 will be voted on at the 2025 FEI general assembly in November.

Early suggestions shared at the forum included tweaking the reallocation process, so if a nation turns down a team spot, it is not automatically granted an individual place. Individual places would have to be earned instead.

The idea was also raised to allocate two more Olympic team tickets to the 2026 World Showjumping Championships, so there would be a total of seven LA28 team places available.

This would come at the cost of removing any chance of securing Olympic team qualification via the Longines League of Nations finals in 2026 and 2027. The series’ predecessor, the Nations Cup final, was historically a way of securing Olympic qualification. The reasoning behind the idea is to give nations outside Europe more opportunity of qualifying through the World Championship route.

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2032 Olympic venue proposal ‘confirms expectations’ of horse sport at the Games

Eleanor Jones — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 14:33:07 +0000

The proposal of a venue for equestrian events at the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics “confirms expectations” that horse sports will feature in Brisbane.

The 2032 Games organising committee has put forward the existing facility at Toowoomba, about 78 miles from the centre of Brisbane.

“Equestrian Queensland has partnered with the Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland (Toowoomba Showgrounds) to improve the current equestrian facilities at the showgrounds,” an Equestrian Australia spokesperson said. “This work also includes a master plan and business case to develop an equestrian centre of excellence at the showgrounds.

“Once developed, the Toowoomba Equestrian Centre of Excellence [TEC] would offer the ability to host large scale equestrian events (>300 competitors) to a high standard with fit-for-discipline competition surfaces.”

The spokesperson said the improvements would fill an “identified gap in the Queensland equestrian facility market”.

(Image credit: Tarni)

Toowoomba mayor Geoff Mcdonald said: “The proposed TEC will deliver the region a world-class equestrian facility that broadens its capability to provide equestrian events at the state, national, and international levels.

“Further, the TEC will provide athlete pathways, rider education, and social and commercial opportunities to benefit the region for generations.”

An FEI spokesperson told H&H the International Olympic Committee (IOC) intends to decide what sports will feature at the 2032 Games next February.

“The use of existing venues is in line with Olympic agenda 2020+5 and the ‘new norm’ established by the IOC,” she said. “At this stage this is only a venue proposal and not a final decision.

“An FEI delegation will visit the proposed venue and will assess the possibilities for this venue to host the equestrian competitions at the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The proposal of the organising committee to include this venue in the venue masterplan confirms our expectation that equestrian sport will be included in these Games.”

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Meet the oldest Olympic athletes and medallists of all time

Bethany Stone — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 15:30:50 +0000

How many of your favourite top riders have also competed as one of the oldest Olympic athletes or medallists?

It’s widely known that horses have an addictive quality – once they get under your skin, you’re typically involved with them for life. This, combined with the fact riding successfully at top level is more about skill and experience than it is pure physicality, might explain why we see more riders representing their countries on the world’s greatest sporting stage – the Olympics – into their older years than in other sports. The over-50s age group is well represented in horse sport, which is testament to the fact that having decades in the saddle can give an equestrian athlete the edge in competition.

Horse sport at the Games is populated by some of the oldest Olympic athletes and often features the Games’ oldest competitor. At Paris 2024 it was 65-year-old Spanish dressage rider Juan Antonio Jimenez Cobo. Often, the oldest medallist is an athlete from an equestrian discipline too. Riding at ones best is all about experience, composure and honing your skills – and the Olympic Games is where it all counts.

Oldest Olympic athletes: equestrian appearances and medals

1. Nick Skelton, Rio 2016

In arguably one of the most iconic moments in British showjumping history, Nick Skelton and Big Star triumphed in a six-rider jump-off to take individual gold at Rio 2016 – and in doing so, became the oldest Olympic medallist of the Games at 58. It was the second Olympic medal for Nick, who also won team gold at London 2012.

2. Laura Kraut, Paris 2024

Eight years after her partner, Nick, and at the same age of 58, showjumper Laura Kraut became the oldest Olympic medallist at the Paris 2024 Games. Alongside teammates Karl Cook and McClain Ward, Laura took home team silver for the US. She adds the silver to her trophy cabinet alongside her Tokyo 2020 team silver and Beijing 2008 team gold.

3. Andrew Hoy, Tokyo 2020

The beloved Aussie eventer is no stranger to Olympic appearances – he’s competed at eight Games for his home nation. At 62, he was the oldest medallist at the Tokyo 2020 Games (held in 2021 owing to the pandemic). Andrew Hoy even made it a double, clinching individual bronze and team silver in the eventing with Vassily de Lassos. He has a total of six Olympic medals to his name.

4. Mary Hanna, Tokyo 2020

The dressage rider, who turns 70 this year, travelled to Paris 2024 as the Australian team alternate. In her last team appearance at the Olympics, she was the oldest competitor of the Games aged 66. The six-time Olympian has never won a medal and, inspired by the atmosphere in Paris this year, plans to keep campaigning.

4. Lorna Johnstone, Munich 1972

The dressage rider turned 70 three days before competing at the Munich Games in 1972. She finished 12th individually on ex-steeplechaser El Farucco, who she bought at Ascot Sales as a five-year-old. She was crowned British national champion 13 times over her career and competed in dressage until after her 80th birthday.

5. Hiroshi Hoketsu, London 2012

The Japanese dressage rider was the oldest competitor at not only the Beijing Games, where he competed aged 65, but also in London in 2012 aged 71. Hiroshi, who trained in Germany, does not see age as a barrier to competing. At London, he commented: “I don’t know how you’re supposed to feel at 71. I’m the same physique as I was at university. There’s no special secret. I get up at 7am. I used to get up at 5am, go riding, go home and then leave for the office for 30 years when I was working. Now I can sleep until 7am – luxury.”

6. Arthur von Pongracz, Berlin 1936

At 72 years and 49 days old when he competed in the dressage competition, Austria’s Arthur von Pongracz is the oldest all-time Olympic equestrian. He loses out on the oldest Olympian title by a couple of hundred days to Oscar Swahn, a Swedish shooter who competed in Antwerp 1920.

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They don’t make ’em like they used to – a look back at the Olympics of yesteryear

Pippa Cuckson — Sun, 07 Jul 2024 17:30:21 +0000

The 2024 Paris Olympics are almost upon us, and while we marvel at the efforts of today’s top riders, spare a thought for the colossal exploits of yesteryear’s stars with the challenges of a more experimental phase of equestrianism.

The Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius – “faster, higher, stronger” – certainly applied to the early days of organised equestrianism.

One of the first recorded showjumping courses was at Madison Square Gardens in 1892, six fences of 1.75m to 1.83m (5ft 9in–6ft). The New York Times reported that one faller “had a narrow escape from bad injury, as he landed on the top of his head, and was spun about like a top, his foot caught in the stirrup”.

Sixty years later in New York, post-war icon Pat Smythe tackled similar rails – now thoughtfully cushioned by bamboo wrapping! For those brought up in the era of accuracy fences and nuanced distances, the archives leave you gasping, “Did they seriously jump that?”

The arena sport derived from high-jump contests in the late 19th century. Military riders galloped their multitasking steeds at fearsome sloping rails and other gimmicky obstacles.

In one famous photograph from 1904, Georges Crousse clears 2.20m (7ft 3in) while saluting the King of Spain. Contemporary sports writer Gustav Rau chastised riders for showing off, and looking back over the fence. The obsession with record-breaking fizzled out only after World War II, as civilians made showjumping their own.

The Hickstead Derby track gives a glimpse into the “natural” presentation of bygone showjumping, with its plethora of banks – invariably with gullies or hedges on the landing side – railway crossings and waters.

Uniformity did not arrive until the late 1960s.

Double Hickstead

Derby winner Alison Dawes (née Westwood) says: “Each show had its own style of jumps – so you always knew where you were. We saw a lot of spreads filled solidly on the landing side, and hexagonal or square-edge poles. You could give them quite a clout, until it was realised round poles were easier to knock down.”

One edifice at the Swiss show at Frauenfeld was known as the “monument”. Horses were encouraged to slide down the side of a bank, landing in water. Nice in France had many idiosyncratic feature fences, including a triple bar over some 12ft of water, a parallel of walls splaying out around the base, and a hollowed out bank with rails in the gap.

Several ditches were dug in the hallowed turf of Wembley Stadium for the 1948 Olympic jumping, their subsiding levels making them even more “starey” and eliminating many when, because of rationing, the London Water Board turned off the supply. Only one combination cleared the final water of 4.72m (15ft 6in) on what we’d now call a related distance to a 1.60m wall. Humberto Mariles and the one-eyed Arete had enough time-penalties in hand to afford four faults, so deliberately splashed through for double gold.

The 1968 Mexico second-round showjumping course was considered “unjumpable” (Image credit: creditUnknown)

David Broome, whose illustrious career spanned post-war and modern eras, says: “People don’t realise how big we used to jump. The water was often 16ft – whereas it’s 13ft today. In the olden days it was about setting records. When [German course-designer] Olaf Petersen came along he made it more technical, and that saved the sport in a lot of ways, though we’ve gone away from testing a horse’s bravery.”

A big wall was standard in grand prix tracks. The second round of the Olympic individual at Mexico City 1968 included a wall at 1.80m, an oxer (cleared by only two) at 1.75m and a triple with a back rail of 1.70m, both with 2.20m spread. By contrast, in modern Olympics there is a maximum 1.65m height and 2m spread, except for triple bars at 2.20m.

Marion Mould (née Coakes) and Stroller won individual silver but were eliminated in the Nations Cup. Alison Dawes, their non-riding team-mate, says such heartbreaking tracks were deemed never to happen again: “They’d used a local course-builder and everyone said, ‘He’s a lunatic – his courses will be unjumpable for anything a little bit careful.’ Until Mexico, Stroller had never met something he couldn’t jump; so sad.”

Captain Raguse (USA) during the cross-country phase in Doeberitz, 1936 (Image credit: creditUnknown)

The 1968 Olympic cross-country was equally notorious, for its floods; non-swimmer Tommy Brennan (Ireland) was among several washed downstream, to be rescued by then FEI president, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Team gold medallist Jane Holderness-Roddam (née Bullen) says the course would have been startling even if dry.

“Two fences were almost Pony Club, tiny piles of logs, but then you’d find a post and rail across a bridge with no sides, jumping from concrete to concrete. At fence five you hurtled off a ledge over a river with 8ft drop. Our Nobby was so out of control we practically went through the string by the VIP chalet.”

“Skinnies” were a faraway glint in the course-builder’s eye. This did not stop riders being regularly presented with “alien” concepts. Frank Weldon, Badminton director from 1969 to 1988, was the master “rider frightener,” putting his spin on Continental innovations such as Denmark’s Horsens Bridge – a huge drop invisible until the last second by solid rails off a ramp.

Above: Frank Weldon – pictured with the Duke of Beaufort in 1986 – was the master “rider frightener” as Badminton director (Image credit: KIT HOUGHTON)

In 1977 Lucinda Green was convinced George would fall at Badminton’s first-ever bounce at the Lake. In those days of survival tests, George sailed through, also clearing Vicarage Ditch just as the bank collapsed in heavy rain (another occupational hazard until bases were routinely riveted) to return her third of six Badminton wins.

Yet bold horses could equally be confused by “new” questions. In 1973, Rachel Bayliss and Gurgle The Greek went under the trakehner – without penalty. In 1988, Murphy Himself launched himself off the Ski Jump – 3ft 6in logs atop a steep slope – in one go. World champion Ginny Elliot (née Leng) broke her ankle, and passed the ride to Ian Stark.

“At my first Badminton, there was the first-ever bounce from ditch to post-and-rails – it was chaos!” said Jane. “Even [three-time winner] Sheila Willcox stopped there; the horses simply didn’t know what they were expected to do.”

Another notorious track was the 1978 World Championship at Lexington, worsened by extreme heat. There was a Normandy bank with a 5ft 11in drop into water and the truly treacherous Serpent, a triple combination with two turns over three fences, complicated by water and angles. Old Fort Lexington was a treble combination of small cabins to a 3ft 7in bank topped by a 2ft stockade.

When asked how he would take the following ditch and rails, Japan’s Kuranjo Saito – who’d spent two years in the US training solely for this event – replied sadly: “Not get so far.”

Celebrated five-star course-designer Mike Etherington-Smith admits a fondness for the “old” sport, despite fences he would not dream of including today, such as vertical rails midway down a slope or the double bounce.

“I remember hacking down to the Normandy Bank and getting flashes of ‘this might hurt’,” recalls Mike. “People didn’t have the depth of consciousness about what works and is fair to horses. Now, we have to be more sophisticated.

“We are more mindful of the ‘balloon’ going up if you show the layman unpleasant images, but we never know if we’re doing the right thing for maybe five years. It’s a discussion we old codgers have all the time!”

The 1968 Olympic cross-country course was notorious for its floods, with several riders washed downstream (Image credit: Pix by Anneli Drummond Hay)

It’s easy to overlook that before Britain became its spiritual home, eventing already had a long and colourful history.

At the 1936 Berlin Olympic cross-country, 35 of 50 starters were submerged upon landing in a sludgy pond. Bowie Knife, ride of Britain’s Richard Fanshawe, extricated himself and galloped off. A search party found him 4km away, tied to a tree. He was brought back, remounted and jumped clear. The escapade cost Fanshawe some 8,500 time-penalties but as only one of three teams to complete, Britain bagged its first-ever Olympic bronze.

Dressage at the first equestrian Olympics at Stockholm 1912 included five jumps at 3ft 6in, and an obedience test, walking past strange objects; that idea did not last long. But while modern-day excellence and the demographic involved bears no comparison, the actual sporting test of dressage has changed little over the years.

Four-time Olympian Jennie Loriston-Clarke recalls the biggest shake-up was the introduction of the freestyle – she was at the vanguard in the 1980s with Dutch Gold.

“Even the Germans were ‘anti’ the kür at first,” says Jennie. “No one would have imagined it would one day help decide the Olympic individual gold [from 1996.] People would complain that dressage to music wasn’t ‘classical’ and I’d reply, ‘Then why do they do it at the Spanish Riding School?’

“Kyra Kyrklund was the master of intricate new movements. I did some quite catchy things, too, such as piaffe into canter pirouette, and one-time changes down the long side.”

Above: Henri Saint Cyr, Olympic dressage champion in 1956. While the sport itself has changed little, the standard is incomparable (Image credit: PAUL DE CORDON)

Loyalty to tradition means that the standard size of a dressage arena has never changed – 20x60m was the gap between “huts” on 19th-century German military barracks where informal dressage competitions took place. The seemingly random markers derive from letters over the doors of various personnel – P for Pferknecht (groom,) B for Bannertrager (standard bearer) and so on.

“I learnt the main ones by remembering it’s ‘heck’ [HEK] down one side and ‘more bloody fools’ [MBF] down the other!” says Jennie.

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What extremes do riders go to in their quest for Olympic glory?

Martha Terry — Sat, 06 Jul 2024 17:30:55 +0000

Riders will tolerate a lot in the name of Olympic glory, from flash floods and stifling heat to jet lag and volcanic terrain. We take a look at some of the most inhospitable weather conditions riders have had to face through history

Past Olympics abound with tales of flooded courses, volcanic terrain and horses dying in transit. Stifling temperatures in Barcelona 1992 provoked a four-year study into the effects of heat and humidity — leaving a lasting legacy in how we cool horses today — while in Mexico City 1968 riders collapsed due to the high altitude only a week before the event.

So what have our great riders of the past suffered in the name of Olympic glory?

Mexico City, 1968

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Mexico City 1968 is the only Olympics to have been held at altitude. Team GBR was brilliantly prepared, with riders taking pills to help them cope with the thin air, and horses flying out three weeks before.

Jane Holderness-Roddam, an eventing team gold medallist, says: “We were way ahead of our time.”

“Our team vet, Peter Scott Dunn, made the horses wear aluminium shoes so as not to carry extra weight,” she says. “And while other horses were getting colic with the different water, we’d brought a water filter.”

As Britain’s first female Olympic rider, Jane was told to be “particularly fit”. “I ran five miles a day, and did 800 skips on the hospital roof where I worked as a nurse,” she says. “I was chuffed to see big men collapsing out on runs, while I was OK — though we were all affected by the altitude.”

Showjumper David Broome, also riding in Mexico, did suffer the effects of 30% less oxygen in the air.

“We had a practice event a week before, and I collapsed two fences from home,” he says. “But we improved as the week went on.”

In fact, it was the weather that proved most significant. Although the climate at the cross-country site in Valle de Bravo was mild, the intense seasonal rainfall during the Olympics was not factored in.

“It rained every day at 1.30pm, except on cross-country day when it started raining buckets at 10.30am,” says Jane. “I went before it was really flooded, but still had two falls where my 14.3hh couldn’t manage the false ground — a crust on top of squelch.

“Only three teams finished — the course caused carnage. One water jump spread from 12ft to 40ft; you could only see flags in a sea of water. The horses had to splosh through until they fell in a ditch, so we earlier riders planted sticks where they were supposed to take off and we were pulling horses out. It was great camaraderie, but it would never have been allowed to continue nowadays.”

Barcelona, 1992

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Most Olympic cities have been warmer than Britain, but Barcelona 1992 was dangerously hot. Two horses collapsed, and with the even hotter and more humid Atlanta on the horizon four years later, a team of experts was summoned.

David Marlin, who led the research project funded by the International Olympic Committee and the FEI, says: “Barcelona was a wake-up call; it was lucky there were no fatalities. Horses were finishing cross-country with temperatures off the range of the thermometer, over 41°C. We needed to find out the key to what would be reasonable to ask of horses given the expected conditions.”

Dr Marlin’s research led to the now ubiquitous “aggressive cooling” with iced water, and partially acclimatising horses at home by training in rugs and at the hottest part of the day.

Atlanta, 1996

(Image credit: David Marlin - no payment)

For Atlanta, the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) index was developed, which takes into account the interaction of temperature, humidity, sunlight and wind to give a number. If it’s under 28, horses should not be adversely affected by heat, while above 33 means “conditions are incompatible with safe competition”. Barcelona was around 28; Atlanta was 30, which meant that two loops were removed from the course in deference to the conditions.

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Los Angeles 2028 Olympics venue change paves the way for eventing’s inclusion

Eleanor Jones — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 15:39:37 +0000

A venue change for equestrian events at the 2028 Olympics is a “positive development for the sport” – and meets a condition set for eventing to be included.

The organising committee of LA28 is proposing that all the Olympic and Paralympic equestrian competition take place at Galway Downs, an existing facility in Temecula, southern California, that hosts competition across disciplines including eventing up to CCI4*-L level.

The events were to be held at the Sepulveda Dam recreation area.

“The plan to relocate equestrian competitions to the existing equestrian centre in Temecula is a positive development for the sport and the equestrian community,” said FEI president and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Ingmar De Vos.

“The FEI has worked closely with the organising committee to evaluate and choose a venue capable of hosting all equestrian and para equestrian events with the aim of managing the overall costs and complexity.

“Importantly, the venue can also accommodate eventing competitions, which was a condition of the IOC executive board to include this discipline in the programme of the LA28 Olympic Games. The reasoning behind the venue change also fits well with equestrian sport’s sustainability ideals and aims, and will create lasting legacies for the local community. With this important announcement we can now start working with LA28 on the field-of-play design and organisation of the equestrian competitions.”

H&H reported last autumn that equestrian sports were on the programme for LA28, but in January, Mr de Vos said eventing’s inclusion was subject to finding a venue that could accommodate all disciplines, including cross-country, which at previous Games has run at satellite locations. The IOC also told the FEI that it would have to propose a new format for eventing, which it has done.

H&H reported in January that the Olympic programme and formats will be confirmed by the IOC after the Paris Games, and a final decision is expected next year.

The amendments for 2028 have been approved by the IOC and will be submitted to the LA city council, as the plans differ from those submitted in the Olympic bid

US Equestrian chief executive Bill Moroney said: “We are thrilled a venue has been chosen that can host all the equestrian events.

“The announcement of the equestrian venue aligns with the IOC requirement stating all equestrian events must be held at the same location. The equestrian centre in Temecula will be a world-class international experience on the field of play for the athletes, horses and their support teams, as well as for fans and spectators.

“US Equestrian is proud to support equestrian sport’s inclusion in the Olympic and Paralympic programmes for 2028 and is eager to work with the FEI, LA28 organising committee, and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to bring an extraordinary event to the USA. The LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games hold immense potential to elevate the visibility and popularity of our sport nationwide.”

The Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028 will take place from 14 to 30 July, followed by the Paralympic Games from 15 to 27 August.

Final chance to get your hands on Paris 2024 Olympic tickets

Lucy Elder — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 17:16:24 +0000

Thousands of tickets for equestrian events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will go on sale at 9am UK time on Wednesday (17 April), giving fans one last chance to bag their spot.

A total of 9,000 new tickets for equestrian disciplines will be available, with prices ranging from €24 (£20.51) to €420 (£358.96), including places at the the individual showjumping final (from €100/£85) and dressage medal sessions (€85/£72.65)

This is part of a wider release of more than 250,000 new tickets across all sports and session in the Paris 2024 Olympic programme. Half of all tickets will be €100 or less.

This will be the final sale ahead of the Games for all Olympic sports. Tickets will be available on the official platform and will be open to everyone on a first come, first served basis.

A maximum of 30 tickets can be bought via each account, which includes previous purchases.

The Olympic flame was lit in ancient Olympia today (Tuesday, 16 April) and has embarked upon its journey to Paris, starting with an 11-day relay in Greece.

“In ancient times, the Olympic Games brought together the Greek city states, even – and in particular – during times of wars and conflict. Today, the Olympic Games are the only event that brings the entire world together in peaceful competition,” said International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.

“Then as now, the Olympic athletes send this powerful message: yes, it is possible to compete fiercely against each other and at the same time live peacefully together under one roof. The athletes will shine in their sport and show us what greatness humans are capable of with all their excellence, determination and resilience.

“The Olympic flame that we are lighting today symbolises this hope for a better future. The Olympic flame will carry this Olympic spirit from here, our ancient roots, through all of France and to Paris – making the City of Light shine even brighter.”

