Future of Barbury Horse Trials unclear as estate to be sold
Barbury Castle is to be put on the market by owners Nigel and Penny Bunter.
After 11 year’s of staging Barbury International Horse Trials, the Bunters have made the decision to sell their Wiltshire estate.
The event is one of the most prestigious CIC3*s in Britain, and also hosts a CIC2* and novice classes.
This year, Barbury was one of six events to host the new Event Rider Masters series.
“We want to move while we are young enough to embrace such a big change to our lifestyle,” said Mr Bunter.
“We will miss Barbury of course but the time is now right for us. We have loved being part of the horse trials which was conceived over a quiet drink with David Green and we owe a huge debt of gratitude for all the support that Barbury has received particularly from the riders and owners who made Barbury so special.
“There are a million more thank yous and we will try get round to thanking the very many people who helped to make the event success especially the amazing team that turned out every year and who made Barbury such a friendly and welcoming venue. “
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Barbury joined the British Eventing (BE) calendar in 2005.
“Barbury Castle International has been a phenomenal success since then, raising the bar for our sport in so many ways,” said Chris Farr, BE’s sport operations manager.
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“This popular venue has been a key part of the plans for many riders and teams during its time but until the future is certain Barbury Castle International will remain in the calendar for 2017.”
Mr Farr added that BE’s fixtures team is looking into contingency plans for a future venue for the future should they be required.
“We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Nigel and Penny, and the whole team at Barbury, for all they have done for the sport in the past 11 years” he added.
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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.