BE riders lose another event
A further horse trials has been lost from the British Eventing (BE) calendar.
BE events will no longer be run at Brooksby Melton College following a 10-year run of competition at the venue.
Developments at the college have led to a reduction in the available land for the BE event.
“It is with regret that we will no longer be running the BE event at Brooksby Melton College,” said a spokesman for the venue.
“We have had a fantastic 10-year run and would like to thank the competitors, volunteers and everyone for their efforts throughout.
“Due to all the positive developments that have happened at the college over the last couple of years, the land available for an event this size has reduced and we are therefore unable to mitigate against poor weather conditions and the impact this would have against the operations of the farm, equestrian centre and students for the remainder of the year.”
Other competitions at the Leicestershire college will continue as usual and Brooksby Melton College’s cross-country course will remain.
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The course will be maintained for use within set times of the year for training and clinics, which will be open to the public.
“After ten years we are very sorry to lose the popular grassroots fixture from the BE calendar,” added a BE spokesman.
“This is sadly due to the changing requirements of the college resulting in the site no longer being available to run as an affiliated fixture.
“The June event has been replaced by a new fixture at Speetley and options are being considered to replace the September fixture”
Ascott-under-Wychwood and Somerley Park
Last month (3 June), horseandhound.co.uk reported that the future of Ascott-under-Wychwood hung in the balance because the current organisers planned to step down.
Chris and Janet Badger are retiring at the end of the year.
In October, it was announced that Somerley Park would no longer host BE horse trials.
Related articles:
- British Eventing loses another long-running fixture
- Future of popular BE event hangs in balance
- Auchinleck Horse Trials axed by BE
The Hampshire event has been running for 18 years.
Organiser Suzie Cotterill, who has been involved with the event since it began, cited costs as the reason for closure.
“It has been an extremely difficult decision to come to since we have been running a very popular event in a stunning location for many years,” she said.
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.