The IOC told the FEI at Christmas that the federation had until 1 March to come up with a new format for eventing at LA28. This news was made public at the FEI online eventing seminar on 20 January, where several ideas were tabled.

The FEI has now confirmed which of these it submitted to the IOC this week, ahead of today’s (1 March) deadline.

The proposed format involves the team competition run as a short format (dressage, showjumping, then cross-country), with the medals awarded after cross-country on day three. The individual competition remains in the long format, as at previous Olympics, which would mean the extra showjumping round to decide individual medals would take place the day after cross-country (day four).

During the eventing seminar, FEI eventing committee chairman and Olympic gold medallist David O’Connor stressed that the “short-format” cross-country would still run according to the current specifications of 10 minutes.

An FEI spokesman told H&H today that the FEI board held a teleconference on Tuesday, adding: “The board agreed with the proposed modifications to the eventing Olympic competition format, which will be shared with the IOC by the set deadline of 1 March 2024 as per the official international federations consultation process launched by the IOC.”

The spokesman added that the proposal was discussed during the eventing seminar in January.

“The details pertaining to the technical aspects of the proposed format will be discussed in detail next year in the framework of the revision of the FEI regulations for equestrian events at the Olympic Games, once the IOC has provided its feedback,” said the spokesman.

H&H covered the eventing seminar in January, where the FEI president Ingmar de Vos shared the surprising news that eventing is not yet confirmed for LA2028 – although leading figures have confidence that it will be. Its inclusion hinges on a venue being found that accommodates all equestrian disciplines on one site, including the cross-country phase.

“The message of the IOC president was very clear: change, or be changed,” said Mr de Vos at the time.

Why is eventing being asked to change for LA28?

The IOC and Olympic Broadcasting Services would like medals to be awarded after cross-country, as this is the sport’s biggest draw.

Broadcast and digital figures are used as a measure of a sport’s popularity, which is why the FEI is taking note. Ever present, too, are the pressures for horse sport to reduce costs and complexity at Olympics.

The Olympic programme and formats will be confirmed by the IOC after Paris 2024.

What do you think of the proposed eventing format for LA28? Send your thoughts to hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and country, and for the chance your letter could appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine

44 fun Olympic equestrian facts from youngest to oldest and so much more…

Gemma Redrup — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 14:24:56 +0000

With the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics just around the corner, we take a look at some fun facts about the equestrian element of the games with these key Olympics facts.

History

Britain is the only nation to have won at least one gold medal at every summer games.
Former Olympic equestrian events that are no longer held include the horse high jump, horse long jump, vaulting and polo.
Equestrianism at the Olympics can be traced back to 682 BC, when a four-horse chariot race was run at theHippodrome at Greece’s 25th Olympiad.
More athletes than spectators attended the 1900 Paris Olympics.
The 1908 Olympics had just two polo teams, England and Ireland, with the English winning gold.
The sport of eventing made its Olympic debut in 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden.
From 1912 the equestrian disciplines were those we know today, but there was no dressage team medal until 1928.
In 1912 the dressage competition included a jumping test of four obstacles up to 1.10m in height.
Modern pentathlon first appeared at the 1912 games.
The 1924 Olympics were the first at which equestrian competitions were held under the authority of the FEI.
Germany won all six equestrian medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
In 1936 Austria’s Arthur von Pongracz competed in the dressage at the age 72, becoming one of the oldest ever competitors at the Olympics.
The 1936 games were the first to be televised.
The first Paralympic Games were held in London in 1948.
Until the 1952 Olympics, only commissioned military officers were allowed to compete in the equestrian disciplines.
Women first participated in Olympic eventing at the 1952 Helsinki Games.
Danish rider Lisa Hartel won a silver medal in the dressage at the 1952 games, despite having to be lifted on and off her horse because she’d been paralysed from the waist down by polio.
The 1956 Olympic equestrian events were held in Stockholm, Sweden rather than Melbourne, Australia, due to strict Australian quarantine requirements.
At Rome in 1960, Australia’s Bill Roycroft broke his neck in the cross-country phase of the team eventing. But he discharged himself from hospital the next day to complete his showjumping round and help Australia claim the gold medal.
Drug rules for horses were bought in at the 1972 Munich Olympics, but there were no doping tests undertaken at that games.
The oldest woman to compete in the Olympics to date was British dressage rider Lorna Johnstone, who participated in the 1972 games aged 70.
Princess Anne was part of the British eventing team at the 1976 games in Montreal.
The best all-time performing Olympic equestrian athlete is Germany’s Reiner Klimke, who competed between 1964-1988 winning six dressage gold medals.
Women competed in modern pentathlon at the Olympics for the first time at Sydney in 2000, where Britain’s Stephanie Cook and Kate Allenby won gold and bronze.
The 2004 Athens Paralympic Games was the first time that all riders competed on their own horses. Before that they rode borrowed horses that they “chose” via a draw.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics the equestrian events were held in Hong Kong.
Canada’s Ian Millar – who won silver in the team showjumping – was the oldest medalist at the 2008 games at the age of 61.
In 2008 Lee Pearson won his ninth Paralympic medal in Hong Kong.
The 2008 games began at exactly 8:08:08 pm on 08/08/08 because the number eight is supposedly lucky in China.
Alex Hua Tian became China’s first Olympic rider when he competed at the Beijing games in 2008.
Sixty-seven-year-old Japanese dressage rider Hiroshi Hoketsu competed in his second Olympics in 2008 – 44 years after his first, as a show jumper, in Tokyo, 1964.
The first South American city to host the Olympic Games was Rio in 2016.
The youngest person to compete at the Olympics Games in the equestrian sports was 16-year-old Luiza Almeida of Brazil in the dressage at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
2,067 riders have competed approximately 4,000 times in Olympic competitions since 1912.
43 riders have competed in five or more Olympics; Ian Miller (Canada) has participated nine times, and Andrew Hoy has attended eight Games so far – he is currently on track make his ninth Olympic appearance in Paris this year.
Isabell Werth currently holds the record for winning the most Olympic equestrian medals, with seven gold and five silver to her name.
Charlotte Dujardin currently holds the record for winning the most medals for the British equestrian team with three gold, one silver and two bronze Olympic medals.
Sam, the event horse ridden by Germany’s Michael Jung, held Olympic, European and world titles all at the same time.
Valegro, the ride of dressage rider Charlotte Dujardin, won Olympic, European and world championships.
Equestrian events are the only Olympic events to include animals in competition.
Anky van Grunsven is the only individual equestrian competitor to win gold medals at three consecutive Olympic Games in 2000, 2004 and 2008.
The minimum age for riders to compete in eventing or showjumping is 18-years-old. For dressage and para dressage it is 16-years-old.
Horses competing in dressage or eventing must be a minimum of eight-years-old, six-years-old for para dressage and nine-years-old for showjumping.
All competing horses must be owned by someone of the same nationality as the competitor before the end of the year prior to the games.

The 2028 Olympics are “firmly within our sights”, as all three equestrian disciplines will feature.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that dressage, showjumping and eventing will be part of the Los Angeles Games, as confirmed at its executive board meeting on 12 and 13 October.

“We are delighted,” FEI president Ingmar De Vos said.

“Equestrian has been part of the Olympics since 1912, and with such a strong heritage and enthusiasm for the sport in the US, we are looking forward to delivering successful and engaging Games, focused on the future and the values which make it unique in the sporting landscape.

“This is only the beginning. Venue confirmation in the coming months and quotas for LA 2028, which will be decided after Paris 2024, will be our next big milestones in the lead-up to these Games. We are actively pursuing all avenues and making sure we have our finger on the pulse, as we look towards not only LA 2028 but also Paris 2024 which is just around the corner!”

A spokesman for British Eventing said the news “allows our senior and up-and-coming youth riders to focus on achieving their dreams and goals, and for our continued gold-medal winning delivery on the global stage”.

BE CEO Rosie Williams told H&H: “It’s great to see the announcement. What it means for BE is that we have a target to aim for in the development of our riders, horses, officials, backroom supporters and fans.

“This announcement will also bring great momentum to our domestic competitions, not only to provide the right events for our talented combinations but also to build on our fan base of those prepared to get up in the middle of the night to watch! For now, we are excited for Paris and hope we can get a huge following, but it’s great to know we have LA firmly in our sights as well.”

The IOC board recommends the inclusion of modern pentathlon, “acknowledging the replacement of horse riding with obstacle racing and the optimisation work conducted by the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) to reduce costs and complexity”.

“The IOC noted that it is essential for the UIPM to continue to implement the necessary changes in governance and modernise,” an IOC statement said. “Without the replacement of horse riding with obstacle racing, the sport would not have been included in the programme.”

Olympic legends with a combined age of 259 return to the ring: ‘We were really moved’

Jennifer Donald — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 14:42:08 +0000

A standing ovation greeted four Olympic showjumping legends as they made a welcome return to the ring at the CSI5* Jumping International of La Baule in France on Saturday, 10 June.

The 1990 world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Éric Navet of France, his countryman Frédéric Cottier, who won team bronze at the 1988 Olympics, Germany’s dual Olympic gold medallist Lars Nieberg and Sydney Olympic silver medallist Markus Fuchs of Switzerland all competed in the Trophée des Légendes Platinium Sellier, presented by Sports Équestres Militaires.

In this charity event, each competitor rode four horses provided by the Sports Équestres Militaires in rotation over a showjumping track, all under the watchful eye of Brazilian showjumping icon Nelson Pessoa, who sponsored the event.

Spectators were thrilled to see their heroes of yesteryear in action and many of this year’s five-star competitors were also ringside to appreciate the skills of their predecessors.

Showjumping legend Éric Navet: ‘We didn’t expect to ride in front of full stands’

The winner was 64-year-old Éric Navet with a clean sweep of four clear rounds, much to the delight of his home crowd.

“I’m so pleased to have relived these moments here, where I have great memories, such as the European title in 1991, with this superb crowd in La Baule,” said an emotional Éric, who also won a brace of team gold medals at the world championships, in 1990 with Quito De Baussy and 2002, during a glittering showjumping career.

“All four of us are really moved by the passion the fans show for this event. We really didn’t expect to ride in front of full stands. I’d like to give special thanks to my friend Frédéric Cottier, who is behind this initiative, and to the organisers and Sports Équestres Militaires, as well as the great four who ride the horses, which performed really well for us.

Markus Fuchs, Lars Nieberg, Frederic Cottier and Eric Navet celebrate their showjumping return (Image credit: creditUnknown)

“We are really moved by what has happened this evening,” he added.

Finishing second was 67-year-old Markus Fuchs, who just picked up four faults in the opening round. The oldest of the quartet, 69-year-old Frederic Cottier, claimed third and Lars Nieberg, 59, who won gold in Atlanta in 1996 with the legendary stallion For Pleasure and only retired from competition in 2021, was fourth.

Thoroughbreds to be recognised at Olympics, but still can’t contest World Breeding Championships

Becky Murray — Mon, 15 May 2023 17:22:10 +0000

Thoroughbreds will be recognised at the Olympics for the first time – but they will still not be allowed to compete at the World Breeding Championships for Young Horses.

Previously, full thoroughbreds including retired racehorses competing at Olympics were listed as “breeding unknown”. But from next year at the Paris 2024 Games thoroughbred breeding will be recorded on starting lists and results. Breeding will also be listed for thoroughbreds at all FEI competitions.

The move follows discussions between the European and Mediterranean Horseracing Federation (EMHF), the World Breeding Federation for Sports Horses (WBFSH), the FEI and the International Stud Book Committee.

“The issue arose because, under a memorandum of understanding between the FEI and the WBFSH, only member studbooks of the WBFSH have historically been credited, and the WBFSH only has members that specifically breed horses for the Olympic disciplines,” said a EMHF spokesman.

Paull Khann, EMHF secretary general and member of the International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses steering group, welcomed the news.

“Much effort is made around the world to encourage the owners of retired racehorses to explore second careers for them,” he said.

“This recognition will both further the message that thoroughbreds do go on to compete with distinction in other equestrian disciples and prompt more thoroughbred owners to consider this retirement option for their racehorses”.

WBFSH general manager Nadine Brandter added that the organisation recognises the “extensive influence” the thoroughbred has had on sport horse breeding and development – and that “undoubtedly the thoroughbred deserves recognition”.

“We believe that it is the entire equine sector that must stand together to face this challenge, and so it is natural that the WBFSH would support this”.

But despite this, the WBFSH has confirmed that thoroughbreds will still not be permitted to compete at the World Breeding Championships for Young Horses.

“The WBFSH recognises the significant impact that the thoroughbred has had, and still has, on the development and evolution of the warmblood and thus sport horse, but unfortunately, being classified as a non-WBFSH breed, the thoroughbred is not eligible for participation in the World Breeding Championships, nor for inclusion on our WBFSH rankings,” a WBFSH spokesman told H&H.

“To enter the World Breeding Championships for Young Horses, the horse must be registered in a studbook that is a full member of the WBFSH, meaning its main purpose was to be bred for one of the Olympics disciplines.”

How to watch the Olympics confirmed for next decade

Lucy Elder — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 17:50:19 +0000

How to watch the Olympics has been confirmed for the next 10 years, with the combination of a limited BBC offering and paid-for full coverage set to continue.

The rights for how to watch Paris 2024 had already been decided under a previous deal, which follows the model in place for Tokyo. What today’s (Monday, 16 January) announcement means for fans watching from Britain, is that a similar model will now extend for Olympic Games coverage up to and including Brisbane 2032.

It means the BBC will show a lot of free coverage, but to watch every event from every sport live and in full, viewers will likely need to pay.

The deal kicks in from 2026 and is a partnership between the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), of which the BBC is a member, and Warner Bros Discovery.

At Paris and beyond, the BBC will continue to provide two simultaneous live streams, a daily highlights programme, digital clips, and radio coverage of Olympic Games. Discovery, whose platforms include Eurosport and discovery+, continues to hold the pay-TV rights to coverage of “every moment” of the Games.

“This partnership ensures that audiences in the UK will continue to have free-to-air access to the Olympic Games for the next decade,” said BBC Sport director Barbara Slater.

Andrew Georgiou, president and managing director for Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, said: “As the ‘Home of the Olympics in Europe’ for the last three Olympic Games, we are pleased to be extending our relationship with the [International Olympic Committee] IOC through 2032.

“Ahead of what promises to be a magnificent Olympic Games Paris 2024, we are delighted that Warner Bros. Discovery will remain the only place where fans can get every moment of the following four Olympics.

“We are grateful to be partnering with the EBU and its members on the next stage of our Olympic journey, extending our commitment made together with the IOC in 2015 to reach more people through broad-reaching and accessible coverage.

“Viewers throughout Europe will continue to have extensive choice and the ability to access the Games across multiple platforms, setting an outstanding foundation to build on the record audience and engagement delivered for Europe for the past three Games.”

IOC president Thomas Bach said the agreement with EBU and Warner Bros. Discover “demonstrates the ongoing appeal of the Olympic Games across Europe”.

“As the IOC redistributes 90% of the revenues it generates, this long-term agreement also provides critical financial stability to the wider sporting movement and ultimately supports the athletes themselves,” he added.

Horse sport must act to stay in Olympics: ‘We are guests at these Games’

Lucy Elder — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 16:17:05 +0000

The clock is ticking for ideas on the Paris 2024 Olympic format, as changes have to be made for horse sport to stay in the Games.

Olympic format remains a hot topic. The qualification process and decision that teams of three would remain for Paris were confirmed in 2021 (news, 25 November), but the exact format for each discipline and minimum eligibility requirements (MERs) for horses and riders are yet to be set in stone.

FEI eventing and Olympic director Catrin Norinder told the FEI eventing risk management seminar (22 January) that a questionnaire was sent out to national federations and everyone involved in the Tokyo Games, and they have until 15 February to submit proposals for Paris.

These will then be debated at the FEI sports forum in April, before going through the usual review process over the summer and finalised at the general assembly in November 2022.

“We cannot stress enough that the [International Olympic Committee] IOC is putting a huge amount of pressure not only on us, but all the international federations involved in the Olympic Games, that we have to reduce the complexity, most of all the costs, and increase universality for the next Games if we actually want to stay there,” said Ms Norinder.

“The proof has been given very strongly – they have re-looked at modern pentathlon, they have looked very closely at boxing and weightlifting. So we have to be very conscious of the impact that all our changes have and that we have to continue to review the sport to maintain [our place] in the Olympic Games.”

She added there is “daily pressure” from the IOC, which held a recent major meeting in Beijing, and even though the Winter Games are taking place, they are “still telling us that we have to be careful on all these things for Paris”.

FEI eventing committee chairman David O’Connor summarised the qualification system for Paris and reiterated why these format reviews have to happen.

“We can do what we like with the World Championships or European Championships or other things, but these are not our Games and in a lot of different ways, we are still guests to these Games and asked to be a part of it. And this is what we do to become part of it,” he said. “I do believe that it is really important to be a part of it in every aspect.”

He added that the MER system is one of the areas under review.

“Is it appropriate right now? Obviously for countries that have a lot of people and have a lot of events, it seems to be appropriate and they show great pictures. But for some other ones, is the MER process at the right level?” he said.

“If there are comments, questions or ideas, please forward them so we can put them into the mix and have that conversation during the sports forum and then make decisions in the summer.”

Looking ahead to Los Angeles 2028

The shortened time frame in this Olympic cycle puts the review process into fast forward.

The FEI – and other sports – are in the process of making decisions on Paris 2024 to the backdrop of the Winter Games. Add to that the IOC session in Beijing, ahead of the opening of these Winter Olympics, making decisions on the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

Equestrian sport was confirmed for the 2028 Games at that IOC meeting, but this is just the “first step”.

FEI president Ingmar de Vos said the confirmation is a “glowing endorsement of the valuable contribution and legacy that equestrian sport brings to the Olympic movement”.

“However, this is only a first step. The equestrian disciplines for LA2028 will be decided mid-2023 and the equestrian events and the quota for LA will only be decided after Paris 2024.”

The IOC measures sports against a list of criteria when making decisions. These include universality, integrity and fairness, gender equality, popularity, plus athlete safety, environmental sustainability and keeping sport relevant to youth.

“Consolidation of our place in the LA2028 Olympic programme will keep the equestrian community strong and resilient in this competitive sporting landscape,” added Mr de Vos.

£700,000 boost for British horse sport’s Paris 2024 preparations

Lucy Elder — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 13:15:31 +0000

AN extra £700,000+ has been confirmed to help British riders win medals at Paris 2024.

The boost is part of an additional £11m funding from UK Sport, which is being spread across 33 sports in the build-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Indicative funding for the Paris cycle was announced in December 2020, but this month’s news is an increase on that.

Equestrian sport will now receive £14,798,869 to help with preparations for Paris. This is broken down into £11,746,626 for the Olympic disciplines and £3,052,243 for para dressage.

This new total is a £701,662 increase on the indicative funding figures shared in December 2020.

Jim Eyre, British Equestrian chief executive, told H&H that the organisation is “extremely grateful” to UK Sport for this uplift in funding following the performances by its athletes in Tokyo.

“It certainly gives a welcome boost to our Paris preparations,” he added. “It means we can put support in where it’s most needed, as well as additional areas, to make sure our teams in 2024 are the best prepared ever and that they arrive in Paris in the optimal position to perform to their potential.”

Minister for sport, tourism, heritage and civil society Nigel Huddleston said the Government has increased its funding for athletes by “over 40% ahead of Paris 2024”. But while extra cash is positive news for horse sport, the total remains a reduction of just over £1.036m compared with funding received for the Tokyo cycle – not including the Tokyo “top-up” funding to support sports owing to the rescheduling of the Games, nor athlete performance awards.

The investments come as a result of the increased comprehensive spending review settlement, announced by the Prime Minister following the success in Tokyo, where riders won 13 of the 189 total British medals.

“The collective pride in what our brilliant Olympic and Paralympic athletes achieved in Tokyo this summer still shines brightly,” said UK Sport chief executive Sally Munday.

“The most exciting element of Tokyo was the breadth of success we saw across both our Olympic and Paralympic teams. To now be in a position to strengthen our investment across so many sports for Paris will undoubtedly help us in our ambition to reach, inspire and unite the nation.”

The increase means that more than 100 athletes in total can be added to World Class Programmes, with hopes this will also strengthen the pathway of those targeting Los Angeles 2028.

UK Sport chairman Dame Katherine Grainger said the organisation is “extremely grateful” to the Prime Minister and the Government for continuing to back sport and athletes.

“Together with the National Lottery, their support of Olympic and Paralympic sport is the fuel which allows our inspirational athletes to perform and succeed on the world stage,” she said.

“We have an ambitious mission to create the greatest decade of extraordinary sporting moments, and we know that we have a brilliant cohort of dedicated and hardworking athletes and coaches who can help us achieve that.”

Horse sport listed for 2028 Olympics: work ahead to secure disciplines’ places

Lucy Elder — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 18:53:32 +0000

Equestrian sport is proposed for inclusion at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, but there are new hoops for disciplines to jump through to secure places at the Games.

This means that although horse sport is likely to be included, there are at present no guarantees on individual disciplines for any of the 28 sports on the list. A question mark hangs over modern pentathlon’s spot at the Olympics.

FEI president Ingmar De Vos said he is “confident” equestrianism has its place at the 2028 Games.

“The collective future of equestrian sport depends on our position in the Olympic movement,” he added.

The next step is the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) session in February 2022, at which the sports will be proposed, followed by a discipline review process.

This features six areas, in line with the Olympic Agenda 2020+5 recommendations – essentially a set of criteria disciplines will be marked against. In simple terms, this means that while horse sport is listed for inclusion, it cannot be assumed that dressage, showjumping and eventing’s place at the 2028 Olympics is a given.

The criteria for the 2028 discipline review are: cost and complexity, popularity and host country interest, uniqueness, universality, gender equality and relevance for young people, best athletes and athlete safety, integrity and fairness, and environmental sustainability.

The events and athlete quotas will be finalised in December 2024.

“The recent endorsement from the IOC following the success of the Tokyo 2020 Games reflected on the positive changes the FEI made, highlighting our willingness to adapt and modernise our sport,” said Mr De Vos.

