Weather forces further horse show cancellations

Shows and events across Britain are being cancelled due to bad weather.

The British Show Jumping Association (BSJA) reports that five shows scheduled for this weekend have been cancelled, some of which were due to run qualifiers for HOYS, Olympia and the Scope Festival.

“We are experiencing really adverse whether conditions and are doing the best we can. If a show has other dates in the calendar we will try to keep the qualifier at that venue if possible, provided it doesn’t clash,” said BSJA shows liaison manager Julie Heywood.

So far, Market Bosworth, Castle Ashby, Kenyon, Barraclough Show and Durham County have been cancelled.

“The qualifiers at shows that run only once a year, like Castle Ashby and Market Bosworth, which cancelled yesterday, have been moved to other venues,” said Julie. “The HOYS Grade C qualifier at Castle Ashby has been reallocated to Bicester and Finmere (4-5 August) because we wanted to put it on at a show that has a public attendance and keep it on grass.

“The senior British Novice regional final scheduled for Market Bosworth has been transferred to Weston Lawns this Sunday because that venue has two surfaces and the conditions to cope.”

Meanwhile, British Eventing (BE) is receiving daily updates on the state of the ground from the team at Barbury Castle, due to run this weekend.

“Fingers crossed Barbury looks OK — the problem is the weather is so changeable at the moment,” said BE spokesman Winnie Murphy. “At this time of year we are running so many qualifiers for Gatcombe, PAVO young horse championships. Rescheduling is a nightmare. The events that can usually cope with the bad weather are not standing up to this.”

This weekend’s Buckminster Park has cancelled, due to host both pre-novice regional finals and PAVO qualifiers.

Driving is suffering, too. Henbury Hall Driving Trials, the final selection point for the World Horse Pairs Championships, scheduled for 14, 15 and 16 July has been cancelled.

But British Dressage (BD) is not faring too badly.

“We haven’t so far had that many cancellations because most of our competitions are run on surfaces and the parking is on hard standing, so we’re lucky,” said BD spokesman Jo Bagnall. “We’ve had five shows over the past few weeks cancelled because of the flooding.”

Newark Dresage (4 July) and Ettrick Forest (8 July) have been cancelled.

For the latest cancellations, visit:

• www.bsja.co.uk/cancelledshows.html
• www.britisheventing.co.uk

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