The British Eventing season’s under way, as Piggy March ponders Olympic formats and the why those who love eventing need to come together and stay supportive
The average alarm clock for grooms going to Poplar Park must have been about 2am – it’s a rude awakening for the first event of the season, but definitely worth it.
I’ve been going to Poplar for years and it’s great to see it become so popular again, probably due to the good going provided by the sandy ground, given the uncertain weather.
There’s only so much training you can do before you’re ready to blow the cobwebs away. It brought a smile to my face to see Ballaghmor Class, aged 17, having a buck on the lunge before his dressage.
Olympic fever
An Olympic year always starts with much excitement and anticipation and the potential British squad look as strong as ever.
Some pairs with great championship form will not do a five-star this spring as they save horses for Paris. As riders, we are left to do what we think best for our mounts and there are pros and cons of each pathway. It must be hard being a selector when some combinations are placing at those early five-stars and others are relying on four-star shorts.
We’ve recently heard that the Los Angeles Olympics are likely to run with the team showjumping before cross-country and the second showjumping round for individual medals last.
I don’t love the short-format team proposal – the best thing about eventing is the horsemanship involved to get a horse ready to showjump following cross-country. The trend away from this may encourage our sport to move more towards dressage and showjumping-bred horses, rather than blood types.
Still, it’s a positive that the proposal keeps the individual showjumping after cross-country and that it pushes for the cross-country to be 10 minutes rather than shorter.
In the future, riders will probably seek two different types of horse for championships compared to five-stars, as they are contrasting top-level competitions. That said, the British team who took gold in Tokyo were all five-star winners – and yet a team founded on those same campaigners didn’t do so well at the Pratoni World Championships, where they were arguably caught out by a smaller course.
Many went to Rio thinking an Olympics would have a softer cross-country track and fell foul of a tough Pierre Michelet course. We have a French designer again in Paris – Pierre Le Goupil – and I’ve never known a championship in France not to be a serious cross-country competition.
As a rider, when I’m buying horses I love to find a quick-thinking, sharp horse who will still want to gallop and jump at 11 minutes – my heart lies with that type rather than a fancy mover. I’d prefer to work harder on the dressage than worry about whether the lights are going out at eight minutes.
It is vital we keep eventing in the Olympics and we have already made compromises to ensure that, particularly fielding only three in a team. Many nations’ funding is dependent on our Olympic status and as a sports person, the Olympics is the pinnacle of your career. If we have to put cross-country last to keep that, who cares?
Good luck, Rosie
Not many would want to take on leading British Eventing, so thank you to new CEO Rosie Williams.
Eventing is going through difficult, uncertain times. It’s an expensive sport, with many safety requirements and for years it’s been supported by people doing it for the love of it, but now stakeholders from landowners to organisers and riders need to make a business of it.
I hated to see two of my favourite events, Rockingham and Somerford, pull the plug, and the loss of the Festival of British Eventing is a shock.
I hope those who love eventing can club together and stay supportive. It’s easy to criticise and impossible to keep everybody happy, but we need to try to help to keep the sport viable.
Good luck, Rosie. Here’s to a safe season for all in 2024 and fingers crossed for gold medals.
● What are your hopes for the 2024 eventing season? Let us know at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and country, for the chance for your letter to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine
- This exclusive column will also be available to read in Horse & Hound magazine, on sale Thursday 7 March
You might also be interested in:
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Rider aims for Paris Olympics in two equestrian disciplines: ‘We’ll go for it’
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