“We had more flags. Universality was one of the key requirements in Agenda 2020 alongside making the sport easier to understand and more exciting for a broader audience – criteria which remain fundamental going forward”.

Reflecting on how important it is for horse sport’s future that it remains within the Games, he added: “We need to guarantee global visibility of our sport in the media and digital platforms, and continue to showcase relevant content and entice new fans.

“We have this opportunity every four years and consolidating equestrian sport in the Olympic movement is crucial for the FEI and for our community.

“Another key focus for the FEI is youth development; keeping the youth engaged in equestrian sport and inspiring new generations to make the Olympic Games their goal.

“We have robust development programmes around the world targeting the next generation of athletes, but also fans and industry professionals, because equestrian sport is a way of life that is multifaceted and extremely diverse. How we engage with younger generations is vital in our pathway to the future”.

Modern pentathlon: what next?

Modern pentathlon’s international governing body (UIPM) has been told changes must be made, including finalising the proposal for its overall competition format as well as the replacement of the riding phase, if it is to be considered for the 2028 Games.

It has also been instructed to demonstrate a “significant reduction in cost and complexity and an improvement across the areas of safety, accessibility, universality and appeal for young people and the general public” if it is to be included.

Opinion Olympic teams of three, new hoops and whose decision is it anyway?

Lucy Elder — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 20:52:03 +0000

For an event that only comes round every four (or five…) years, a month is a surprisingly long time on the Olympic clock.

Teams of three are here to stay for Paris 2024, riding is out of the modern pentathlon from Los Angeles 2028 – whose place in the Games at all after Paris hovers beneath a giant question mark, and there are a new set of hurdles to cross to remain in the Olympics at all in the brave new world of Agenda 2020+5. Keeping up?

I’ll start by addressing the teams-of-three decision for Paris 2024, passed at the FEI general assembly in November.

Whichever side of the fence you sit on, and I agreed it is a grey fence at that, to me it sparked a larger question on the way these massive, sport-changing decisions are made.

Democracy needs transparency to work. If we cannot see who is making the decisions, it becomes impossible to hold them to account.

In simplistic terms, democracy works in the Britain by elected MPs representing the interests of their constituency. Their voting decisions are rightly public.

So I struggle to understand how decisions on the future of our sport can be made by a secret vote. Perhaps there are merits to this system and I would be keen to hear what these are.

Riders do not decide the future of the sport. They can lobby, advise, give evidence and push for change in various ways. But the voting comes down to national federations.

I asked the FEI for a breakdown of which nations voted for or against teams of three at the Olympics and Paralympics. It replied that it was a secret ballot and that details of the way individual countries voted was not available.

British Equestrian was more accommodating. It voted against teams of three, and gave reasons why (news, 25 November).

Given the impact these votes have on riders’ lives and the future of the sport globally, does the FEI not owe it to equestrians to offer full transparency in who is making these decisions? Would that not lead to improved debate and understanding, which would surely benefit the sport globally? The current system is frustrating and riders need to feel that they – and their horses – are being heard and represented. It is their sport, after all.

The secrecy of the vote on removing riding from modern pentathlon was one of the (many) criticisms its governing body, the UIPM, faced in recent weeks. Transparency is key to trust, without it, what hope is there?

Plenty question why the FEI “keeps changing things”. The basic answer is its hands are tied. No sport’s place is guaranteed in the Olympics. It’s a case of adapt or go.

Equestrian is one of the 28 sports proposed for inclusion at Los Angeles 2028 – a welcome step. But that is just the start. Boxing, weightlifting and modern pentathlon are not (at present), a warning sign of what happens to sports that do not meet the International Olympic Committee’s requirements.

Olympic Agenda 2020+5 sets out “six areas for the review of the disciplines” before final decisions are made for each sport. These are: cost and complexity; popularity and host country interest; uniqueness, universality, gender equality and relevance for young people; best athletes and athlete safety; integrity and fairness; and environmental sustainability.

Equestrian sport has so much to give and ticks many of these already, though it cannot afford to be complacent. The world is changing and our sport must really listen to its players and adapt if it is to survive and shine.

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Early plans revealed for ‘most spectacular’ Paris 2024 equestrian venue

Lucy Elder — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 14:26:32 +0000

The equestrian venue for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games has the potential to be “one of the most spectacular” as preparations continue apace.

FEI director of Games operations Tim Hadaway shared the latest vision for the 2024 Games at the 2021 FEI general assembly (17 November).

The equestrian events will be held in the spectacular grounds of Versailles, with the 17th palace forming the backdrop to the main arena.

“It will of course be a temporary equestrian venue and the arena will be at the end of the grand canal, stretched out in front of the palace,” said Mr Hadaway.

“The cross-country course will run around the park through beautiful tree-lined avenues and all being well, even across the grand canal itself, again with the broadcast images of the palace in the background.”

The stabling, training areas, veterinary facilities and “all the usual back-of-house facilities” will be on site.

“The grooms will be located on the venue in a newly built hotel, just on the perimeter of Versailles park,” Mr Hadaway added. “We expect the modus operandi to be broadly similar to London 2012, with teams being able to arrive just a few days before competition and keeping the stay to a minimum.”

The Paris 2024 Olympics run from 26 July to 11 August, the Paralympics from 28 August to 8 September.

“We are reverting to the traditional [Olympic] timetable, with eventing due to run first over the first weekend of the Games, followed by dressage and jumping intertwined, which enables us to slot in the usual rest days for each of those two disciplines,” Mr Hadaway said.

“We’ve already been working with the teams in Paris for the last two or three years. At the moment, the organising committee are focused on appointing that team who will be specifically responsible for organising and delivering the equestrian events at Versailles, Paris.”

The process to appoint the eventing course-designer started last week and the team hopes to confirm the position “this side of Christmas”. The footing specialist and jumping course-designer roles are likely to be confirmed “through the first part of next year”.

“For me, and I think for many of us, it has the potential to once again be one of the most spectacular venues of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Mr Hadaway said.

Three to a team gets the nod for Paris 2024 despite concerns

Lucy Elder — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 20:50:32 +0000

Teams of three will go ahead at the Paris 2024 Games following a vote that split horse sport’s decision-makers at the FEI general assembly (14-17 November).

The exact formats for the equestrian disciplines in the next Olympic and Paralympic Games are yet to be nailed down – this will happen at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board meeting in February. Rules and minimum eligibility requirements for Olympic disciplines are also still to be consulted on, and the process is expected to run over the next 12 months.

Rather this week’s decision effectively sets in stone a qualification process that culminates in three combinations per team at both the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The three-to-a-team format is contentious in its current guise and FEI president Ingmar de Vos proposed a separate vote on the qualification process to the teams of three point.

H&H has extensively covered riders and national federations’ concerns over the three-to-a-team format. This week, the International Jumping Riders Club shared a video of multiple Olympic medallist Steve Guerdat speaking on the club’s behalf during one of the discussion meetings at the general assembly.

Steve spoke about how there was “fantastic sport” in Tokyo, which was down to the athletes, course-designer and horses – and not the new format.

In his 17-minute speech, he covered riders’ frustrations with the format, including how the individual contest was “over before it started” for some riders, whereas normally championships build towards the last day “when the competition should be at its best”.

He also raised concerns from a horse welfare point of view over “bad pictures” of riders not up to the level, and that a rider should never be put in a position where he had to finish his round or the team is eliminated.

He suggested that increasing the number of individual places and potentially reducing the number of teams, which would be made up of four riders, could be a better way forward. He explained this would increase the number of flags at the Games – a key IOC priority – and help grow equestrian sport in developing nations. This is because not all nations have enough riders at that level to field a team. So by boosting the individual quotas, it would help to build the sport globally and act as a progressive way towards more countries qualifying in future.

“I want to look my daughter in the eyes and say to her that I tried everything until the last battle to save the sport that I love above everything,” he said.

“I hope that together we can achieve what we all think is impossible: that we go back with the four riders and the drop score for the good of our horses.”

A total of 70 national federations voted in favour of teams of three at the 2024 Olympics, with 30 voting against and one abstention.

The Paris 2024 qualification systems for jumping, dressage and eventing were passed, 81 in favour to 15 against.

The vote on the teams of three for the Paralympic Games passed with 79 in favour and 19 against, while there were 90 votes in favour of the Paralympic qualification system and seven against. Para dressage MERs were included in this, as the qualification period starts on 1 January 2022.

The final vote and general assembly was live-streamed, but the discussion meetings held this week were not. An FEI press release gave its summary of the rules and regulations session on Tuesday (16 November), which stated that the Olympic and Paralympic qualification systems for Paris 2024 were the “key topics of discussion”.

The International Olympic Committee set a December 2021 deadline for all sports to submit their qualification systems for Paris. As the Tokyo Games were postponed by a year, this shortened the normal consultation process with national federations.

The FEI press release said Mr de Vos “underscored” that Olympic-style teams of three formats will not apply to other FEI championships, games or finals.

European Equestrian Federation (EEF) representatives presented a last-minute EEF proposal on alternative qualification pathways, based on both teams of four and teams of three.

The proposal called for more emphasis on World Championships and the FEI Nations Cup series as qualification pathways across the three disciplines, rather than regional championships such as the Europeans.

FEI secretary general Sabrina Ibáñez is said to have raised concerns that the proposal does not meet the IOC’s Olympic qualification system principles. In the end, this was not the proposal that was voted on.

FEI regional group VIII chair Jack Huang said lack of preparation owing to pandemic lockdowns could explain some less than optimal performances, but that this would be eliminated by strengthening the minimum eligibility requirements for Paris

United States Equestrian director of sport Will Connell called for longer-term thinking on the Olympic formats, to include Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032.

Mr de Vos confirmed that qualification systems and formats for Los Angeles 2028 should feature in the 2023 FEI sports forum.

Head down memory lane as we celebrate some of Carl Hester’s megastars

Polly Bryan — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 17:54:36 +0000

Carl Hester has been at the top of the dressage world for over three decades, and was a lynchpin of the British team yet again in 2021, adding Olympic team bronze and European Championship team silver to his medal collection. He has had plenty of fantastic equine partners over the years, and has now ridden 10 different horses on senior championship teams for Britain. We take a look back at some of the most memorable of Carl Hester’s top horses…

Rubelit Von Unkenriff

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

It was Rubelit Von Unkenriff with whom Carl first represented Britain at senior level, aged 23, at the first World Equestrian Games in 1990 in Stockholm, Sweden, while based with the Bechtolsheimers. Carl rode alongside Jennie Loriston-Clarke, Anni MacDonald-Hall and Diana Mason, and the team was fifth, with Carl finishing 18th individually. Rubelit and Carl also competed at the European Championships in Donaueschingen the following year.

Giorgione

carl hester and Giorgione 15.3.92 England (Image credit: creditUnknown)

Another ride during his invaluable stint with the Bechtolsheimers, Giorgione took Carl to his first Olympics – the Barcelona Games in 1992. At 25, Carl was the youngest British rider ever to compete at an Olympic Games, and the team of Carl, Emile Faurie, Laura Fry and Carol Parsons finished seventh, with Carl and Grundstein I stallion best Brits in 16th. Giorgione also delivered Carl’s first national championship title and repeated the feat in 1992.

Legal Democrat

(Image credit: Arnd Bronkhorst)

This tall Dutch-bred gelding was Carl’s ride at the 1997 and 1997 European Championships, finishing 13th at the latter. He also landed the national championship title three times in a row with Carl. Not bad for a horse of unknown breeding who was bought for £2,500 off a boat from the Netherlands by his owner Marcia Kelsey.

Argentine Gullit

KENANB Olympic Games, Sydney 2000, Carl Hester (GBR) riding Argentile Gullit (Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

Argentine Gullit was Carl’s Sydney Olympics partner in 2000. The Dutch-bred stallion by Ulft was owned by Jenny Green, and went on to take Jenny’s daughter Gemma to international small tour level. He was retired aged 19 in 2007 after a recurring tendon injury, and died in 2019 aged 22.

Escapado

Carl Hester (Image credit: creditUnknown)

The bay gelding, by Exlibris out of a mare by Ikarus, played a pivotal role in Carl’s international career, finishing 13th at the Athens Olympics in 2004. The pair’s highlight was finishing third in the grand prix special at the 2005 European Dressage Championships in Hagen, Germany, with a score of 74.32%. Shortly after the Europeans in 2005, Peanuts was sold to the Netherlands to be ridden internationally by Hans Peter Minderhoud, before the gelding was retired at the age of 18 and returned to Carl.

Liebling II

Carl Hester , Liebling II (Image credit: TREVOR MEEKS, Trevor Meeks)

The Lorentin I gelding, known as Lenny, competed at international grand prix with five different riders, having been trained to the top level by Britain’s Anna Ross before becoming one of Carl’s top horses. Carl took over the ride from Anna in 2008, winning European silver the following year – his first championship medal. He also won team silver on him at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.

Uthopia

DAPFFK British dressage rider Carl Hester performs his skills with his horse Uthopia during the team competition of the FEI European Dressage Championships in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 18 August 2011. Photo: Uwe Anspach (Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

One of the heroes of Britain’s euphoric gold medal winning team at the London 2012 Olympics, Uti’s own career highlight arguably came the previous year, when he and Carl scored 82.57% to win the grand prix at the Rotterdam European Championships – including straight 10s for his breathtaking extended trot – helping Britain to the team gold too. The Metall stallion went on to compete very successfully under Charlotte Dujardin, before focusing on his breeding career.

Nip Tuck

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

From spooky, uncoordinated youngster to one of the best in the world, Nip Tuck’s story will go down in history. Having come into his own when he reached grand prix level, the tall Don Ruto son “Barney” was a stalwart of the British team from 2014 to 2017, winning team silver medals at WEG in 2014, the Aachen Europeans in 2015 and the Rio Olympics in 2016. He also finished third at the World Cup final in 2017 and fourth individually at the Gothenburg Europeans that same year, cementing his position as one of Britain’s most successful grand prix horses.

Hawtins Delicato

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

In just his first year at grand prix aged 10, Delicato was an integral part of Britain’s team bronze at WEG in 2018 – the nation’s first team medal since Valegro’s retirement. The exquisite Diamond Hit son has grown in confidence under Carl’s skillful riding, producing top 10 individual finishes at the Rotterdam Europeans in 2019, and has continued to succeed under his new rider Fiona Bigwood.

En Vogue

Carl Hester and En Vogue at the 2021 European Dressage championships (Image credit: Peter Nixon)

Carl’s current top horse and 2021 double championship medallist, this tall, high-energy Jazz son was trained and competed up to grand prix level by owner Charlotte Dujardin, with Carl taking over the ride in 2020. The pair played a huge role in Britain’s tremendous success at both the Tokyo Olympics and the European Championships, with Carl masterfully bringing out this immensely talented horse’s confidence more and more with each outing. There will be plenty more to come from Carl and Vogue.

Feeling patriotic? Get your hands on the official Team GB kit

Georgia Guerin — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 11:24:24 +0000

Colours: Indigo or purple | Sizes: 6–18 | RRP: £30 |

Sizes: Pony, cob or full | RRP: £49.50 |

View now at ebay.co.uk

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Dublin socks

Colours: Navy/red | Sizes: One size | RRP: £12.99 for a pack of three |

If none of the socks have caught your eye yet, maybe these ones are your cup of tea?

View now at naylors.com

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Ariat New Team softshell jacket

Colours: Team | Sizes: XS–XXL | RRP: £105 |

A softshell jacket as smart as this one will always come in handy.

View now at ariat.com

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‘The best Olympics ever’: statistics predict high hopes for British eventers in Tokyo

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H&H Olympic reporter’s blog: ‘I never thought access would be dependent on my spit quality…’

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10 summer riding tops you’ll want to add to your wardrobe

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Colours: Indigo or purple | Sizes: 6–18 | RRP: £30 |

This loose-fit tee is a nice, Japanese-inspired alternative to the traditional kit options.

View now at adidas.co.uk

Here are a few red, white and blue items that aren’t part of the official Team GB kit, but would make good additions to any Team GB supporter’s outfit and setup. We’ve also found a few items that will help you continue the Olympic legacy and keep you inspired at the yard for years to come…

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Sizes: Pony, cob or full | RRP: £49.50 |

View now at ebay.co.uk

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Dublin socks

Colours: Navy/red | Sizes: One size | RRP: £12.99 for a pack of three |

If none of the socks have caught your eye yet, maybe these ones are your cup of tea?

View now at naylors.com

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Ariat New Team softshell jacket

Colours: Team | Sizes: XS–XXL | RRP: £105 |

A softshell jacket as smart as this one will always come in handy.

View now at ariat.com

‘I just took it on’: the riders who made their championship debut at an Olympic Games H&H Plus

Polly Bryan — Sat, 15 May 2021 08:00:36 +0000

Making a team debut at an Olympics? No problem. Polly Bryan speaks to riders whose first championship experience has been on the biggest stage of all

THE Olympics are widely hailed as being unlike any other championship. The pinnacle of sport, and the coming together of athletes from all walks of life – riders across the disciplines spend their lives dreaming of representing their country on the biggest sporting stage of all. For those select few who do make it, the Olympics is invariably a highlight of their career.

But what about those whose championship career kicks off, not with a European Championship or World Equestrian Games (WEG), but with the big one – an Olympic Games? While some riders collect multiple caps, and even medals, before making it to an Olympics, several top riders’ team debut happened to coincide with an Olympic year.

British dressage rider Spencer Wilton made his team debut at Rio in 2016, riding Super Nova II, with whom he went on to compete at the 2017 Europeans and 2018 WEG.

“The gravity of being on an Olympic team is a life-changing experience, and I was probably slightly oblivious to that at the time because I was a newcomer to the team,” says Spencer, who came away with a team silver medal.

“Looking back, any change here or there in the selection process and my life could have taken a very different path. There was so much at stake – it’s probably a good job I didn’t quite grasp that at the time! The Olympics are career-changing in a way European or World Championships are not.”

“There was so much at stake – it’s probably a good job I didn’t quite grasp that at the time,” says Spencer Wilton, who was a British team rookie at the Rio Olympics with Super Nova II, an experience he describes as “career-changing” (Image credit: creditUnknown)

Going from team newcomer to Olympic medallist in the blink of an eye is what dreams are made of. British-based New Zealander Jonelle Price is another to have reached an Olympic podium on her first team performance, helping New Zealand secure bronze at London 2012, riding Flintstar.

“The Olympics is certainly more special than other championships because every single person in the world associates with it, whereas worlds or Europeans are sport-specific,” says Jonelle, who credits her laid-back nature with helping her take the magnitude of the occasion in her stride.

“I saw it as a great opportunity to rise to the challenge,” she says. “New Zealand didn’t have a huge number to select from and I knew I was the number five on the team and would probably go out first. I was under no illusion what my job on the team was, and I just took it on.”

“I saw it as a great opportunity to rise to the challenge”: Jonelle Price takes the occasion in her stride when representing New Zealand for the first time at the London 2012 Olympics (Image credit: creditUnknown)

By claiming bronze in 2012, New Zealand edged Sweden out of the eventing team medals, but finishing fourth does not tarnish Ludwig Svennerstål’s memory of his first championship, where he rode Shamwari 4 to finish in the top 20 individually, aged just 21.

“The Olympics are, without a doubt, the most important and inspirational sporting event of all time. To be a part of that at such a young age was unbelievable,” says Ludwig who, like Jonelle, recalls that as a championship rookie, he didn’t feel the weight of expectation in London, but rather during the build-up.

“When I moved from Sweden to England as a junior, the Olympics was my goal, and it was all I thought about for three years. But it was only afterwards that I realised what an achievement it was.”

Ludwig Svennerstål – aged just 21 on his first championship call-up for Sweden in 2012 – admits the build-up to the Olympics was more stressful than the event itself (Image credit: creditUnknown)

Spencer agrees that the selection process generated more pressure than the Games themselves, where he rode alongside Charlotte Dujardin, Carl Hester and Fiona Bigwood.

“As a fourth member I didn’t feel under as much pressure as the other three, but the build-up to selection was probably the most stressful thing I’ve ever gone through,” he says.

“For an Olympics, the build-up doesn’t just begin that year, but starts in your own mind, privately, three or four years before. By the time I was actually selected for the Rio team I was so relieved and overcome with emotion, and I was determined to enjoy the Games once I got there. It turned out to be the most fun, exhilarating experience I’ve ever had in my life – I can hardly put it into words.”

BRITISH showjumper Ben Maher may credit London 2012 as his Games highlight – winning a euphoric team gold on home soil – but it was four years earlier that he became an Olympian aged 25 on his first senior championship call-up.

“At the time I had nothing to compare it to – I was young and naïve with no expectations – but an Olympics really is its own world,” says Ben, who rode Rolette in Hong Kong alongside the seasoned trio of Nick Skelton, Tim Stockdale and John Whitaker.

“Of course, it is incredible to ride for your country at other championships, but a Europeans, for example, still feels like a horse show. The Olympics doesn’t feel at all like a horse show – it feels like an Olympics, and you really feel that you’re part of something much bigger than your sport.

“Another part of it is that Olympics are often in parts of the world where you’ve never ridden before, whereas most other championships are at venues we have competed at previously.

“My most vivid memory of the 2008 Games was actually the first night we arrived,” adds Ben. “Because the equestrian events were in Hong Kong, not Beijing, we were in a hotel rather than the Olympic Village, and I was awake at midnight because of the time difference so I went for a walk in the city on my own. I’ll always remember walking through those streets: the people everywhere, the smells, the smoke, the whole vibe of the city. I had never experienced anything like that in my life.”

“An Olympics really is its own world,” says Ben Maher, who made his senior team debut at the 2008 Games in Hong Kong (Image credit: creditUnknown)

FOR Spencer, the experience of being part of the wider Team GB is one of the main things that sets an Olympics apart from other championships.

“I’ll never forget the day they officially announced the team and we went to the press conference in all our new Team GB kit,” he says.

“I left my phone with my ‘civilian’ clothes and when I went back to it two hours later I’d never seen anything like the number of messages. My phone continued pinging for about eight hours afterwards – it was both surreal and incredible.

“Being part of the wider national umbrella, with such a massive support team, made me feel really humbled.”

