Replacement fixture to cover loss of Barbury International revealed
Andrew Nicholson pictured on Swallow Springs at Barbury in 2021.
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
The canned Barbury International fixture has been reallocated to Aston-le-Walls by British Eventing (BE).
BE pulled the plug on Barbury owing to the organisation’s new restrictions that prevent venues that host international fixtures from also running unaffiliated events (see detail below).
What happened to Barbury?
BE’s new affiliation agreement for 2023 prevents venues that host international fixtures from running unaffiliated eventing competitions during the year. They can still host riding club and Pony Club events, or “GO BE” fixtures – which fall under the BE umbrella, but results do not go on the official BE record and do not count towards competitors’ minimum eligibility requirements.
BE, which has experienced increasing competition from the unaffiliated market in recent years, cited “social licence” as its reasoning behind not allowing international venues to also host “unregulated competitions”.
“As the national governing body for eventing in the UK, BE is committed to delivering a consistently regulated, safe, clean sport. BE has no jurisdiction over unregulated competitions and cannot vouch for their compliance with FEI and BE requirements for sport, which have horse and rider welfare at their heart,” said the BE statement on 25 February.
Alec Lochore, of organisers Musketeer Event Management, told H&H at the time (news, 2 March) that he was “frustrated” and “sad” at BE’s decision not to allow Barbury to run an international.
“We have to question BE’s understanding of event viability challenges if organisers are not permitted to try and at least make the international event venues viable,” he said.
He explained that Musketeer started running the unaffiliated fixture at Barbury to make the affiliated one viable.
“Every venue is different in running their financial model, so in that respect, one size can’t fit all,” said Mr Lochore, adding that a constant would be that not many organisers can run the events just for the love of the sport.
Mr Lochore said that “BE should be commended” for how proactive they have been in developing safety over the last 20-plus years, but challenges the “insinuation in the BE statement that ‘unregulated’ events are less safe or less inclined to understand the responsibility of social licence”.
“In all events we run, we try to uphold high standards to reflect our responsibility to the industry, irrespective of under which auspices the events are run,” he said.
“It is very sad, and very important to stress that we are very fortunate that Barbury Castle Estates and [owner] Chris Woodhouse remain committed to international eventing at Barbury, so the gate is always open and I hope we will again be able to return international eventing to this fabulous location. In the meantime. we will run at least one if not a couple of fabulous unaffiliated eventing competitions.”
A spokesman for the Cotswold Cup told H&H last month that as “staunch eventing fans, we are as saddened as everyone else” to see the loss of Barbury International from the affiliated calendar.
“But we are thrilled that the team at Musketeer have given us the opportunity to continue to run at such an iconic venue,” she added.
“It was always our intention to raise the bar for unaffiliated eventing. We take safety incredibly seriously and we have very experienced and knowledgeable people working with us to achieve our goals.”
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