Triumph for London International as it moves home after half a century

ORGANISERS of the London International Horse Show say they are “delighted” with how the show ran at its new home, which was also praised by competitors and spectators.

The show was held at the ExCeL centre, London, for the first time, having had to move from Olympia owing to the redevelopment of the West London venue.

“Having run the London International Horse Show at Olympia for the past 49 years, it was with some trepidation that we made the move to ExCeL,” show director Simon Brooks-Ward told H&H. “The team has worked extremely hard to make the show work in these halls and while we knew that the experience for the competitors would be much improved because of the space and facilities available, we were really interested in what our audience would think and say.

“Any concerns we might have had vanished by the end of the first day. We have been inundated by positive feedback from our visitors, who tell us that we have moved the Olympia experience to ExCeL, giving them the show they love but with unexpected extras. “The larger arena, with bigger seats, the better layout of the shopping village, the ease of movement around the show, the access to the collecting ring and the new hospitality experiences have all added together to make this a show that offers more than we could offer at Olympia, and has been brilliantly received. There are things to improve on but, for a first event, we are delighted and looking forward to the future with confidence.”

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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.

Triumph for London International as it moves home after half a century

“The organisers have done a great job putting it together,” he added. “It’s hard because Olympia has such a special feel about it, so it will always be hard to replicate that iconic building and the special feeling that comes with that. But they’ve put on a great show.”

“They’ve done a fantastic job of setting it up and when you ride down the chute, you almost think you’re there [at Olympia],” she said. “They’ve done it very similar and tried to keep it all the same, so it’s actually lovely.”

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