Ludwig, on the other hand, points to the mainstream press interest as being unique to an Olympics.

“We are used to just equestrian media at events, especially in Sweden, but in London there was suddenly a lot more attention from the mainstream media,” he remembers. “We were getting so many different interviews and were really under the spotlight; it was a massive step for Swedish equestrianism, and opened up lots of opportunities. Everyone was interested – even people I had gone to school with who weren’t horsey at all!”

Indeed, for riders, used to living and competing within a “minority” sport, being thrust into a thrilling potpourri of sporting excellence can be overwhelming, even for those with previous championships experience.

“The Olympics is such a different environment, for example sharing an apartment with your team members in the Olympic Village,” adds Spencer. “It means it’s hard to be alone and to find a moment of peace in the way that at other shows or championships you might go to your hotel room or horsebox to chill out.”

But all the riders agree that it’s this Olympic bubble that gives a Games its truly unique atmosphere, where the likes of Usain Bolt might casually stroll past during breakfast in the “unbelievable” food halls

or, as in one memorable moment for the British dressage riders in Rio, Andy Murray might accidentally walk into your apartment one evening.

“The village is incredible, full of athletes of all shapes and sizes,” says Jonelle. “You look around you and just know that every person you see is at the top of their game. You can’t help but try to work out what game that might be.”

A medal-winning debut

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Becoming an Olympian on your championship debut is one thing, but winning a medal is another. Check out these team rookies who took home medals from London 2012 and Rio 2016:

Rio 2016

● Germany’s Sonke Rothenberger (Cosmo; pictured) – dressage team gold

● Britain’s Spencer Wilton (Super Nova II) – dressage team silver

● USA’s Alison Brock (Rosevelt) – dressage team bronze

● USA’s Kasey Perry-Glass (Goerklintgaards Dublet) – dressage team bronze

London 2012

● Britain’s Scott Brash (Hello Sanctos) – showjumping team gold

● New Zealand’s Jonelle Price (née Richards, Flintstar) – eventing team bronze

● Germany’s Dorothee Schneider (Diva Royal) – dressage team silver

You can also read this feature in the 13 May issue of Horse & Hound magazine.

Valegro – ‘A name that will, quite simply, last for eternity,’ says Carl Hester

Polly Bryan — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 08:00:37 +0000

Despite an inauspicious start, Valegro became a household name thanks to his record-breaking performances with Charlotte Dujardin, earning himself a place in history. Polly Bryan charts the story behind the gold medals

There can be no other horse who has done more for his sport than Valegro. Ridden by Charlotte Dujardin, this remarkable gelding – known at home as Blueberry – made history time and time again. From Olympic gold medals to breaking world records for fun, he has done it all – and inspired an enormous, adoring fan base across the world.

Dressage enthusiasts in their thousands have followed the trio of Valegro, Charlotte and Carl Hester, and their glittering career trajectory. But far fewer will know how close the greatest team that British dressage has ever had came to ending, before it had even got off the ground.

Carl’s first glimpse of Valegro was as a rising three-year-old at the KWPN stallion show and grading in Ermelo in 2005.

“I was staying with Anne and Gertjan van Olst in the Netherlands, and Anne suggested we go to watch the grading – I’d never experienced one before,” remembers Carl.

“Gertjan had five or six young horses going through, one of which was Valegro, a son of Negro. The whole process seemed very fast, and all I can remember was this huge canter in a very small space – I just couldn’t take my eyes off Valegro and his canter. He was quite small and cobby; he always had that chunkiness and strength about him, with the head of a duchess and the bottom of a cook.

“He wasn’t accepted, so went out the back with the other horses who were going to be sold. When it was over, Anne and I went out to see him and he had such a charming look about him – he was so grown up, even then.”

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Valegro wasn’t expensive, and after he had been gelded he arrived at Carl’s yard in Gloucestershire. But he didn’t prove a superstar right away – and certainly didn’t seem as though he’d grow big enough for Carl.

“He didn’t grow until he was nearly five, but he was hellishly strong for a little chap, and was also a mild headshaker,” explains Carl. “So I said to Anne, ‘I’m going to bring him back and we’ll find him another home.’”

Carl dropped Valegro back at the van Olsts’ yard en route to a five-day show in the Netherlands, but as he started the journey back to the UK, Anne advised him to reconsider keeping Valegro.

“So I stopped there again on the way back and Valegro got back on the lorry. He ended up just having a five-day holiday in the Netherlands,” Carl laughs.

Reinstated in Gloucestershire once more, Valegro swiftly began to make his mark. Under Carl he was four-year-old national champion in 2006, and in the same year won the Badminton Young Dressage Horse of the Future ridden by Lucy Cartwright – with Carl and Uthopia second. And it was around the same time that Carl took on a new pupil he was quietly excited about, who appeared a good match for Valegro. That pupil was, of course, Charlotte Dujardin.

The partnership gelled immediately, clocking up copious national titles in their early years together – the novice title in 2007, elementary and medium the following year, and the coveted prix st georges title in 2010. Every new challenge thrown at Valegro, he took on with relish and talent to burn – earning himself the nickname of “The Professor”.

Lucy Cartwright riding a young Valegro (Image credit: creditUnknown)

The road to the London Olympics began in 2011, as Charlotte and Valegro exploded onto the international grand prix scene in Vidauban, France, winning two grands prix and two grand prix specials in quick succession.

“After Blueberry’s first win, Carl’s phone started buzzing constantly and suddenly people were asking, ‘Who is this rider? Who is this horse?’ It wasn’t the quiet trip we had expected!” recalls Alan Davies, super-groom to Carl and Charlotte.

Even more astonishing was their team debut at the Rotterdam European Championships later that same year, where they helped Britain clinch team gold, with Carl famously hiding behind a pillar with tears in his eyes as he watched his protégé perform a stunning grand prix.

London 2012 will likely never fall from its pedestal, the glorious culmination of a decades-long effort to raise the profile of British dressage, much of it spearheaded by Carl. And the final ingredient that helped work the magic: Valegro.

Carl Hester riding a young Valegro, showing off his enormous canter (Image credit: Kevin Sparrow - 00447197336694)

He had burst onto the international scene just the year before, and was now the subject of a strange mixture of mystery and expectation. Could this “wonder horse” really live up to the task on the biggest stage of them all, especially when the usually nerve-free Charlotte admitted her legs were like jelly as she began her grand prix? Of course he could.

“Boom! Her first extended trot banged in the nines. If Charlotte finally felt the magnitude of what she had to do, Valegro didn’t,” wrote H&H reporter Catherine Austen at the time.

Two plus-83% scores for Valegro in the grand prix and the special meant that Britain topped the podium, but it was his individual gold medal in the freestyle that completed the fairy tale.

As Valegro danced to the patriotic strains of Land of Hope and Glory, the picture of willingness and harmony, tears flowed in every corner of the Greenwich stadium. The now infamous hiccup in the piaffe-pirouette as Charlotte and Valegro began their final centre line was not enough to dampen the magic of their performance, and the moment their 90.089% score flashed up on the giant boards was one nobody lucky enough to be present is ever likely to forget.

Valegro at the British Young Horse and Breeding Championships in September 2008 (Image credit: Kevin Sparrow)

The two years following the London Olympics brought yet more gold medals for Valegro, and records too. He and Charlotte toppled the world record previously set by Edward Gal and Totilas for the grand prix freestyle, scoring 93.97% at Olympia 2013, and a year later breaking their own record with a still-standing 94.3%. But beneath the shining surface was the ongoing, very real possibility of Valegro being sold, and it was a period that Charlotte later revealed left her battling depression.

It was seeing Valegro secure yet another individual gold for Britain at the 2013 European Championships, followed by his record-breaking Olympia performance, that convinced Carl and co-owner Roly Luard that they had to do whatever it took to keep this incredible horse.

Charlotte and Valegro at Olympia in 2013 (Image credit: creditUnknown)

When the news broke in H&H that they were looking to form a syndicate to keep him, Anne Barrott contacted Carl, and in 2014 she became the third owner of Valegro. Her investment was duly rewarded, with Charlotte and Valegro becoming world champions later that same year at the World Equestrian Games in Normandy.

One last hurrah for Valegro

As the rest of the dressage world looked ahead to the Rio Olympics with bated breath, hoping Valegro could defend his title, Carl and Charlotte shared a secret. The 2016 Olympics was likely to be Valegro’s final competition.

“When we went out to Rio, Charlotte and I were the only two people who knew this was probably his last performance,” says Carl. “We were loath to say anything to anyone about his retirement; what if he didn’t then win?”

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

If the London Olympics had demonstrated Valegro’s immense talent, it was the Rio Games that proved the embodiment of his character. Never before, and perhaps never again, will the dressage world see a horse whose physical ability is matched with such a desire to please his rider, to strive for her and with such pleasure in doing so.

The knowledge that her Rio freestyle was likely her last time in the ring with Valegro, plus the enormous pressure Charlotte found herself under to win yet another gold medal, was enough to produce nerves unlike anything the usually steely rider had felt before.

“Just before she went into the arena for the freestyle was the first time I ever saw Charlotte slightly nervous,” remembers Alan, who routinely accompanied Charlotte and Valegro during the final moments before their test.

“I told her to take a deep breath, that she’d be fine. We had to walk down a ramp to get into the arena and as we did, Blueberry heard the crowd clapping and I just saw him lift as he completely went into performance mode, as if to say: ‘Come on Charlotte.’”

And what a performance it was – you’d be forgiven for truly believing that Valegro genuinely knew this was the time to bust out the test of his life.

“Blueberry knew I was nervous,” said Charlotte at the time. “He looked after me and helped me out. Trotting round the edge, he picked up and I knew we were ready to go.

“Then on the last centre line, he felt truly magical. It was effortless and easy and nothing was going to break that bond we have. I can’t tell you what it’s like to ride him; he has a heart of gold.”

British rider Charlotte Dujardin on horse Valegro reacts during the dressage competition of the CHIO international horse show in Aachen, Germany, 20 July 2014. UWE ANSPACH | (Image credit: DPA/PA Images)

Their final score of 93.857% – which included 37 10s from the seven judges – was just shy of their own world record, but was nonetheless a new Olympic record.

“It was the most sublime test I have ever seen,” says Carl. “He truly showed his trust in Charlotte, and that his enthusiasm for the job had never changed. The rest of his career was hugely fun, but that moment was the most emotional, and most special of all.”

For a horse to bring so much joy and evoke so much emotion, not to just his own connections, but to swathes of people across the world – including many who had never even seen dressage prior to 2012 – is truly remarkable.

This was perfectly illustrated by his emotional retirement ceremony at Olympia in 2016 – from which very few emerged dry-faced. But one of the most special things about this horse is the way in which he has continued to make an impact even after his competition days came to an end. Now aged 19, he maintains his zest for life and lovable nature, enjoying days in the field, long hacks, the odd public appearance and, ever The Professor, teaching some of Carl’s lucky pupils the ropes.

Valegro is a horse whose achievements and influence will stretch far beyond his own career, which will forever remain a shining highlight in the history of dressage.

As Carl puts it, “Valegro is a name that will, quite simply, last for eternity.”

Roly Luard on co-owning Valegro with Carl Hester and Anne Barrott

Valegro’s joint owner Roly Luard (Image credit: creditUnknown)

“I was thrilled when Carl asked me if I’d like to join in the ownership of Valegro with him. We’d shared a couple of horses before and so I knew how much fun it was to own a horse with him.

“I was overjoyed to be asked; by that point, Valegro was seven and Charlotte was well established as his rider. I remember watching them compete in the early days, and thinking ‘wow’, and of course they went from strength to strength.

“I’ve been lucky enough to go to three World Cup Finals, and I will never forget arriving in Las Vegas for the 2015 final, and seeing these massive billboards everywhere with pictures of Charlotte and Valegro. It was completely surreal, as was the return flight from Vegas when the pilot congratulated me – I had to pinch myself.

“The timing of Valegro’s career was unbelievable – we had never beaten the Germans or the Dutch before, and it’s been amazing to see how far the Brits have come.

“I owe the formidable combination of Carl, Charlotte and Valegro a massive amount, and thank them for all the sheer excitement, and the great feeling of patriotism and being loyal to Britain. And we have had such fun.

“Now I have shares in two more horses with Carl and it’s thanks to Valegro; my time in the sport isn’t just a memory now, but is something that I’ve been able to carry forward. Valegro is not just a household name, he really has changed so many people’s lives.”

Alan Davies on Valegro bowing out at the top

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

“It was Simon Brooks-Ward’s idea that I should lead Valegro into the last part of the retirement ceremony at Olympia [pictured]. I had to stay in the collecting ring on my own with him while they were doing interviews in the ring, and I was in pieces.

“I felt the tears coming and tried to pull myself together. But as the curtains opened, the noise from the crowd, the absolute love I felt from them for this horse, meant that I sobbed all the way up the centre line. It was tears of joy that he was going out at the top, that he was just the most phenomenal horse and everyone loved him – walking in there together, him and me, was the most incredible moment of my life.

“He and I have been all around the world together. Valegro’s trusted me to take him to all these places, to go off on the lorry together on all these adventures, and I felt so honoured that he loved and trusted me enough to walk with me up the centre line at Olympia.”

Valegro fact file

Born: 5 July 2002

Breeding: Negro x Gershwin

Studbook: KWPN

Height: 16.2hh

Breeders: Joop and Maartje Hanse

Owners: Carl Hester, Roly Luard and Anne Barrott

Rider: Charlotte Dujardin

The bloodlines behind Valegro

Negro and Valegro (Image credit: Robert Lickley - FREE TO USE)

Valegro’s illustrious sire, Negro (above, left, meeting Valegro), competed successfully to big tour himself, and now boasts more than 1,650 offspring, among them 38 licensed sons and more than 20 grand prix horses. He himself is a son of the great Olympic dressage horse Ferro, sire of more than 50 international grand prix horses.

Maifleur, Valegro’s dam, was by the Voltaire stallion Gershwin, out of the Heidelberg mare Weidyfleur. Credited with “keur” status by the KWPN in 1997, Maifleur was herself a prolific winner in breed classes, just as her own mother had been – both Weidyfleur and Maifleur were crowned champion of the Zeeland breed show.

Valegro’s breeders, Joop and Maartje Hanse, based at Burgh Hamstede in the Netherlands, selected the then-upcoming Negro to complement Maifleur’s jumping bloodlines. Her sire, Gershwin, jumped to 1.50m and was a successful sire of eventers, and his Furioso line is known for producing top jumpers.

Maifleur produced six foals, including three others by Negro, making them full siblings to Valegro. These are Weidyfleur II, now 18; Jalegrofleur, seven; and her final offspring, Lelegro, five – sold to Britain as a foal for €50,000 (£45,000).

– This feature was first published in H&H magazine, 15 April, 2021 –

‘An inspiration to many’: tributes paid to Olympic dressage rider and trainer

Becky Murray — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 12:33:39 +0000

Tributes have been paid to Olympic dressage rider and leading trainer Sarah Whitmore, who “played a big part in many lives in the equestrian world”, who died peacefully on 27 March, aged 89.

Sarah was born at Hilders Farm, Edenbridge, Kent, on 9 August 1931 and remained on the farm her entire life. She grew up in a hunting family, walking hound and beagle puppies for the Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt with her brother Roger. Her father Searle Whitmore owned the Edenbridge Tannery and when hunting commitments permitted, she worked at the tannery, sorting the hides for the Northampton shoe trade.

She developed a love of riding with her pony Smokey and as a young girl would often go hunting with the Southdown and Eridge. Later she started her career as a three-day eventer with Mannekin – a reserve horse at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics – but after breaking her back in the water at Burghley she turned her attention to dressage, where she “excelled”.

Sarah mentored and shaped young riders, starting with her nieces Biz Womersley and Kate Brookes-Smith who competed at Pony Club events on some of her top horses. She taught international riders including the late Olympic dressage rider Laura Fry, Clive Halsall, Paul Hayler, Vicky Thompson, Julie Hugo, and many more who worked for her at her farm.

Sarah was trained by her resident teacher, Franz Rochowansky “Rocky”, formerly chief rider at the Spanish Riding School, Vienna. In 1976 she represented Britain at the Montreal Olympics on Junker alongside Diana Mason and Jennie Loriston-Clarke. Sarah achieved 22nd place individually and the team came eighth.

A spokesman for British Dressage (BD) said Laura Fry’s years at Hilders Farm were a “pivotal time” for the rider.

“She became a working pupil for Sarah in 1986 and a year later bought the chestnut gelding Quarryman, from Belgium, with whom she achieved success at the very top of the game,” he said.

“In 1991, Laura and Quarryman were selected for the European Championships where the team finished tenth, and they won the national grand prix title that same year. They were selected for Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 where the British team placed seventh, and a year later, helped make British dressage history as part of the silver medal-winning team at the 1993 European Championships in Lipica, Slovenia.”

Sarah was also an international dressage judge and a member of the International Dressage Trainers Club, continuing to teach into her 80s. She was known as a “spirited character” who was never afraid to say what she thought and was an inspiration to many.

“From her own Olympic debut to the success of Laura Fry and the many young riders she mentored, she played such a big part in so many people’s lives in the equestrian world,” said David Hunt, president of the International Dressage Trainers Club, FEI supervisory judge, and former BD chairman.

“Her friendship and honest, outspoken voice will be sadly missed.”

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(Image credit: Future)

The BD spokesman said the board and staff offer their “sincerest condolences” to Sarah’s family and friends.

“She will be greatly missed and warmly remembered by so many within the sport,” he said.

A private funeral will be held, and a memorial service arranged at a later date. Donations in Sarah’s memory can be made to Hospice in the Weald.

Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday, is packed with all the latest news and reports, as well as interviews, specials, nostalgia, vet and training advice. Find how you can enjoy the magazine delivered to your door every week, plus options to upgrade to access our H&H Plus online service which brings you breaking news as it happens as well as other benefits.

‘One of the greats’: Olympic dressage ‘icon’ dies aged 83

Becky Murray — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 15:25:00 +0000

Tributes have been paid to Olympic rider Eva-Maria Pracht, who “helped shape the sport of dressage” in Canada, who died on 15 February, aged 83.

Eva-Maria, known as Evi, was born in Wurzburg, Germany, in 1937, the daughter of German Olympic dressage gold medallist Josef Neckermann.

Her successful competition career began in Germany, and she later moved to Ontario, Canada with her husband Hans Pracht and their children. The couple ran the International Equestrian Sport Services facility in Cedar Valley, which hosted the 1986 dressage World Championships.

In 1984 Evi competed at the Los Angeles Olympics on Little Joe, and in 1988 she was part of the Canadian bronze-medal winning team at the Seoul Games, South Korea, with Emirage. Her other achievements included team gold at the 1987 Indianapolis Pan American Games, and competing at the 1990 World Cup final, both on Emirage. Evi’s daughter Martina followed in her mother’s dressage footsteps, representing Canada at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and her grand-daughter Sabrina is also a fellow rider.

In later life Evi spent time coaching in Florida, US, and Canada, and choreographed the winning quadrille for the Canadian team at the 2018 Challenge of the Americas, in Wellington.

Canadian Olympic dressage rider Evi Strasser described Evi as an “icon” in the dressage world and a “class act in every way”.

“Very sad news, a dear friend, trainer and role model of mine has left us. Evi has supported all of us over the years and inspired us to always strive to the top,” she said. “She will be greatly missed at the side of the dressage ring to give us her input before and after our rides.”

Fellow Canadian dressage rider Tina Irwin described Evi as a “very talented, elegant and passionate” rider and coach, who will be greatly missed.

“We were extremely fortunate to have known her and worked with her. She was always positive, encouraging and honest and it was inspiring to learn from someone with her wealth of knowledge,” she said.

“She was a stickler for position and never let us get away with anything less than great and reminded us of this constantly, “Stop hampling around in the changes, mensch!” was one of her favorite lines. Even in the last year when her health was not the best she would find a way to make it to the shows or the barn to give her input. She would be leaning out of her golf cart yelling some last words before we went in the ring. She was truly passionate about dressage and it was very evident.”

Tina said as a coach and choreographer, Evi never missed a practice and always gave her all.

“After one of our practices we remember clearly how she told us very bluntly that it was a ‘disaster’ – she was right. In the end it always came together and she would be so proud of everyone,” she said.

Equestrian Canada’s chief executive Meg Krueger said: “Evi left an indelible mark on our community and her loss is deeply felt nationwide. As an athlete, coach, competition organiser and tireless promoter, she fashioned dressage in Canada into the prosperous sport it is today. We are glad to see many of her students still in the ring, carrying on her teachings and legacy for generations to come.”

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(Image credit: Toronto Star via Getty Images)

‘He tries his heart out – I just hang on for the ride’: Canadian pair dominate in Wellington

“He tries his heart out for me every time we go down the centre line, and I just have to

(Image credit: Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Tributes paid to iconic trainer who championed dressage for all

“Her commitment to education and coaching has shaped the lives of many of our athletes”

(Image credit: Toronto Star via Getty Images)

“Evi was so full of life and always very determined in everything that she did. She always spoke very proudly about her daughter Martina and her grand-daughter Sabrina and all of their accomplishments. We were extremely fortunate to have been part of her life and learned from her. She will always be in our heads when we ride and we will never forget this one-of-a-kind woman.”

A spokesman for Ontario Equestrian said the horse community had lost “one of the greats”.

“Eva-Maria Pracht not only helped shape the sport of dressage in Canada, but actually helped create it. We send our deepest condolences to her friends and family and thank Evi for her contribution and legacy to the horse world,” he said.

Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday, is packed with all the latest news and reports, as well as interviews, specials, nostalgia, vet and training advice. Find how you can enjoy the magazine delivered to your door every week, plus options to upgrade to access our H&H Plus online service which brings you breaking news as it happens as well as other benefits.

Tributes paid to iconic trainer who championed dressage for all

Becky Murray — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 18:10:54 +0000

Tributes have been paid to the US dressage rider, trainer and author Jane Savoie, who died on 4 January, following a long illness with blood cancer.

