1. Burghley’s bid to hold the 2026 eventing World Championships
Yesterday (9 February) the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials organising team announced plans to bid for the 2026 eventing World Championships, and are in discussions with UK Sport about accessing funding. The five-star venue has held the World Championships twice before, in 1966, and 1974. Event director Martyn Johnson said Burghley is “synonymous with the pinnacle of the sport of eventing”, and hosting the championships would bring huge benefits to the event and local community. “It would also focus our longer-term vision for the event as we continue to invest in upgrading the permanent infrastructures for athletes and horses to improve further a world-class venue,” he said. The bid process, run by the FEI, is open and will conclude by June.
2. Ben Maher’s “unscheduled holiday”
Olympic showjumping champion Ben Maher is recovering from a fall at the Wellington Equestrian Festival in Florida, where he has been jumping a string of horses. Ben said on 8 February that owing to the “bad fall” he will be taking an “unscheduled holiday”, but he hopes to be back soon. The Tokyo gold medallist had been enjoying a successful couple of weeks in the States, and had clocked up a number of top placings including with his Rio Olympic partner Tic Tac and new top mare Dallas Vegas Batilly. Ben said he will keep everyone updated on his recovery and appreciates all the kind messages.
3. Unsuited combinations putting welfare at risk
This week in his exclusive H&H column Carl Hester discussed horse welfare, following an International Dressage Riders Club Zoom meeting he attended led by equine vet and researcher Rachel Murray. Among the meeting’s discussions was how the wrong match between horse and rider can cause “confusion and injury”. Carl said riders who lack confidence and turn to dressage as they find it less scary than jumping, or riders who are not physically fit enough to sit on the power, may not be placed to ride a sparky young horse forward with confidence. “Horses try hard to please and those willing temperaments, if not strengthened, trained and managed appropriately, can put them at risk. We need to protect them. This is not criticism; it’s a call for education to be the priority, for us to listen to highly qualified practitioners like Rachel when talking about welfare,” he said.
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