There are four classical riding academies in the world and by far the most famous is The Spanish Riding School with their unique Lipizzaner stallions, based in Vienna, Austria. For very nearly 350 years, the school has reigned supreme and been the centre of ‘classic dressage performance’. The other three are also Europe based –
With hugely higher Covid 19 cases reported every day and governments scrabbling around, trying to find a way through this most hideous pandemic, most of Western Europe is now in or about to be in lock down once again. Slightly different from the first lock down in that elite sports are set to continue but
The weekend saw the first and only five star horse trial eventing take place in 2020 in France at Pau, won by Laura Collett. There was also top class racing around the globe, on what was mainly atrocious heavy ground. To make a change, there were also World Cup qualifiers in the USA, the first
As European racing comes to an end for the year in Europe, the Champions Day at Ascot was another race meeting where further records were broken. It was the tenth anniversary of the ‘Champions’ meeting. There were also two dressage World Cup qualifiers over the weekend. At Ascot, the racing provided the first ever double
In a rare feat for this year, Keysoe Equestrian managed to complete its second FEI dressage competition on schedule. It was doubles all round for Charlotte Dujardin in the dressage and The O’Brien trainers also completed a double in The Fillies Mile and Dewhurst. Britain’s Scott Brash has been away for so long now, one
Over the years, Isabell Werth has personified the German code for excellence in dressage – “to combine the leg and the seat into the hands to form a connection with the horse”. She is the most decorated equestrian Olympic rider of all time with ten Olympic medals to her name. She has had a plethora
The main equestrian news of the week again involved racing. With the autumn coming on apace, juvenile Group 1 races are being run around the globe. In St Tropez, showjumping put on its 5 star Grand Prix; and a rare Dressage World Cup qualifier did actually take place in Hungary. Ireland held the main horse
While most equestrian competition has been decimated this year, a new competition in the UK finished yesterday – The Nexgen Young Horse series which has been open to young horses of four, five and six years old for dressage, showjumping and eventing. There have been nine qualifying rounds around the UK with the final at
In recent days, Hickstead managed to stage its scheduled national showjumping behind closed doors, the world rankings were published for September, racing of the classics, The Kentucky Derby and Oaks at Churchill Downs finally took place and in dressage, one of the few National Championships took place in Sweden. Showjumping Yesterday saw the final day
With the flourish of top racing around the world following lock down things are slowly returning to normal with less top races being run as the catch-up has abated somewhat. In dressage, a couple of CDI’s and the first FEI 5 star CSI took place in France for the showjumpers. Eventing This weekend saw the