Born in 1949, Jane was a former member of the US dressage team, representing her country in Canada, Holland, Belgium, France and Germany. She was selected as a reserve rider for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics with Zapatero. Jane was also a US Dressage Federation (USDF) bronze, silver and gold medallist, won nine US Horse of the Year awards, and three national freestyle championships.

In 1996 Jane provided dressage coaching to the Canadian eventing team for the Atlanta Olympic Games. She also coached event riders from the US, Canada and Belgium in preparation for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In 2004 Jane accompanied the Canadian eventing team to the Athens Olympics, where several of the team riders achieved personal best dressage scores.

Jane was a renowned speaker and author. Her first book That Winning Feeling: Program Your Mind for Peak Performance was published in 1992. Her other titles included Jane Savoie’s Dressage 101, and It’s Not Just About the Ribbons.

In 2019 Jane was inducted into the USDF Hall of Fame, which represents the most influential and dedicated individuals within the sport. The organisation stated at the time Jane was a “perfect candidate” for induction.

“With Jane’s competitive experience, dedication to education, and her overall support of the sport and organisation, she embodies the criteria for this prestigious induction,“ said a USDF spokesman.

The spokesman said the organisation was “saddened” by her passing.

“A gifted motivational speaker, writer, and teacher, Savoie endeared herself to legions of riders, especially adult amateurs, with her unflagging encouragement and cheerful enthusiasm. She recognised and appreciated adult amateurs’ dedication and struggles to master the sitting trot, deal with spooky horses and show nerves, and other dressage dilemmas,” he said.

“She never condescended to adult amateurs and they loved her for it, flocking to her clinics, buying her books, and subscribing to her online dressage mentor program, where they felt they had found a friend in Savoie and her tales of life with her Friesian, Moshi, and her dog, Indy.”

The spokesman added that Jane was one of the first to bring the science of sport psychology to the equestrian world.

“She also championed dressage as useful training for every horse, as evidenced by such books as Cross-Train Your Horse and her final nonfiction work, Dressage Between the Jumps: The Secret to Improving Your Horse’s Performance,” he said.

“Always up for a challenge, Savoie took up several new endeavours later in life. She began ballroom dancing at the age of 63. Her first attempt at writing fiction, the romance novel Second Chances, set in the world of dressage, was published less than one month before her death.”

A spokesman for US Equestrian told H&H Jane’s contributions to dressage over the years are “truly immeasurable”.

“Her commitment to education and coaching has shaped the lives of many of our athletes across the United States,” he said.

“Jane not only continuously shared her knowledge with the dressage community as an established author, mentor, and trainer for all levels, but was a dedicated supporter of future generations of talent. She will be dearly missed.”

Six-time Olympian Robert Dover, who sourced Jane’s top horses Sacramento and Zapatero, described his friend of more than 40 years as “family”.

Article continued below…

(Image credit: Lucy Merrell)

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Badminton and Burghley competitor wins lifetime achievement award

“Her pledge to ensure the success of USEF’s teams and programs has left a lasting impression not only on the

(Image credit: Lucy Merrell)

“Jane rooted for me as much through our lives and careers together as I rooted for her,” he said.

“Her incredible positivity and zest for life were evident in all things she undertook and an incredibly strong magnet that drew everyone who met her into loving her.”

Jane is survived by her husband Rhett.

Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday, is packed with all the latest news and reports, as well as interviews, specials, nostalgia, vet and training advice. Find how you can enjoy the magazine delivered to your door every week, plus options to upgrade to access our H&H Plus online service which brings you breaking news as it happens as well as other benefits.

Badminton and Burghley competitor wins lifetime achievement award

Becky Murray — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 17:42:38 +0000

The former United States showjumping team leader, who served for every Olympics between 1992 and 2008, and rode at Badminton and Burghley, has won the 2020 US Equestrian (USEF) lifetime achievement award.

Former international eventer Sally Ike will be presented with the award at the virtual 2020 USEF Pegasus and Horse of the Year Awards celebration on 16 January, as part of the 2021 USEF annual meeting (13-17 January).

A spokesman for USEF said Sally’s many roles have included course-designer, technical delegate, steward, and judge at numerous events across the US, as well as managing the jumping department and travelling around the world with top international US jumping teams.

She also competed at Burghley Horse Trials in 1967 and completed Badminton Horse Trials the following year on Evening Mail. Following this Sally earned an Olympic team nomination and she was selected as a non-travelling reserve for the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games.

The spokesman said 1 September 2020 marked the “end of an area” for USEF as Sally, who had been with the organisation more than 30 years, transitioned from her post as managing director of licensed officials and education into an independent contractor role.

Badminton final scores

“Ike has been an integral part of USEF’s success and growth since 1989, working extensively with the sport department,” he said.

“She has managed countless responsibilities and held numerous titles throughout her tenure, including chef de mission, discipline director of Eventing, managing director of jumping, and director of vaulting activities. She also served as the jumping team leader for every Olympic Games, Pan American Games, World Equestrian Games, and World Cup finals from 1990 through to 2008.”

The spokesman added Sally has always been a “welcoming and dependable” supporter of all equestrian disciplines.

“Her pledge to ensure the success of USEF’s teams and programs has left a lasting impression not only on the disciplines she has been so deeply tied to throughout her career, but also on those she has mentored and worked with over the years,” he said.

USEF junior equestrian of the year

Driver Lucy Enns, who has participated in the equestrian industry both in the arena and in its governance, was named USEF junior equestrian of the year.

Lucy was a finalist in the American Morgan Horse Association (AMHA) youth of the year contest in 2019 and 2020, and serves on the AMHA youth council as vice-president of the central region.

“She is an accomplished young driver, earning five top-10 finishes with her mare Mabelene at the 2020 Morgan Grand National and World Championship Morgan Horse Show,” said the spokesman.

“She has also tried her hand at officiating, participating in multiple AMHA youth judging clinics. Enns started at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, in August and intends to start her own Morgan breeding program.”

Lucy first competed at the Morgan Grand National and World Championship Morgan Horse Show in 2008 aged six in the leadline class.

“She was starstruck watching the show horses proudly move around the arena that night and was determined to become one of those competitors,” the spokesman said.

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(Image credit: Courtesy of Sally Ike)

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“She faced many obstacles on her way to that goal. Her four older siblings all have some form of disability, so she always prioritised family and understood that her equestrian dreams would rely on hard work and her characteristic independence. She worked at her barn, the Wichita Riding Academy, and volunteered at local shows, observing people and learning about their training methods. She quickly learned that difficult decisions are part of life with horses when two of her competition horses got sick and ultimately needed to be put down.”

The spokesman added that Lucy tried many different disciplines to find what Mabelene “loved to do”.

“They finally found their niche in 2020 when Enns started training Mabel to drive with the support of Jim McCune,” he said. “Everything fell into place at the Morgan Grand National where the pair earned third place in the carriage pleasure driving single World Championship. She was very pleased with the result but was most elated to be back in the competition ring after working so hard to be there again.”

Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday, is packed with all the latest news and reports, as well as interviews, specials, nostalgia, vet and training advice. Find how you can enjoy the magazine delivered to your door every week, plus options to upgrade to access our H&H Plus online service which brings you breaking news as it happens as well as other benefits.

Pace picked up on Tokyo plans and preparations H&H Plus

Lucy Elder — Fri, 25 Dec 2020 11:06:06 +0000

As work goes on to ensure a Covid-safe Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will run next year, British equestrianism also has its funding for the Paris Games confirmed. H&H finds out more and reports on the 2024 Games’ quotas

WORK is ongoing to manage the equestrian logistics within new Covid safety measures for Tokyo.

Joint guidelines have been issued by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Tokyo organisers to minimise numbers in the athlete village. These include limiting athletes’ time in the village to no more than five days ahead of their event and leaving within 48 hours.

“We think this is absolutely necessary, because we need to minimise the number of residents in the village to minimise the risk of Covid exposure. At the same time, we wanted to be balanced with the considerations about athletic performance and attendance at the opening ceremony,” said IOC president Thomas Bach.

Planning is under way to ensure riders are not adversely affected by the restrictions and a range of options is on the table.

“The FEI is working with the Tokyo organising committee to ensure equestrian athletes can arrive and depart and stay in the Olympic village in line with horse flight arrivals and departures, and will not be restricted to the five days prior to competition,” an FEI spokesman told H&H. “This will also apply to grooms staying in the grooms’ village.”

British Equestrian (BEF) eventing performance manager Dickie Waygood said planning for Tokyo is “picking up the pace”.

“There will be added complications as we navigate Covid restrictions, but we will plan for a number of scenarios,” he told H&H.

“We have good people who can adapt and innovate to ensure conditions for athletes, horses and grooms are optimal.”

UK Sport confirmed to British Equestrian on 18 December that its funding for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics is secure.

But equestrian sport is facing a 22% drop in funding for its Lottery-funded UK Sport World Class programmes for Paris.

A total of £11,085,964 is earmarked by UK Sport for the World Class programmes for the Olympic equestrian disciplines in the build-up to Paris 2024, compared to £12,541,195 ahead of Tokyo. This is a £1,455,231 drop.

Para dressage funding has also been cut, with £3,011,243 available for Paris compared to £3,294,056 for Tokyo.

Equestrian sport is not alone, with 14 of 18 Olympic sports and six of 18 Paralympic sports receiving less money this cycle.

The BEF said the Olympic disciplines have been awarded a confirmed £2.77m in year one, while para dressage has been granted £753,000, a reduction of about 22%.

“The way UK Sport delivers funding from Government and the National Lottery has been reviewed, with a new strategy to support more sports in becoming successful and engaging with the public,” said a BEF statement. “Their funding has received an overall uplift despite the economic circumstances, reflecting the importance of sport and activity to the nation.”

BEF interim chief executive Iain Graham thanked UK Sport for its “belief in our sports”.

“We have been realistic in our expectation due to the financial situation overall, so this is better than anticipated and should be seen as a positive result in the circumstances,” he said.

“This is still a sizeable investment and I’m grateful to the public who play the National Lottery, which in turn allows us to turn funding into performance and inspire the next generation.”

Road to Paris

THE funding announcement follows positive news that all equestrian disciplines have been confirmed for Paris 2024. The full quota of 200 combinations and six medal chances are untouched.

“This is also a token of appreciation for the efforts the FEI and the equestrian community to increase the fan base and improve digital figures for our sport,” said FEI president Ingmar de Vos. “We really appreciate that the IOC didn’t touch our quota as we knew they needed to reduce the overall Games-wide quota to 10,500 athletes, but our sport has grown so much that a reduction would have been detrimental to the universality of our competitions.”

“The news that we have full numbers for Paris is very welcome,” Dickie told H&H. “Equestrian sport embraces the Olympic values particularly with men and women competing on equal terms and we look forward to taking up our places.”

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‘No stone unturned’: measures agreed to make Tokyo ‘fit for a post-Corona world’

Becky Murray — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 16:03:39 +0000

A series of measures to make Tokyo 2021 “fit for a post-Corona world” have been agreed, with no stone “left unturned“.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Tokyo 2020 organising committee today (25 September) agreed more than 50 measures developed in response to the postponement of this year’s Games, to “maximise cost savings and increase efficiencies in Games delivery”.

During the meeting IOC president Thomas Bach acknowledged the “outstanding progress” being made towards Tokyo, reinforcing his belief that next year’s Games will be the “best prepared ever”. He also emphasised that the coming months will require flexibility and creativity from everyone involved as the Tokyo organisers deliver Games “fit for a post-Corona world”.

The measures have been split into four main categories; stakeholders, infrastructure, promotion and other areas of interest. Examples of the initial measures include the reduction of stakeholder personnel attending the Games, streamlining transport services, adjusting spectator activities at competition venues and hosting a number of pre-Games meetings online.

Tokyo 2020 coordination commission chair John Coates said: “Built from the principles outlined by the joint IOC and Tokyo 2020 steering committee, these optimisations and simplifications mark an important step towards delivering a safe and successful Games in 2021.

“We owe it to the public to enact these measures during these challenging times, that’s why we’ve left no stone unturned and will continue to look for further opportunities over the coming months. The unique task of reorganising an Olympic Games has called for the Olympic movement to be stronger together – this milestone illustrates our collective commitment.

Mr Coates added the ‘Tokyo model’ will not only deliver a Games fit for a post-Coronavirus world, but will become a blueprint that will benefit future organising committees for many years to come.

Tokyo 2020 president Mori Yoshiro said “considering the current state of the world” the IOC had been discussing how to deliver a safe and secure Games that can “win public understanding” in these challenging times.

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“After we established a broader direction that the Games in 2021 should be simplified, we have been working closely together with the IOC, the International Paralympic Committee and various stakeholders such as international federations, national Olympic committees, national Paralympic committees, partners and broadcasters, in every possible area that can contribute to simplifications,” he said.

“This process will benefit future society – becoming a role model for future global events as people adapt to living in the new normal. We will make all efforts to ensure that in the future the Tokyo 2020 Games will be a legacy. We will continue to work hard on simplifications towards next year and ask for the continued cooperation of all those involved in the Games.”

Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday, is packed with all the latest news and reports, as well as interviews, specials, nostalgia, vet and training advice. Find how you can enjoy the magazine delivered to your door every week, plus options to upgrade to access our H&H Plus online service which brings you breaking news as it happens as well as other benefits.

‘We must plan it will take place’: What it takes to postpone an Olympic Games H&H Plus

Lucy Higginson — Sat, 08 Aug 2020 08:00:05 +0000

Putting back an Olympics by a year is a staggeringly huge undertaking. Lucy Higginson finds out what’s involved

Just how hard is it to postpone Tokyo’s Olympics by a year?

By this stage of the annus horribilis that is 2020, almost everyone has had to cancel or reschedule something sizeable. Be it a party, holiday, wedding or reunion, we’ve had to balance personal disappointment against the greater crisis, and spend hours unpicking plans, chasing up deposits, cancelling flights and more.

Spare a thought then for the Tokyo Olympic Organising committee (TOKOG) who have had to postpone 2020’s biggest party of all, involving 41 different venues, 11,000 athletes and an anticipated 600,000 visitors from around the world.

Toshiro Muto, TOKOG chief executive, explained to the media that numerous Olympic venues had already been booked for other purposes next year, producing scheduling conflicts that have had to be resolved. For other venues, it’s been a more straightforward question of extending leases.

“Our plan was to return all of the Games venues once we had finished,” Muto explained as the postponement was announced. “So to hire them again means we have to pay additional costs for them and we might have to hire people until next year.”

Chief among the facilities affected was the Athletes’ Village, built overlooking Tokyo Bay, and our riders’ base through the Games. As at other Olympics including Barcelona and London, this is to be converted into luxury apartments afterwards, and some 900 of them have already been sold to new owners who had expected to move in by next summer.

“Even if it’s not a financial hit, it’s going to be a big inconvenience to them,” Zoe Ward, director of Tokyo Property Central told Asia Times. She believes buyers may now scour the small print of their contracts to see if they can pull out without losing their deposits.

Not a huge shock

The Olympic equestrian events are centred at the Japan Racing Association’s (JRA) Equestrian Park in Setagaya. The same site hosted the 1964 Tokyo Olympic equestrian events, but has been redeveloped and hired by TOKOG, and is one of the closest venues to the Athletes’ Village.

Postponement “wasn’t a huge shock” by the time it was announced, says Alec Lochore, consultant equestrian sport manager for Tokyo, “just a disappointment”.

“There are people seconded from other roles in Japan, and Europeans, Americans and Australians who now must stay for another year [to deliver the Games],” he explains. “Ownership of the venue will now revert back to JRA for a while, but they are generously moving their own plans back by a year.”

The unexpected delay gives the organising team more time to test the venue, which has been developed enormously since last year’s test event.

“They could now potentially arrange a dressage or jumping competition ahead of the Games,” agrees Alec. “I would if it were up to me, to check for snagging.”

The island venue hosting the cross-country, Sea Forest, is due to become a National Park after the Games. Numerous fences were out and in place, explains Alec, and have had to be removed so they don’t suffer climatic damage.

“All sorts of other equipment must now be stored too such as showjumps and dressage arenas,” he continues, “and the horse ambulances will now be stored in the UK.”

As for the many international volunteers who had been lined up to help steward the equestrian events – roughly a third of volunteers for these Games are coming from overseas – it is unclear as yet how many can and will come next year instead.

“We’ll have quite a high level of reliance on specialist volunteers such as fence judges, from places like New Zealand, Australia, Britain and Germany, and I know that we still will want those people,” says Alec. “I hope they can still come.”

The FEI is also collaborating with the International Olympic Committee and TOKOG to identify areas “where we can improve cost efficiency and adapt the cost implications of the postponement with minimal impact on the sport and the athletes, always taking into account public health and economic contexts,” according to an FEI spokesperson.

Avoiding temptation

If we’re to find a bright side to this situation, Will Connell, director of sport for the US Equestrian Federation, believes that equestrianism is better equipped than many sports to handle the postponement.

“We’re ideally placed to cope with coming out of Covid-19 because we’re all used to horses making us take unexpected leave from play, such as by going lame,” he says. “We know how to avoid the temptation to rush back. Secondly, biosecurity is second nature to us, especially at FEI events where there is tight stable security.”

It’s also a source of some relief to everybody that the challenge of rearranging has fallen to a nation so utterly organised and efficient that apologetic announcements are made if a train is even one minute late.

“The Japanese mentality regarding business priorities has helped,” agrees Will, for whom this will be a seventh Olympics as a sports manager. “They want the Games to work and for people to enjoy the visit and be proud of them.”

Sophie Thomas, British Equestrian’s World Class Programme leader, who is responsible for many of the logistics for the British teams, has found this too.

“The hotel we’d booked for owners and so on has been completely understanding,” she says.

It’s a similar story for the property close to the equestrian venue that had been secured for equine staff who don’t get a bed by right in the grooms’ village or Athletes’ Village. This is a relief since “Japan is really tricky for private rental accommodation,” explains Sophie. “It’s just not the culture there.”

The postponement was in some ways timed well, announced before food and forage had been shipped. One Team GB shipping container, crammed with things like buckets, bunting, banners, storm guards, stable drapes and more, was a week away from sailing and will sit for months now until it’s needed.

From Sophie’s point of view, an Olympic postponement is easier than something similar befalling another championship.

“We have huge support from the BOA [British Olympic Association] and BPA [British Paralympic Association], who arrange a lot of shipping, athlete accommodation, kit and so on,” she says. “In a World Championship year, that would have fallen to us.”

In most cases, vets, selectors, team managers and other support staff will remain constant. There are some exceptions of course, and the FEI has the sad task of choosing a replacement for Jon Doney who was due to have officiated at his third Olympic Games in Tokyo, as president of the jumping ground jury, but who died unexpectedly in April.

Delaying planned retirements

British Equestrian is working on the assumption that exactly the same support team will be available to the British team, though in the States and other countries no doubt there are people who are delaying planned retirements.

“They’re almost all going to carry on to next year, including selectors,” says Will. “You don’t want these to change until after the Games.”

One big question is how the rescheduled Tokyo affects the rest of next year’s calendar. “We’re waiting to hear if other events will move their dates,” he says. “Normally you’d compete in an Olympics, review how it went, dust off a plan working towards the following Olympics and hit ‘go’ in November of that year.

“Instead, we’ll come out of Tokyo 2021 and be less than a year out of the first opportunity to qualify for Paris,” he explains. He points out that championships like the Europeans (cancelled for 2021 because of the Tokyo clash, although it’s possible they may be reinstated) are used by federations to experiment with new rider combinations for future Olympics.

“It means next year will be the equivalent of having to run two different plays but with one theatre,” he adds, but federations everywhere will just have to adapt. “Innovation must come out of this or the human race has failed.”

Of course the elephant in the room is whether the global health situation will allow the Games to take place even in 2021. While lockdown eases around the world, no one yet knows when mass gatherings and unfettered international travel will be on the cards. The thought of losing the 2020 Games altogether is heartbreaking for athletes, support staff and organisers, not to mention the millions of us who love and follow sport.

In the meanwhile, as Sophie Thomas explains: “We, like our athletes, have got to keep in a positive frame of mind, plan that it will take place and ignore the mutterings until anybody says otherwise.”

Logistics at a glance

Organisers are extending leases as necessary on 41 venues, and the handover of the Athletes’ Village – which is being converted to luxury apartment conversions – to private owners is being deferred.
Sports federations report that Japanese hotel chains and the like have been exemplary about deferring contracts to next year, usually with no rearrangement fees.
Cross-country fences are being brought in from the Sea Forest course to protect them from the weather.
Storage is being arranged both in Japan and overseas for key pieces of equestrian kit, ranging from championship showjumps to horse ambulances.
The picture is not yet clear how many international volunteers for the equestrian events hope to attend next year instead.

Ref Horse & Hound; 6 August 2020

Stories from behind the scenes in the Olympic Village H&H Plus

Catherine Austen — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 08:00:47 +0000

Staying in the Olympic Village is a unique experience, with opportunities to meet – and embarrass yourself in front of – athletes from every sport and nation, as riders tell Catherine Austen

On one hand, it’s the most exclusive members’ club in the world: you can’t buy your way in, you are selected on merit alone and it is colour, race and privilege-blind. On the other, it probably doubles a student hall of residence, its facilities are not luxurious, and those lucky enough to stay there may well have to share a room. Those are the dichotomies of the Olympic Village – the official accommodation for athletes of all sports during the Olympic Games.

With thousands of the world’s best athletes, all primed to achieve the peak performances of their careers, under one roof, the Village must be a heady hive of tangible energy.

“It’s hard to describe because it’s unique,” says Swedish event rider Ludwig Svennerstål, who stayed in the Village during the London and Rio Olympics. “The closest thing I can compare it to is a summer camp for teenagers.”

“It has a buzzing atmosphere – you can feel the tension,” says Andrew Nicholson, who attended seven Olympics between 1984 and 2012.

Equestrian athletes don’t always stay in the Village, often due to the distance of the horse park from the central hub of the Games, and it was only during his first Olympics – Los Angeles – and his most recent, London, that Andrew spent the duration of the competition there. He revelled in both occasions, however.

“In LA it was a real eye-opener to see how ‘proper’ athletes trained,” says Andrew with a laugh. “We were in an apartment with the New Zealand boxers and wrestlers. I think they were as surprised by us as we were by them!”

Andrew and Mark Todd took full advantage of their first Olympics, running round the athletics track, and tackling the hurdles and the high jump. “Mark was quite impressive at those, to be fair,” jokes Andrew.

William Fox-Pitt has spent four of his five Olympics staying in the Village – in 2008 the horse events were in Hong Kong, not Beijing where the other sports took place.

“The Olympics is an incredible lifetime experience, and each time you go you think it will be your last, so I think you should live it and enjoy it – you miss out if you don’t buy into the whole thing,” he says. “Being in the Village makes you feel as though you are properly part of Team GB – representing your whole country as an athlete. The Olympics are so much broader than just ‘your’ sport and staying in the Village makes you feel like you belong.”

Richard Davison has ridden at four Olympics and acted as captain for the dressage team at a fifth. He spent part of each of those four Games in the Village, and can appreciate the arguments against riders staying in them.

“I definitely encourage every equestrian chef de mission and the British Olympic Association (BOA) that, for the duration of the competing period, riders are better off being close to the horse park, which can be a very long way from the Village,” he says.

It is about optimising performance, he says. The noise and the 24hr footfall through the Village of athletes from all time-zones with differing schedules is distracting.

He points out: “By and large equestrian athletes are older than, say, track and field athletes, and most people accept that the older you get, the more particular and fragile your sleep patterns become. We all know the importance of sleep for brain cognition and general alertness.”

Andrew Hoy is another for whom Los Angeles in 1984 was the first of many Olympics – seven to date – and he has stayed in the Village for at least part of all of them.

“1984 was a huge education for me,” he says. “It was a 25-minute walk from where we slept to the dining hall, and another 25 minutes from there to the shuttle buses, and then it took between 45 minutes and an hour to drive to the venue. The logistics of planning the nearly three-hour process from getting out of bed to getting to the venue were exhausting.”

That process and those logistics have improved over the years, and although there can be downsides to staying in the Village, such as sharing a room, Andrew likes the fact that it is a “bubble” and he can focus entirely on what he is there to achieve.

Carl Hester’s five Olympics stretch from Barcelona in 1992 to Rio 2016. “We didn’t stay in the Village in Sydney in 2000, and it could have been a normal show as a result,” he says. “In Atlanta, everyone was allowed to do their own thing, and a lot of people decided they didn’t want to stay in the Village. The Brits didn’t do very well there, and after that it was decided that we had to be together as a team, wherever we were.”

In Athens the dressage riders spent half their time in the Village and half in a rented house, which Carl describes as “the perfect mix”, and in London, they stayed in a hotel very close to Greenwich Park.

“That was actually great fun in a different way,” he says. “We were so focused on doing well in London that we wanted to be right next to the venue, and when we won, it was complete euphoria.”

It is inevitable that your first Olympics makes the most dramatic impact on you, and Carl has vivid memories of Barcelona in 1992.

“The Village was on a beach, and the whole thing felt a bit like a holiday,” he says. “Because it was my first Games, I was completely overexcited about the whole thing, spotting the superstars of the sporting world walking past.”

He remembers queuing for the phone box, and banging on the door when the occupant had been in there for too long. “Steffi Graf put her head out and glared at me – I nearly fell over backwards!”

A sporting god

Every rider H&H spoke to recalled encounters with sporting superheroes. In Los Angeles, Andrew Nicholson had lunch on the same table as Carl Lewis, who won four track and field gold medals at that Games. William Fox-Pitt chatted to tennis’s golden boy Andy Murray at London. Usain Bolt apparently asked for Ludwig’s autograph thinking he was someone else…

Jonty Evans represented Ireland in eventing at Rio in 2016, and had his own brush with a sporting god.

“I was having dinner in the food hall in the Athletes’ Village and there was a tap on my shoulder,” he says. “This girl was there, muscles coming out of every bit of her, and I thought, ‘I really should know who you are.’

“She wanted to swap pins, but I didn’t have any Irish pins with me. She was really insistent, I was hungry, so I told her to go away. Two days later I realised it was Venus Williams.”

The food hall is the central compass point around which the Village pivots. “It’s vast, open pretty much 24/7 and serves anything and everything that you could wish for,” explains Andrew Nicholson. “In London, the biggest queues were for McDonald’s – but there were a lot of officials staying in the Village, so it wasn’t just athletes.”

In Rio, dressage riders Lyndal Oatley – who rides for Australia – and her husband, Sweden’s Patrik Kittel, had rooms at opposite ends of the Olympic Village, but used to meet in McDonald’s for “date night”. Incidentally, Ludwig Svennerstål was Patrik’s room-mate in Rio: “He is very funny for a dressage rider,” quips Ludwig.

It is, of course, a very serious thing, being an Olympic athlete, and no one really admits (on the record) to partying. However, a glance at Nick Skelton’s autobiography reveals that the showjumpers in past years took the whole thing with a pinch of salt. There were practical jokes aplenty – John Whitaker replaced the contents of Geoff Billington’s tube of suncream with haemorrhoid ointment and then shoe polish – the odd inadvertent trip to a bar which turned out to be a lap-dancing club, and so on.

In Seoul in 1988, the team comprised Nick, David Broome, Michael Whitaker and Graham Fletcher.

Nick says: “There was a communal launderette in the apartment building, where we had to do our own washing. We could tell that Fletch wasn’t domesticated because he didn’t know you had to put washing powder in an automatic washing machine. He thought that an automatic washing machine was that automatic it would put powder in itself.

“And we turned heads one day when we walked into the village through the airport-type security scanners as Michael was carrying 200 Silk Cut and Fletch was toting a case of Carlsberg under each arm. Not exactly typical Olympic athletes!”

Those were the days. Now riders are as focused and as immaculately prepared as the swimmers, rowers and runners – even if Mark Todd and Andrew Hoy struggled to convince young officials in London that, despite being double the age of some of their counterparts, they were indeed Olympic athletes.

As Ludwig says, perhaps a touch tongue-in-cheek, “At the same time as you are at ‘summer camp’, you are also preparing for the biggest event of your life, so I didn’t really notice anyone else in the Village – except for the Swedish beach volleyball team, who kept knocking on my door in the middle of the night – every night.”

Oh Ludwig, how disappointed they must have been when that door remained firmly bolted.

Ref Horse & Hound; 6 August 2020

The Olympics in adversity: how past Games have been affected by world events, from wars to boycotts

Pippa Roome — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 08:00:16 +0000

With the 2020 Games postponed a year by the coronavirus pandemic, Pippa Roome looks back on other Olympics that have been affected by world events, from wars and boycotts to terrorism

The Tokyo Olympics, pushed back a year by Covid-19, is the first to be postponed in the history of the modern Games, but several other Olympics have been affected by wider world events.

Forty years ago, some 50 nations followed the US lead to boycott the Moscow Games in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The equestrian events drew riders from just 11 countries and “alternative Olympics” in all three disciplines had a much stronger field than the real Games.

Italy’s Federico Roman took the individual eventing gold and team silver in Moscow. “There were fewer competitors than normal, but it was tough psychologically,” says Federico, who was also ninth at the fully attended 1976 Games. “For the last month and a half before the Games, we needed to prepare ourselves and our horses for competition, but we were surrounded by the political problem.

“Our government said no to participation, but the Olympic committee said yes, but our federation said no. The Olympic committee said the federation had to let the athletes decide and they said we could go – but without our horses as they belonged to the federation. But the Olympic committee said the horses had been bought with money given by them.

“The federation didn’t help with anything and I became the chef d’équipe as well as a rider because I was the oldest. In the end, it was fun and we were lucky we were able to go and have this result.”

Federico’s mount was his partner of only a year or so, the eight-year-old Rossinian. “He was a little horse, yet very tough. He wasn’t the biggest mover, but he was the boldest horse and very generous, with endless stamina,” remembers Federico, who survived a dicey moment when he slipped on the mud and lost the reins briefly when running beside the horse on the roads and tracks.

In the dressage, Austria’s Sissy Max-Theurer landed gold in Moscow, while the alternative event happened at Goodwood. Sissy was in a different class to many of the other 14 competitors – judge Jytte Lemkow recalled awarding eight of the 14 below 40%.

“I have always had the opinion that one shouldn’t mix up politics with sport. Generally sport should have the function to bring people together,” said Sissy in an interview with Eurodressage in 1995. “To me it was clear that I wanted to start at the Olympic Games because I had won gold with Mon Cherie at the 1979 European Championships… At age 10, Mon Cherie was in absolute top form and I didn’t know if I would get the chance to take part in an Olympic Games again.”

Ex-Formula One driver Niki Lauda flew Mon Cherie to Moscow, “in a self-built container with one of his planes, even though it was a work of millimetres to load Mon Cherie on to this comparatively small plane”, recalled Sissy.

‘No giveaway’

The alternative jumping competition was held at Rotterdam, where John Whitaker took team and individual silver on Ryan’s Son.

“We felt we had achieved something – we were against all the best riders, so it was no giveaway, but it’s a pity it wasn’t a proper Olympics,” says John, adding the first-round course was one of the toughest he remembers.

“At least three good horses including Jappeloup came out, having tipped up in the triple combination – it was a wall, two strides to a triple bar, then one stride to an oxer. A few horses took off in one stride to the triple bar and crashed. Thomas Fuchs came out of the ring carrying his bridle.

“Ronnie Massarella was our chef d’équipe and he always gave you confidence. But on this occasion, he said to our first rider, Nick Skelton, that he didn’t have to go if he didn’t want to – that it looked dangerous and he didn’t want him to go hurt himself.

“Nick said he must be joking, went in and jumped clear, which got us off to a flying start.”

American Jim Wofford, who took individual silver at the alternative eventing Olympics in Fontainebleau, France, on Carawich, had a feeling of “unfinished business” about the Olympics – he had taken two team silvers, but had lost individual silver in Mexico in 1968 when Kilkenny slipped on a turn and fell in the showjumping. He heard that the boycott was going through via the television news.

“To be off in the wasteland for six years riding horses that were almost good enough, then to be given this marvellous creature to ride, to go so well at the World Games in 1978 and Badminton 1979 and then this – it was a real shock and disappointment,” he says.

By the time of their final trial, the US riders believed they were being selected for honour alone; the news of the alternative Games came a few weeks later.

The accreditation system at Fontainebleau was rudimentary, remembers Jim. One of the US owners cleaned out the local hardware store and replicated the ball and chain armbands so the team had “passes galore”.

The cross-country course was long and tough, and Jim was worried because the usually strong Carawich had not picked up the bridle on the roads and tracks, but his concerns were dispelled as he was given a leg-up to start.

“The horse cleared the vet box, running sideways, yanking the lead-rein out of the groom’s hand,” remembers Jim. “I was almost laughing going to the first fence as I realised he’d learnt to save himself for cross-country.”

It was a “hair-raising” round, with Carawich “careering” around Fontainebleau’s tight turns. “I missed a 180-degree turn at the top of a hill and went off through the crowd-control barriers,” says Jim. “After 100 yards, I turned and came back out on the trail still galloping. I heard this ‘brrr’ behind me and every time the horse would accelerate – I had about 100 feet of tape wrapped round his hindleg. I couldn’t pull him up and I wasn’t willing to give up the time, so I had to hope it would break off.”

Jim’s team-mate Torrance Watkins took the individual bronze – had Fontainebleau been a real Olympics, she’d have been the first lady to win an individual Olympic eventing medal.

Under the shadow of politics

Olympics this century have also been affected by the two World Wars.

The 1916 Games were cancelled due to World War I. There were doubts over whether the 1920 Games would go ahead, but in April 1919 the International Olympic Committee accepted Antwerp’s offer to host the event. This was the first and last time vaulting was included in the Olympics, and the Swiss were stopped from competing at the last minute by their government due to an alleged outbreak of foot-and mouth in Belgium.

The 1936 Olympics in Berlin took place under the shadow of politics, with Hitler trying to use the Games to prove his theories about Aryan racial superiority. The Japanese 1932 showjumping champion, Takeichi Nishi, was suspected of intentionally falling – which meant a German victory – so as not to antagonise Hitler and compromise talks between his nation and the Third Reich.

The following two renewals of the Games were cancelled by World War II, but London – which had been chosen to hold the 1944 Olympics before the war – hosted in 1948.

The British capital was still bomb damaged and many felt the Games were a waste of money in a nation trying to rebuild – it did, eventually, make a profit – and everything was done on a tiny budget, in less than two years.

German prisoners of war were roped in to build the Olympic Way up to the Empire Stadium at Wembley, where greyhound racing continued until a fortnight before the Games. The showjumping happened here, as well as the ceremonies, athletics and football.

One visitor to the stables behind the stadium was Captain Xavier Bizard of France, who had competed in the King George V Gold Cup in 1937 on Honduras. He had assumed the horse dead after the Germans captured Saumur, where Honduras was living at the national cavalry school. But Capt Bizard found him, renamed Nippy, in the US stables in London – he had been liberated in 1945. When the horse’s former rider revealed the horse’s advanced age, he was withdrawn.

Athletes were housed in RAF camps, schools and colleges, and provided with bed linen but expected to bring their own towels. The dressage, eventing and pentathlon competitors – competing in Aldershot, including elements at Tweseldown – stayed at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst with grooms in barracks near the horses.

The British had difficulty training on a rationed 2,600 calories a day. Once selected, their intake was increased by half so they received the same ration as a coalminer, and many received food parcels from around the world. Three meals a day were provided in the athletes’ hostels, but many teams brought their own chefs, food and wine, much of which was shared, with good-natured bartering.

Janie Hampton sums up in The Austerity Olympics, “the 1948 Games were a true celebration of victory after dark times and one of the most inexpensive and unpretentious Olympiads of the 20th century”.

In deference to the reduced training time, the 1948 dressage test was cut down to 13 minutes from 17 in 1936, with passage and piaffe taken out. The judging panel was taken from five to three, which may have denied the US’s Robert Borg an individual medal when nationalistic judging kicked in.

With the high death toll of the war so recent, fewer riders were available than usual and several diversified. The US’s Earl Foster Thompson scooped eventing team gold – after medals in 1932 and 1936 – and took up dressage, contributing to team silver.

Mexico’s Humberto Mariles Cortés took double gold in the jumping and team bronze in eventing – all on the same horse, Arete. Rebellious Humberto repeatedly defied his army superiors and after his Olympic career was over, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for homicide. Later, he was arrested in Paris and died in mysterious circumstances.

A favourite story of the 1948 Games concerns the Swedish dressage team’s Gehnäll Persson. The equestrian events were only open to commissioned officers and Gehnäll had been temporarily promoted from sergeant – a non-commissioned officer – to second lieutenant three weeks earlier. Apparently his sergeant’s cap was spotted by an official and, with Gehnäll’s demotion after the Games not helping the cause, the FEI stripped Sweden of its team gold medal in 1949. To avoid such problems, non-commissioned officers and soldiers were eligible for the 1952 Games – and women, but only in the dressage.

Terrorism at the Games

At the 1972 Olympics, eight Palestinian terrorists broke into the Olympic Village on 5 September, killing two Israeli athletes and taking nine others hostage. In a battle at Munich airport that evening, all the hostages, five terrorists and a West German policeman were killed. Competition was suspended for 24 hours, including the dressage, and memorial services held. “Everybody was just sad,” recalled US eventing coach Jack Le Goff, who died in 2009, in an interview for Jennifer O Bryant’s Olympic history book. “It was just terrible.” Jack added that the event had an impact on the following Games in Montreal too: “You had the feeling you were entering an army camp there. There were police and machine guns everywhere.”
One person was killed in a bomb attack at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, while a cameraman died of a heart attack as he rushed to the scene. The Spanish reserve dressage rider Luis Lucio, whose horse Fortuin was stabled three hours from the equestrian venue, was nominated as the guinea pig the night before the competition. But the disruption resulting from the terrorist attack meant Fortuin became stuck in traffic and the competition was delayed. Eventually, Luis rode the test and beat his personal best by two marks. “Chef d’équipe Ronnie Massarella always gave you confidence. But he said to our first rider, Nick Skelton, that he didn’t have to go if he didn’t want to – that it looked dangerous”

Sources

An Illustrated History of Equestrian Sports, by Marie de Pellegars-Malhortie and Benoît Capdebarthes
The Austerity Olympics, by Janie Hampton
An Affair to Remember: the 1980 Olympic Games – Three Perspectives, online at Eurodressage.com
FEI history hub online
Equestrian Sport at the Olympic Games, by Max E Ammann
The Games: Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic Journey to London 2012, by Brendan Gallagher
Olympic Equestrian: A Century of International Horse Sport, by Jennifer O Bryant
Equestrian Olympic Games: Ancient and Modern, by E Schmit-Jensen
International Three-Day Event Results & Record from 1912, by Rhydian Wynn-Williams

Ref Horse & Hound; 30 July 2020

‘My treasured memories of Valegro’, according to his groom Alan Davies

Polly Bryan — Mon, 04 May 2020 11:00:23 +0000

For a guest-edit of a 2020 edition of Horse & Hound, Alan Davies, groom to Valegro during his record-breaking career, shared some of his highlights and most treasured memories from their time together.

Vidauban CDI, 2011

Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro won two grands prix and two grand prix specials across the two-week show…

“This was the first international show at grand prix level for Charlotte and “Blueberry’, so we didn’t know how either of them would react,” says Alan Davies, using the stable name for his charge, Valegro. “We took three horses to compete over two weeks, and it was supposed to be a relaxed, educational trip. But after Blueberry’s first win, Carl’s phone started buzzing constantly and suddenly people were asking, ‘Who is this rider? Who is this horse?’ It wasn’t the quiet trip we had expected!”

Rotterdam Europeans, 2011

At their first championship, Charlotte and Valegro helped the team win Britain’s first dressage gold medal…

On the path to greatness: the Rotterdam Europeans in 2011. (Image credit: Alamy)

“The Rotterdam Europeans were unbelievable, because no one expected Britain to win gold. At that time the Brits were nearly always the underdogs, and we were certainly not expected to beat the Dutch on home ground. Uthopia led the way for the Brits, and although Blueberry had a few green mistakes, he did amazing work and neither he nor Charlotte were bothered by the pressure. This was an amazingly proud moment, not just for the team and the country, but for these two horses, whom Carl and Charlotte had trained from youngsters, to be on top like that. It was gobsmacking actually.”

Hagen CDI4*, 2012

Just one year in to their international career, Charlotte and Valegro set a new world record of 88.02% for the grand prix special…

“We took Blueberry to Hagen mostly just for extra experience in the run-up to the Olympics – breaking the record that had been set by Totilas was totally unexpected. He and Charlotte did the most incredible test; Carl and I held our breath throughout. I can picture Blueberry’s one-time changes that day even now – they were huge, so forward, so beautiful, and he just had the biggest smile on his face.”

London Olympics, 2012

Charlotte and Valegro led Britain to gold, as well as becoming the individual Olympic champions…

Valegro en route to team and individual gold at London 2012. (Image credit: Alamy)

“My clearest memory of the London Olympics is driving the lorry out of the gates of Greenwich Park on our way home, and a huge cheer went up from all the people sitting outside the pub. I felt this huge sense of relief that we had managed to pull this off. Blueberry was only 10 and Charlotte was still inexperienced; I couldn’t believe we’d done it. The medal ceremony was a bit of a blur. In the collecting ring it was mayhem – we knew it was gold, but we weren’t sure how the prize-giving was going to work. I remember Charlotte saying to me, ‘Please come in with me, I want you in there with me.’ It wasn’t until we got back to the stables afterwards that we properly realised what had just happened.”

Olympia, 2013

Charlotte and Valegro broke the world record previously set by Edward Gal and Totilas for the grand prix freestyle, scoring 93.97%…

Record breakers! Valegro scores 93.97% at Olympia in 2013. (Image credit: Alamy)

“Olympia 2013 was the first time he broke the record in the music – the last one he hadn’t yet broken. Charlotte had to do an interview after her test, so I took Blueberry back to the stables and washed him off. I didn’t know what mark they had, or what was going on. Then Charlotte came running down to the stables screaming and shouting. It so happened that we were stabled near Edward Gal, and as Charlotte flung her arms around me she saw him and his groom Vanessa Ruiter, and said, ‘Oh my God I’m really sorry – I’ve just broken your record.’ But Vanessa told me that if it had to happen, she was glad it was us – the Dutch adored Blueberry.”

World Equestrian Games, 2014

Charlotte and Valegro became world champions…

“I’ll never forget a particular moment during the individual prize-giving at the World Equestrian Games in France. The podium faced the press down one long side, but as the girls were getting their medals on the podium, and we grooms were standing behind with the horses, I heard someone call my name from the other side of the stadium. I turned, and walked with Blueberry over to the stands on that side and the crowd went crazy: waving flags, clapping, cheering, shouting his name, shouting my name. It was amazing to see how many people really appreciated grooms and the importance of our role behind the scenes.”

Las Vegas World Cup Final, 2015

Charlotte and Valegro claimed their second consecutive World Cup title with 94.19%…

World Cup winners in Vegas. (Image credit: Alamy)

“Competing in Vegas was a completely surreal experience, and the crowds were unbelievable. You could hear a pin drop at the start of their test, but as it went on you could hear the crowd start to buzz, then they were all clapping along at the end. It was amazing to see how much they got behind Charlotte and of course Blueberry loved it – the bigger the crowd the better for him.”

Rio Olympics, 2016

As well as securing team silver for Britain, Charlotte and Valegro retained their Olympic title on what was their final competitive outing…

Valegro heads for more Olympic gold medals at the Rio Olympics. (Image credit: Alamy)

“There was a lot of pressure on the pair of them in Rio – Charlotte was the reigning Olympic champion after all. Just before she went into the arena for the freestyle was the first time I ever saw Charlotte slightly nervous. I told her to take a deep breath, that she’d be fine. We had to walk down a ramp to get into the arena and as we did Blueberry heard the crowd clapping and I just saw him lift as he completely went into performance mode, as if to say, ‘Come on Charlotte.’ And they were foot perfect. He tried so hard, put his heart and soul into it, listened to her on every step, and was perfectly on the beat of the music – it was just a joy to watch. That horse has the biggest heart, and he really showed it that day.”

Valegro’s retirement ceremony at Olympia, 2016

After cementing his place in history as the most successful dressage horse of all time, Valegro was officially retired with an emotional ceremony at Olympia 2016…

Valegro performs to the crowds one last time, in his retirement ceremony at Olympia in 2016. (Image credit: Alamy)

“It was Simon Brooks-Ward’s idea that I should lead Valegro into the last part of the ceremony. I had to stay in the collecting ring on my own with him while they were doing interviews in the ring, and I was in pieces. I felt the tears coming and tried to pull myself together. But as the curtains opened, the noise from the crowd, the absolute love I felt from them for this horse, meant that I sobbed all the way up the centre line. It was tears of joy that he was going out at the top, that he was just the most phenomenal horse and everyone loved him – walking in there together was the most incredible moment of my life. The two of us have been all around the world together; he’s trusted me to take him to all these places, and I felt so honoured that he loved and trusted me enough to walk with me up the centre line at Olympia.”

– This article was first published in Horse & Hound magazine; 30 April 2020 –

Do you have a special memory of Valegro that you’d like to share with other H&H readers? Write to us at hhletters@futurenet.com including your name, nearest town and county for the chance to have it published in a future issue of Horse & Hound magazine – plus don’t miss further tributes to Valegro and Uthopia in 11 December issue

To stay up to date with all the breaking news from major shows throughout 2025, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

The 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, celebrates its 50th anniversary this week. The Games were hosted from 12-27 October and to mark the occasion, we bring you some pictures from the archive, documenting Great Britain’s huge success in the eventing competition, where they won team gold and individual silver.

The Games proved notoriously difficult for eventing competitors — the cross-country course was some 1,800m above sea level and the site was known for high levels of rainfall between October and March.

61% of riders managed to complete Mario Becerril’s course before heavy rain fell. Although it lasted only 30 minutes, the penultimate fence, a 2m wide stream, became 12m in width and flooded the entire take off point for the horses.

The British team of Major Derek Allhusen (Lochinvar), Reuben Jones (The Poacher), Richard Meade (Cornishman) and Jane Bullen (Our Nobby) won team gold over the second-placed United States and bronze medal winners, Australia. Major Allhusen also scooped the individual silver medal.

Let’s take a nostalgic look back at the efforts put in by the British team to bring those eventing medals home…

1. Jane Holderness-Roddam (née Bullen) with her sister Jenny, who went as Jane’s groom, in Mexico

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Bill Howard/ANL/REX/Shutterstock (2776162a)Jane Bullen Equestrian Rider (left) With Sister Jenny Bullen At Lap Jane Holderness-roddam (ncce Bullen) Was Born On The 1st July 1948 In Charmouth Dorset And Is A British Event Rider Winning Badminton Horse Trials In 1968 (on 'our Nobby') And 1978 (on 'warrior'). She Also Won Burghley Horse Trials In 1976 (on 'warrior') And Competed In The 1968 Summer Olympics In Mexico City Winning Team Gold For Great Britain Alongside Richard Meade Reuben Jones And Derek Allhusen. Currently Mrs Holderness-roddam Owns A Stables In North Wiltshire Jointly With Her Husband. Mrs Holderness-roddam Was Appointed Lvo In 1998 And Cbe In 2006. She Was Presented With The Queen's Award For Equestrianism In 2009.Jane Bullen Equestrian Rider (left) With Sister Jenny Bullen At Lap Jane Holderness-roddam (ncce Bullen) Was Born On The 1st July 1948 In Charmouth Dorset And Is A British Event Rider Winning Badminton Horse Trials In 1968 (on 'our Nobby') And 1978 (Image credit: Bill Howard/ANL/REX/Shutterstock)

2. One combination battles the elements on the cross-country course

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

3. Jane, who was the first woman on a British Olympic team, showjumps Our Nobby on the final day of competition

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

4. The British team stand proud on the podium, with the USA in second and Australia in third

Australian rider Bill Roycroft (1915 - 2011, fourth from right) with his team on the podium after the mixed team three-day eventing at the Mexico City Olympics, 21st October 1968. Roycroft's son Wayne is next to him (third from right). Great Britain won gold, with the USA second and Australia in third place. (Photo by Paul Popper/Popperfoto/Getty Images) (Image credit: Popperfoto/Getty Images)

5. Major Derek Allhusen shows off his team gold medal and his own individual silver medal, on arrival at Heathrow Airport.

Major Derek Allhusen shows off his gold medal for Great Britain's equestrian team and his own individual silver medal, on arrival at Heathrow Airport. (Image credit: PA Archive/PA Images)

6. Staff-Sergeant Ben Jones, who was on the gold medal-winning team, on his return at Heathrow Airport, with a guitar and sombrero, souvenirs he brought back from his trip to Mexico

Staff-Sergeant Ben Jones, a member of the British Olympic equestrian team, who gained a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Mexico, on their return at Heathrow Airport, London. Ben also brought back some souvenirs - a guitar and a sombrero. (Image credit: PA Archive/PA Images)

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday

Showjumping legend Eric Lamaze prepares for his 7th world championships

Jennifer Donald — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 06:05:11 +0000

Canadian showjumper Eric Lamaze will compete at his seventh consecutive world championships at the Tryon World Equestrian Games (WEG) in North Carolina, next week.

Eric, who turned 50 in April this year, has been named alongside Erynn Ballard, Mario Deslauriers and his 22-year-old pupil Kara Chad to represent Canada at WEG, alongside team reserve Lisa Carlsen.

The 2008 Olympic gold medallist has chosen to ride the 12-year-old gelding Chacco Kid (Chacco Blue x Come On), with whom he won at the London leg of the Longines Global Champions Tour last month, rather than his 2016 Olympic bronze medal-winning partner Fine Lady.

“We are taking a young horse and giving him a chance,” explained Eric. “He’s a horse that I am very excited about and hope we will see great things from in the future.

“Fine Lady had her championships at the Olympics in Rio; I think the world championships would be too much for her at this stage in her career,” he said. “She is 15 this year and we carefully select our events in order to keep her fit and healthy. It was a tough choice, but the best interest of the horse is our number one priority.”

The current world number three rider made his world championship debut in 1994 and won individual bronze in 2010, where his mount Hickstead was named best horse after jumping clear rounds with every rider in the final four.

Continued below…

GCL of London - Round 2 - Team Montreal Diamonds - Eric Lamaze (CAN) on Chacco Kid- London, Royal Hospital Chelsea, 4 August 2018 - ph.Stefano Grasso/GCL (Image credit: ph.Stefano Grasso/GCL)

Meet the banana-loving horse from Colombia — who’s turning into a superstar

‘He can be fast, scopey, he’s everything. And he’s such a great guy — a super friendly horse who just

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Showjumping rocked by death of Eric Lamaze’s Hickstead

Eric Lamaze's mighty horse Hickstead collapsed and died after jumping in the World Cup in Verona

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Eric Lamaze unveils statue of Hickstead at Spruce Meadows

A memorial statue of Olympic gold medal-winning showjumper Hickstead has been unveiled at Spruce Meadows

Based in Brussels, Belgium, Eric is the most decorated Canadian equestrian athlete in Olympic sport having earned individual gold, team silver, and individual bronze medals.

His pupil Kara will be making her world championship debut riding Carona, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare (Untouchable x Silverstone) owned by Eric Lamaze’s Torrey Pines Stable.

“I’m very proud that Kara made the team,” he added. “She paid her dues and was a very gracious alternate for us at the Rio Olympics. Now, she has the opportunity to be a part of the team.”

Keep up to date with the latest news from Tyron, here on HorseandHound.co.uk, plus don’t miss our extensive analysis and reports in the magazine, on sale Thursday 20 & 27 September.

#TBT: 70 years since the 1948 London Olympics (things looked a little different…)

Madeleine Silver — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 17:05:43 +0000

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the 1948 London Olympics, and things look a little different today than they did during those historic Games...

What and where?

London Olympics, 1948 at Wembley Stadium in London and Aldershot military complex (Tweseldown) in Hampshire.

What happened?

This summer will mark 70 years since London hosted the 1948 Olympic Games — with the showjumping competition being held at the Olympic stadium, the Empire Stadium at Wembley (pictured below) and the eventing and dressage being held at the military complex in Aldershot, around 40miles from Wembley.

Spectators at Wembley Stadium watching the Prix des Nations equestrian event, shortly before the closing ceremony of the London Olympics, 14th August 1948. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (Image credit: Getty Images)

Taking place just three years after the end of World War Two meant that there was no German team and all the Eastern European countries stayed away. It was the first Games to be shown on national television (although only a minority of the British public owned a TV), but for two shillings sixpence equestrian fans could buy the British Horse Society’s eight-page brochure, “Notes on the equestrian events at the Olympic Games 1948”.

The showjumping

One of the competitors jumping a fence during the Prix Des Nations. (Image credit: S&G and Barratts/EMPICS Sport)

Forty-four riders from 15 nations took part in the jumping competition, with Mexico’s Humberto Mariles taking the individual gold. While Mexico also took the team gold, the British team made up of Harry Llewellyn (pictured below training for the Games), Henry Nicoll and Arthur Carr finished with the bronze.

9th April 1948: Col Harry M Llewellyn (Great Britain) riding 'Kilgeddin', training for the 1948 Olympics. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) (Image credit: Getty Images)

The eventing

Major Pierre Musy (1910 - 1990) of Switzerland crossing the finishing line of the equestrian cross-country course at Camberley, Surrey, during the London Olympics, 12th August 1948. (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images) (Image credit: Popperfoto/Getty Images)

The eventing took place at Tweseldown, which was where Queen Victoria had had her racecourse, and which is still a current venue for British Eventing. Forty-five riders took part from 16 nations — but the results were not as Britain might have hoped for, finishing out of the medals. Their disappointing performance is said to have spurred on the Duke of Beaufort to start Badminton Horse Trials in 1949, with the hope that it would give British riders the chance to train for international events.

Continued below…

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

From the Badminton Horse Trials archives: watch when Mary King won her first title in 1992

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

The amazing moment 14.2hh Stroller won the Hickstead Derby

We rewind the clock 52 years to 1967 when the pint-sized Stroller clinched the Hickstead Derby title...

The dressage

Due to the difficulties of training dressage horses during the war years, the FEI decided to reduce the programme to 13 minutes, did not ask for passage and piaffe and the number of judges was also reduced from five to three. Switzerland’s Hans Moser took the individual gold, with France taking the team medal and Britain finishing out of the medals.

For all the latest equestrian news and reports, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday

Historic palace to host Olympic equestrian events

Lucy Elder — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 14:56:21 +0000

The Palace of Versailles is set to host the equestrian events at the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

It was confirmed yesterday (31 July) that Paris will host the 2024 Games with Los Angeles welcoming the Olympics and Paralympics in 2028.

The cities were the only two in the mix for both dates after Boston, Hamburg, Rome and Budapest withdrew from the bidding process.

Versailles hosted its first CSI5* in May and will be an estimated 35 minutes from athletes’ accommodation, according to the bidding documents.

“Paris 2024’s vision is built on sharing our project with every walk of society in France and beyond,” said Tony Estanguet, co-chairman of Paris 2024.

“It can rely on the unity of the five founding members to deliver — in coordination with the IOC [International Olympic Committee] — a fantastic centenary Games built on passion, purpose and engagement. We are ready for 2024.”

#France is ready to share our amazing #Paris2024 vision with the world ? | ?? is #ReadyFor24 ? #RoadToLima #MadeForSharing pic.twitter.com/WZ43hh9XFo #France is ready to share our amazing #Paris2024 vision with the world ? | ?? is #ReadyFor24 ? #RoadToLima #MadeForSharing pic.twitter.com/WZ43hh9XFo— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) July 31, 2017— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) July 31, 2017

Paris last hosted the Games in 1924 while Los Angeles has staged it twice, in 1932 and 1984.

Mayor Anne Hidalgo added the announcement is a “win-win-win” situation.

“Paris and Los Angeles are two amazing global cities that are united in their support of the Olympic cause and we stand together now to help the Games thrive in 2024 and 2028,” she said.

“As today’s announcement shows, dialogue between the IOC and the two cities is progressing well.

“We are confident that a ‘win-win-win’ agreement can be finalised ahead of the IOC Session in Lima.”

Article continues below…

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The Paris bid puts the athletes’ village on the northern edge of the city and there are plans for road and public transport upgrades ahead of the Games.

There will be provision for around 20,000 spectators for the Olympic dressage and showjumping and 60,000 for eventing. Para dressage will have seating for 12,000.

Ticket prices have been proposed to range between $17-$713(£12.85-£538.97). There is no indication yet how much tickets will cost for each individual sport.

The IOC has also announced it will be making an overall contribution to the value of $1.8 billion (£1.36 billion) to the Los Angeles 2028 organising committee.

These advanced funds are due to the longer planning period and to increase participation and access to youth sports programmes in the lead-up to the Games.

“Los Angeles presented an excellent candidature that embraces the Olympic agenda 2020 sustainability priorities by maximising the use of existing facilities and encouraging the engagement of more youth in the Olympic movement,” said IOC president Thomas Bach.

“Therefore, we are very happy that, as part of this host city contract, we are able to increase the access of the city’s youth to sport, and encourage the healthy lifestyle of Angelenos for the next 11 years.

The agreement will be put to the IOC session in Lima in September for approval.

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday

Andrew Nicholson: do eventing careers get much better than this?

Madeleine Silver — Wed, 10 May 2017 17:33:49 +0000

When Andrew Nicholson won Badminton on Sunday (7 May 2017) with Nereo, after 33 years of trying, it was the icing on the cake of his stellar eventing career. To celebrate, we take a look back at some of the Kiwi's greatest hits. Don't miss our huge, 25-page Badminton report in tomorrow's issue of Horse & Hound magazine (11 May 2017)

At the Barcelona Olympic Games, Andrew and Spinning Rhombus take home a team silver medal

Andrew and Jagermeister II are part of the bronze medal-winning team at the Olympic Games in Atlanta

Andrew celebrates his bronze medal in Atlanta with teammates Vaughn Jefferis, Vicky Latta and Blyth Tait

Lord Killinghurst and Andrew are part of the sixth-placed team at the World Equestrian Games (WEG) in 2006. He has taken part in a total of seven WEGs

In London, Andrew and Nereo finish in fourth place individually and take home the team bronze medal. He has competed at seven Olympic Games during his career

Mr Cruise Control and Andrew take the runner up spot at Pau CCI4* in 2011

Andrew and Nereo take the CCI4* title at Pau in 2012

Beat the January blues by booking a trip to a big show later in the year

Andrew takes the CCI4* title at Kentucky with Quimbo in 2013. He is also third that year with Calico Joe

Avebury and Andrew take the Burghley title for a second time together in 2013

At home near Marlborough in Wiltshire with Quimbo, Mr Cruise Control, Nereo and Avebury

Three on the trot: Andrew and Avebury take the Burghley title for a third consecutive year

Andrew celebrates his win at Barbury in 2015 with his wife Wiggy and their children Zach and Lily

Andrew and Avebury take the CIC3* title at Barbury in 2015. The following year he took the title for the fifth time in a row — all the more remarkable as it was less than a year since he suffered a serious neck injury after a fall in August 2015

Andrew and Nereo finish in second place at Burghley in 2016

The final piece in the puzzle: Andrew wins the Badminton title with Nereo, after 33 years of trying

Trump’s controversial travel ban: will it hit the 2024 Olympics?

Lucy Elder — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 11:16:55 +0000

President Trump has refused to admit his controversial travel ban could affect Los Angeles’ (LA) bid to host the 2024 Olympics.

The US president made his remarks in a telephone interview with Jim Gray for Westwood One Sports radio ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl final.

The news comes at the same time as the remaining three cities in the running to host the Games submit their final host bids to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). These are Paris, LA and Budapest.

The travel ban, which Mr Trump signed on 27 January, halted all refugee admissions and temporarily barred people from seven Muslim-majority countries.

It sparked outcry, wide-spread condemnation and protests across the world. However on Friday (3 February), Seattle judge James Robart put a halt to the ban as it was argued that the executive order violated a clause in the US constitution that prohibits the favouring of one religion over another.

Last night, the US federal court rejected Mr Trump’s appeal to reinstate the ban.

Mr Trump said he gave the LA bid his endorsement “very loud and clear”.

“I would love to see the Olympics go to Los Angeles. I think that it would be terrific,” he said.

However he refused to admit that his recent executive order may have damaged the bid.

“We have to have security in our country. We have to know who’s coming into our country. We have to have people that are coming in with good intentions, Jim. If people are coming in with bad intentions, I want to be able to find out before they get here,” he said.

“You see what’s happened in other countries, you see what’s happened in our country. Take a look at so many different events, including the World Trade Center.

“So if people want to come into our country, they have to come in with good intentions. And we want to have strong borders. And we want to have extreme vetting, and we want to know what we’re doing, frankly.”

Article continues below…

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Meanwhile the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) released a statement on 30 January to say it has had “a number of inquiries” about the executive order.

“Like the United States, the Olympic movement was founded based upon principles of diversity and inclusion, of opportunity and overcoming adversity,” said the statement.

“As the steward of the Olympic movement in the United States, we embrace those values.

“We also acknowledge the difficult task of providing for the safety and security of a nation.

“It is our sincere hope that the executive order as implemented will appropriately recognize the values on which our nation, as well as the Olympic movement, were founded.”

The statement added that the US government has advised the USOC it will work with them “to ensure that athletes and officials from all countries will have expedited access to the United States in order to participate in international athletic competitions”.

H&H has contacted the LA2024 bid committee for comment.

The decision on the location of the 2024 Olympics will be made at an IOC election on 13 September.

Say what? The quotes from 2016 that put a smile on our face (or got us thinking)

Madeleine Silver — Tue, 27 Dec 2016 12:05:56 +0000

A year’s worth of reporting by Horse & Hound garners some memorable quotes from our top riders, whether in Rio or on home soil

Gems from Rio…

“I never want anyone to compare any horse I ride to Valegro — there will never be another like him” — Charlotte Dujardin, having taken individual gold at Rio

“It’s a bloody nightmare — we have to share a room and she’s always telling me off for leaving the floor wet or something. I’d like to draw a line down the middle of the room” — Tim Price on being on a Rio team with wife Jonelle

“Big Star should have been on that podium too — without him, I wouldn’t have been there” — Nick Skelton after taking the individual gold medal

“I’m really pleased with his brain and that he put in a solid test considering he was being a bit of a village idiot outside” — Pippa Funnell on Billy The Biz’s Olympic dressage test

“Everything started draining through my body. I thought of all the work we’ve done with Big Star — it’s all paid off” — Big Star’s groom Mark Beever on his experience in Rio

“It was definitely a clenching with the buttocks moment” — Jonty Evans on Cooley Rorkes Drift being held at the final trot-up in Rio

“We all had the horror that we might be on the first team not to win gold” — Paralympian Anne Dunham on Britain’s pressure to keep up its golden record

… and the rest of the year

“The Queen tapped me on the arm and said, ‘It’s all going rather well, isn’t it?’” — Her Majesty’s racing adviser John Warren on Dartmouth’s win at Royal Ascot

“If I was the judge at C, I’d have run for the hills” — Sarah Bullimore on Reve Du Rouet bolting down the centreline in the dressage at Badminton

“We say thank you to everybody who has supported us and him but, in a funny way, I think this was Sprinter’s own way of saying thanks” — trainer Nicky Henderson after (the now retired) Sprinter Sacre’s win in the Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival

“I’ve been milking cows for 25 years and now I’m training Thistlecrack and Cue Card, it’s unbelievable” — trainer Colin Tizzard after Thistlecrack won his chasing debut at Chepstow

“You get to Saturday morning and think you could be a retired middle-aged mother-of-two watching this on TV, but when it goes like that, that’s why you keep going” — Tina Cook on a clear in the time at Badminton on Star Witness

“It felt like he’d looked at the course plan and just did it for me” — Andrew Nicholson on riding Nereo cross-country at Burghley, his first British four-star since his serious fall in August 2015

“I remember someone looking at a lovely mare I showed — who went on to be coloured champion at Horse of the Year Show — and asking why I had a cow on the yard” — columnist Katie Jerram on the days before coloured classes went mainstream.

“I hate to see a cob that you need a chainsaw to take its ergots off and a dock like an oak tree” — producer Simon Reynolds likes a show cob with real quality, not an agricultural animal in disguise

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Overweight riders, Rio disqualifications — and more of 2016’s most-read news stories

Gemma Redrup — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 12:25:18 +0000

2016 was a year full of incredible highs and sadly, some terrible lows too. Here are the most-read news stories on Horseandhound.co.uk from the past 12 months

1. Overweight riders asked to dismount at show

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Eight people were asked to dismount at the Great Yorkshire Show (12-14 July) as they were deemed to be too heavy for their rides.

2. Rio showjumping: riders disqualified for excessive use of whip and spurs

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Nicola Philippaerts BEL riding Zilverstart (Image credit: Peter Nixon)

Two riders were disqualified in the first round of showjumping at the Rio Olympics. One was for overuse of the whip and the other for using his spurs excessively. Belgian individual competitor Nicola Philippaerts was riding Zilverstar T — a 12-year-old KWPN stallion by Berlin. The horse refused twice at 11b, the second part of the difficult double on the final line of fences. Nicola, 23, was then disqualified by the ground jury for excessive use of his spurs. The Netherlands’ Jur Vrieling was riding Zirocco Blue and had two refusals, one at 4b — the second part of the treble — and one at 11a. He and the 12-year-old stallion by Mr Blue were disqualified after the ground jury deemed the rider to have used his whip excessively.

3. British groom suffers head injury during Rio dressage medal ceremony

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Robbie Sanderson was injured during the team dressage medal ceremony at the Rio Olympics (Image credit: creditUnknown)

Robbie Sanderson, a British groom working for the German team at the Rio Olympics was injured in the team medal ceremony. He was leading Sönke Rothenerger’s nine-year-old Cosmo 59, who was part of the German gold medal winning team, when the horse reared up and struck out, catching him on the head and knocking him to the ground.

4. Horror fall at Paralympic dressage in Rio

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Ashley Gowanlock (CAN) & Di Scansano - Individual Championship Test Grade Ib – Rio 2016 Paralympic Games – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 14 September 2016 (Image credit: Jon Stroud Media)

There was panic at the equestrian stadium in Rio when Canadian rider Ashley Gowanlock suffered a dramatic fall at the end of her individual championship test. Ashley was taken to hospital as a precaution, but suffered no serious injuries, just bruising and a slightly sprained ankle.

Eleanor Jones — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 08:16:46 +0000

Olympic teams will consist of three combinations and drop scores will be removed, it has been agreed, as part of major changes to the Games’ format.

National federations today (22 November) voted in favour of the format changes, at the FEI general assembly in Tokyo.

Reserve combinations will still be allowed “but will be even more important and a key element in ensuring horse welfare”, an FEI spokesman said.

“This was a really important vote for the future of our sport if we are to increase universality in accordance with the recommendations of Olympic Agenda 2020”, said FEI president Ingmar De Vos said after the vote.

“We need to increase the number of participating nations at the Olympic Games but within our existing quota of 200.

“Reducing team members to three per nation was probably the only way to boost the number of flags. Of course this now has to be approved by the IOC, but it opens the door to countries that previously could only see the Olympics as a distant dream.”

Of the 107 national federations represented at the conference, 11 – including France, Germany and New Zealand – voted against the new format.

A number of changes to each discipline were also voted through, including a new heat system involving “lucky losers” to qualify for the dressage grand prix freestyle.

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These were voted through unanimously, although Britain was the only nation to vote against changes to para dressage, which include allowing each team only to bring four combinations.

“There were some national federations that didn’t agree with the proposal, but that’s all part of the democratic process,” said Mr De Vos. Now we need to work together to make this a success.”

The format change is subject to final approval by the International Olympic Committee next year.

The changes:

Showjumping:

20 teams
15 slots for nations which did not qualify a team, one combination per nation
Individual event will take place before the team competition
The exact cut-off score and resulting penalty, and the penalty for elimination, will be finalised

Dressage:

One individual per nation not qualified as a team (no composite teams)
Team medals will be decided on the grand prix special results only (as opposed to the current combination of grand prix and grand prix special)
A new heat system to qualify for the special: the top two from each of six heats, plus the next six overall best results
Top eight teams from the grand prix to qualify for the special
A new system for starting order in the grand prix
Run the grand prix special to music

Eventing:

If a reserve combination is substituted in, the team will incur a penalty, which is to be finalised
Two individuals allowed per nation not qualified as a team
Order to remain unchanged — dressage, cross-country, showjumping — but dressage to be reduced to one day
Technical level to be defined as “Olympic level”: 4* dressage and showjumping, 3* technical difficulty cross-country, with 45 jumping efforts and 10-minute optimum time
Qualification to be achieved on the same cross-country technical level
For team classification, any combination not completing a phase can progress to the next if accepted as fit to continue
For team classification, penalties for not completing a phase will be 100 for dressage and showjumping, 150 for cross-country
Individual rules are unchanged

Para dressage

Each directly qualified team may bring four combinations, of which three will be declared for the team after the individual test in which all four will compete
Maximum of two individuals per nation not represented as a team (no composite teams)
Team medals to be determined solely through team test, as opposed to the current combination of team and individual scores
Top eight per grade to qualify for the freestyle
The order will be individual championship, team test, freestyle
Team test to be set to music

Sophie Wells dressage blog: Paralympics part two — winning medals and making unforgettable memories

Sophie Wells — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 13:55:50 +0000

After riding my winning individual test at the Rio Paralympics I went straight to media while Reece was cooled off in the misting fans and got ready for the prize giving. I got to Channel 4 and they wanted to see the confirmed score and final standings on the screen just before my interview, but when I saw it written down, I was a crying mess again, hence the emotional interview. For those who know me, I’m not an emotional person, and it takes a lot to make me cry…

We were then straight into the medal ceremony without a chance to take in what was really going on. But walking down to the podium, seeing Reece being led in by Ange and Sophie made me swell with pride, and of course cry a bit more. Ange and I have worked so hard with Reece over the past 10 years, which made it even more special.

The national anthem and standing on the top of the podium was just the best feeling. It’s really hard to describe sat here tapping away on my laptop. It’s always an honour to wear the British flag on your jacket, but it takes it to another level at a Paralympics, and to then stand on the podium hearing our national anthem is just something else. It’s also the first time the grade IV gold medal has ever been won by a British rider in the history of the Paralympics, so it was another first, and one I will always treasure. This medal was also won by Noki. I wore his tail bracelet through all my tests, so he was with me — the one medal I didn’t manage to win for him, and his owners, Jackie and Neil. They have taken me so far and he really deserved this too.

My Rio haul (Image credit: creditUnknown)

It was probably two hours after my test that I was able to finally get changed and sit down for five minutes to take it in.

The rest of the day went in a bit of a blur. I went to see our family and friends and the rest of my support team at British house that night, and we had dinner together which was lovely.

The next day we gave Reece a little stretch before the freestyle the following day. I did wake up that morning and have to pinch myself to make sure it was real and it actually happened.

There are some strong riders and horses in grade IV now. The best trainers in the world are being used and para sport is really coming into its own.

I was really looking forward to my freestyle. It was a new composition by Tom Hunt, made especially for this competition. There were a few hurdles in the way of trying to sort the floorplan and music, but I was really pleased with the outcome. I hadn’t ridden it in competition before, but I had ridden through it at home and it had worked well. I had it on repeat through my head phones between the individual and competing in the freestyle. I was really ready for it, excited I think, and really looking forward to getting into the arena again and making the most of our time there.

I had decided on loud music in the sound check to get the atmosphere going and I found it was quite spine tingling.

I was the first of the Brits in the freestyle, and was eager to get on and start our warm-up.

Towards the end of the warm-up I was having problems holding my reins in my right hand. My loops, which are on buckles are leather and my saddler, Andy Milner, has made the leather rolled and narrow so it fits on my one finger on each hand, remaining secure which has helped a lot this year. My right hand finger isn’t full length so it doesn’t bend around the loop as far, and I’m very reliant on the grip of my gloves to keep me from losing the reins. I think my glove must have got wet when we were washing Reece off during his warm-up, which lost some of the grip, so just before going in I was worrying about keeping my rein. Once it pops off the end of that finger I lose the rein completely, which scares me sometimes.

I started my test and the floor plan was riding well. I got to the walk and the first movement is the extended walk, which I was grateful of as in the transition my loop slipped off my right finger. My reins were then more the length you would have for free walk and not extended, which the judges picked up on which was frustrating.

We missed our first flying-change of the first line of tempi-changes, which made us finish late going into a canter pirouette, which then made things a little tense, but we got it back and managed to do it well on the other rein. The compulsory movements had all come off, and the music fitted, which are the main things in a freestyle. Plus, I really enjoyed it.

I was pleased with the test, it wasn’t perfect, but there wasn’t much wrong with it either and I was shaking a lot afterwards! I went to cool Reece off and we heard that we had gone into silver medal position at the end of the class. The margin was so small; 0.15% behind Michele George from Belgium, who had taken silver in the individual. The score, 76% wasn’t near our personal best of nearly 81%, but that didn’t reflect how he went.

My team with Reece (Image credit: creditUnknown)

Three judges had me to win, but the other two that didn’t had a bigger margin, which meant we ended up in silver. I was so pleased with the individual medal. Of course the freestyle mattered, and it would have been great to get a hat-trick, but we can’t control the outcome, we can only control our performance in the arena.

Continued below…

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It was also great to hear we had won the team competition by a massive 20%. Then it was time for the medal ceremonies for the freestyle and the team. The horses were extremely well behaved and a credit to our whole team. I hope everyone who was out in Rio with us, and also our home teams that help us keep things going, and the horses in top condition all year, know that these medals are won because of the great people we have around us and the hard work we all put in. All this made possible by our sponsors and supporters, World Class, UK Sport and Lottery funding. Honestly, I hope you all know how much your support means. Dressage is far from an individual sport, it relies on the strongest team. Also the messages of support from home, on social media, texts, emails, cards etc, honestly mean so much. So thank you!

The two days after competition and flying home went really quickly. I was really sad to leave…. I was ready to go home and see everyone there and make sure everyone was ok, but we had the best time, in a very beautiful part of the world, with good company and amazing experiences; memories that will be with me forever.

Flying home on the BPA chartered British Airways plane with the golden nose was just incredible. How I got into first class with so many amazing athletes around me I will never know, but what an experience!

Sophie

Sophie Wells’ dressage blog: Paralympics part one — sabotaging birds

Sophie Wells — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 13:55:16 +0000

Well what can I say? Since my last blog, a small but mighty whirlwind has occurred; the Paralympic games. It was amazing to be a part of it, but also so surreal that it almost feels like it hasn’t happened!

So, myself, Reece and Jorge left on 1 September to start the mammoth journey to Rio. We met up with the rest of the team at The Arrow RDA in Dartford where the selected horses were checked out to make sure they were all healthy and fit to travel. Thankfully all the horses were fine, but this also meant the reserves had to head for home once the selected horses had arrived in Liege, Belgium, at the airport ready to travel the following day to Rio.

Beth, my groom at home, travelled with Reece and Mark Perry who transports the horses to the airport and loaded him in the crate to go on the plane. Sophie Cassey, my competition groom, flew out to Rio the day before the horses so she could be there take him off the lorry the other end and get him settled in his new home. I flew with the rest of the team on the same day as the horses, but from Heathrow and we were very lucky to be able to fly business class, which meant physically we arrived in good form and ready for the competition.

Reece in his Paralympic stable (Image credit: creditUnknown)

The 12-hour flight was quite a long one and Reece did lose some weight, which was expected, but he certainly wasn’t feeling tired when I got to see him!

The next week was spent familiarising the horses to the venue, training arenas and then the competition area at the end of the week. The setting was beautiful with a backdrop of mountains. The main arena definitely felt smaller than the one at London 2012 but it was friendly, which is really important when it comes to the horses feeling comfortable in there by themselves on competition day.

The athlete’s village was amazing. The flats were comfortable and I think making it a homely space is really important when you are away for so long. I decorated my walls with pictures from home and good luck cards. The apartment blocks were surrounded by swimming pools, palm trees, water features, climbing frames, tennis courts…. the list goes on. The normal food hall, which was the second biggest temporary structure in the world, was as crazy as ever. The food was probably the worst bit of the trip. There is only so many times you can have sticky or dry noodles, grilled chicken and well over-cooked broccoli!

All the British horses passed the trot-up — they were beautifully turned out by the very hard working grooms, and we all looked very smart in our Adidas team kit. Although it was supposed to be Brazil’s winter, they had a bit of a heat wave that lasted the two weeks, which meant most days temperatures were over 30 degrees. Therefore we spent a lot of time taking Reece out for some grass where there tended to be a bit of a breeze in an open field, and we were fortunate that the British team took out fans for the horses’ stables to try and keep them cool. We also washed them off with ice water during training and in the warm-up for competitions every 10/15 minutes to keep them as cool as we could.

My first day of competition was the team test. I was thrilled to hear that I was put onto the team to fight for the prestigious team medal that we have all fought so hard to retain. It’s always an honour. I was the first of our team riders to go and we always have in our minds that we need to ride for a safe ‘clear round’ for the team score. I was more nervous than I thought I would be. We trotted in and Reece felt the atmosphere — to be fair I could feel it too!

Reece cooling off in the misting fans (Image credit: creditUnknown)

I think we had all resigned ourselves to the fact that the atmosphere was never going to be like London, being a home games, and with ticket sales being low for the Olympics, we didn’t think there would be many people watching. We were wrong!

The test went well, but it felt like Reece was holding his breath a little bit and he lost his swagger. It was a clean test though, which we needed, just not quite on full power. It was quite a feeling finishing the test and hearing the cheers from the crowd, and the brilliant British supporters. I said to myself before I got on, that I wanted to go in and enjoy it, take it all in and live the experience, and just ride the best I could. We did enough to come second by a small margin, behind reigning Paralympic and world champion, Michele George and Rainman, which was a comfortable position to be in going in to the individual test two days later.

I gave Reece a little trot stretch early the next day before it got too hot. It’s important to keep his muscles moving after working hard the day before, and we did some walk work to keep his brain in gear. He then had the rest of the day to chill out.

I had kept telling myself that it’s not about the medals. Although I train to be the best I can be, some things are out of our control and after the disappointment of London I wanted to go into the Rio games in a different head space. I’ve worked really hard with Jennie Killilea this year on my core values, and have been working with much more of a holistic approach.

I knew what I had to do going into the individual and was in a calm place. I went around the arena in rising trot, talking to Reece and giving him the confidence in there that he had in the warm-up. His swagger had returned. The test was going well, but when I went into canter two birds took residence in the arena. I remember thinking to myself: “You are not going to ruin this for me!” We managed to perform around the birds, we even got through the dreaded simple change that has haunted me since London. I found myself smiling as I was riding round, enjoying it, enjoying dancing with my boy as we have worked so hard to be here. It was then the final centre line with a canter to halt transition at X, and where were the birds? On X. I said in my head “move birds – I need to halt there”. I think they sensed I meant it as at the last moment they waddled quickly to the side of the centre line and we halted – on X!

As soon as I saluted and walked off I felt this surge of emotion that came out of nowhere. We had done everything we could in that test. As soon as I saw Ange coming out of the kiss and cry stand, she was in tears. We didn’t even know a score or the scores of anyone else. We just knew we had delivered what we could and the rest was out of our hands.

Continued below…

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I gave Reece a little trot in the indoor school to cool him off as it was over 30 degrees and the whole of our support team congregated in the corner of the arena. I walked for a bit, then got some water and walked a bit more. I could see them talking and looking at a phone. I knew it would be at the scores, but I didn’t want to know. I wanted to take a moment to let it sink in that we had competed at the Paralympics and done a great test and Reece tried his heart out for me, trusted me, and gave all he had.

I got off and Lucy (the physio) said: “Do you want to know?” I said “no!”. But she told me anyway. “You have done it – you’ve won!”

I burst into tears, I couldn’t believe it. The rush of emotion was so huge, all that time I had been trying to convince myself that the medals didn’t matter — they did. The years and years of work, the disappointments, the struggles and the lessons learnt had all helped to get to this point.. It was amazing to see the rest of the support team that we are so fortunate to have the support of being emotional too. A lot of them have been on our journey for a long time, and know the hard work and heart ache it has taken. So this is for everyone who has contributed in every way, big or small, directly or indirectly, to our journey and success. Thank you.

To be continued…

Sophie

Ricky Balshaw: Is the horsepower too hot? H&H VIP

Horse & Hound — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 08:00:46 +0000

Our riders achieved so much out in Rio and I was delighted for all of them. Maintaining their unbeaten run under such pressure was fantastic. I was especially pleased for Sophie Wells. She’s been waiting for that individual gold for four years and she’s one of the most hardworking, dedicated people I’ve ever met, not just with her horses but in life.

The selectors had an extremely difficult job in deciding who should be on the team. They look at past performance and have to estimate what will happen. Many people have said that Lee Pearson should have been on the team. Granted, the scores Lee produced would not have been our discard score had he been, but the selectors aren’t psychic — they have to go on the information they have, which is a lot more than the public have.

How great it is that we can win team gold by such a considerable margin, even when the team wasn’t made up of the four highest scoring combinations. I definitely thought this was the competition where we would get a run for our money, where if we didn’t win gold it would be understandable. The Dutch did everything right in the run-up; I expected them to score higher.

Lee and I are like brothers and I was so thrilled he won the freestyle. He was upset by London and deserved gold here. To see him so emotional proved how much it meant. In Beijing he said to me, “Rick, I just can’t cry on the podium.” It took his 11th gold medal to make him cry. The huge teams behind the scenes deserve all the success too. The medal is the rider and the ribbon is the team holding it around the rider’s neck.

Are riders are risk?

Para dressage is almost a different sport now compared to when I started competing internationally 15 years ago. It’s a lot more professional — I remember the parties at shows, with fake legs flying around, wheelchair races and general carnage. But there’s more money involved now, people have to take it even more seriously.

The biggest change was swapping to own-horse competitions. It’s more subjective now, but the standard and the horsepower has shot up, which is great. However, with that comes the issue of safety. There were a lot of major spooks in Rio that could have turned into accidents, as well as one bad fall, and I was worried for some of the riders.

Some riders with severe disabilities are on horses that they cannot cope with and it’s dangerous. Yes, they’re talented and have balls of steel, and are willing to risk injury to win a medal, but they shouldn’t have to. It’s one of the reasons I retired from the sport — I don’t want to injure myself to the extent that I can’t work, or provide for a family. Riders with disabilities are more vulnerable than able-bodied riders.

We have fantastic horsepower now — the horse I won silver with in Beijing wouldn’t be in the top 10 now — and I’m not suggesting the quality of horses should diminish, but there’s a misconception that talented horses have to be nuts. The best thing that could happen for para dressage may, ironically, be the worst thing — somebody getting badly hurt, or worse — for the sport to recognise the situation.

For dressage and para dressage to survive it needs to appeal to a modern audience and spectators should be able to clap when a rider finishes a test. It shouldn’t matter if a baby cries, or there’s a Mexican wave. There are several horses who didn’t look at a thing in Rio, and it proves they are out there.

Ref Horse & Hound; 22 September 2016

8 heartwarming moments from the Rio Paralympics

Polly Bryan — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 11:25:23 +0000

1. Pepo Puch

Pepo and family (Image credit: Kevin Sparrow 07917336694)

As soon as Pepo Puch’s individual gold medal winning score been announced, cries of “Papa, Papa” could be heard in the mixed zone. Pepo’s nine-year-old daughter Lou came running towards her father, weaving through the pack of journalists and trailing an Austrian flag, before throwing herself into his arms. She was closely followed by Pepo’s wife and trainer, Michele, and seeing the family embrace and celebrate together was one of the most touching moments of the Games.

2. Lee Pearson

Lee Pearson GBR Gold MedalistPhoto Liz Gregg/FEI (Image credit: Tony Parkes)

Lee Pearson may have already had 10 gold medals to his name, but it was winning his 11th, in the grade Ib freestyle, that the tears came in their floods.

“I’m thinking of all the hard work this gold has taken, especially when some people don’t believe in your horse,” said Lee, who is the most decorated Paralympic rider of all time.

“I’m in love with my team. I’m in love with the lottery. I’m in love with my family, my parents, my brothers, my groom, my partner — everybody that has kept me in the game, kept me here.”

3. Sanne Voets

Sanne Voets NL and "Demantur" Gold Medalists Grade IIIPhoto Liz Gregg (Image credit: Tony Parkes)

The Dutch team may have won the bronze medal, but on the Thursday night Sanne Voets was empty-handed as she had been competing as an individual and not on the team. After finishing an agonising fourth in the grade III individual, she and her Vivaldi gelding Demantur gave the freestyle their all and were rewarded with gold.

“I think I collapsed when I heard I had won the gold!” said Sanne.

4. Stinna Kaastrup

(Image credit: Kevin Sparrow)

One of the most moving stories of the Games was that of Denmark’s Stinna Kaastrup. The 22-year-old, who was born without legs, was due to compete at the London Paralympics when her pony Labbenhus Snoevs died suddenly just weeks beforehand. In the interim years she has struggled to find the right horse until Smarties was offered to her, but it took the gelding months to understand her aids and earlier this year she said it would not be possible to be ready for Rio. Then, Stinna experienced “the worst night of my life” after Smarties failed the trot-up. Having made it to Rio against the odds, finally passed the trot-up on reinspection, and produced the grade Ib performances of her life to secure two bronze medals, there is no one who deserved a place on the podium more.

5. Medals

(Image credit: creditUnknown)

Discovering that the Rio 2016 Paralympic medals make different noises, as a much-appreciated gesture to blind athletes, came as a surprise to winners. Each colour medal contains a different number of tiny balls, so the bronze makes a deep rattle, the silver a higher-pitched noise, and the gold the highest of all.

6. Natasha Baker

Natasha Baker GBR Gold Medalist Grade IIPhoto Liz Gregg (Image credit: Tony Parkes)

Britain’s Natasha Baker began crying at the salute in her gold medal-winning individual test, and never stopped. This was her London partner Cabral’s final championship and the 15-year-old had proved tricky in the first class of the week, after suffering stage fright in the huge Olympic stadium. But he was a different horse in the second test, and Natasha couldn’t thank her horse enough, “for allowing me to show the world what he can do”.

7. Sergio Oliva

Bronze Medalist Sergio Oliva celebrates with his supporters.Photo Liz Gregg (Image credit: Tony Parkes)

Brazil haven’t won a Paralympic dressage medal since Beijing 2008, but Sergio Oliva delivered what the hoards of fans were hoping for here. The grade Ia rider almost disappeared under a crowd of Brazilian friends, family, media and other supporters after receiving the first of his two gold medals, for the individual championship, and the noisy celebrations continued into the evening.

8. Sophie Wells

Sophie Wells GBR and ValeriusPhoto Liz Gregg (Image credit: Tony Parkes)

For four years, Sophie Wells has been haunted by the memory of losing out on the grade IV individual gold medal in London. Here she achieved her dream with her own Valerius, a 14-year-old gelding she has trained herself for a decade. Seeing her wipe away the tears on the top of the podium, gazing down at the horse with whom she has shared such a journey, was enough to make everybody glad they were wearing sunglasses.

To read the full report from the Rio Paralympic dressage competition, don’t miss the next issue of Horse & Hound magazine, out tomorrow (22 September)

Top-class care: who looked after our horses in Rio?

Madeleine Silver — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 12:33:52 +0000

As this summer's Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro come to a close, we go behind the scenes at the 1,000 sq metre horse clinic located at the Deodoro stables, to take a look at the world-class veterinary and farriery care that was on tap for our equine athletes. The clinic included the latest pathology, endoscopy, radiography and ultrasonography technology, as well as a dispensary, emergency surgery facility with padded recovery boxes, and specialist treatment stables. The facility was manned by a 130-strong team of veterinary surgeons, anaesthetists, imaging specialists and medical professionals from Brazil and around the world

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