FEI
Sitting here in my kitchen on New Years Eve, its hard to know where the year went; its flown by in a blur for me. The result of which is that I am only just finding a few spare minutes to catch up on the last adventures of the season
Pau is always a delight, but this year clearly the gods had decided I needed a pick me up and delivered 25 degrees of Pyrenean sunshine for me to enjoy across all the four days…
Read MoreIt feels like we had all been looking forward to Pratoni since the curtain came down on Tokyo. The build up as palpable as the previous year and for me personally… The build up had been a little turbulent, with the trip on and off and back in again.
The dust lay around like perfectly sieved black icing sugar, sprinkled across the top of the Pratoni cake… and just about everything and everyone became decorated in it. And it turned out Volcanic dust sticks to everything.
Championships are different gravy; the buzz, the camaraderie in the media centre, the excitement of who will win those coveted medals. It’s so much more important yet so many are just happy to have reached that point. An educated crowd frantically waving their country flags. Anticipation of special moments about to be witnessed first hand.
Read MoreFarewell to a legend…
Some horses just get under your skin and pull at the heart strings and ever since watching a young, relatively unknown rider called Ros Canter, on her gigantic dark bay equine companion, I have been smitten. Who couldn’t be?! For all 17hh of dear Alby were just perfection. And together they conquered the world; quite literally.
Read MoreMuch has been written about the ‘strangest’ of years and how it’s been a shortened season - but in so many ways that hasn’t diminished the quality on display at Pau this weekend. A French adventure had always been on the grand masterplan for this season, long before we knew Covid-19 existed.
So much of 2020 hasn’t lived up to pre-season expectations. There’s been so many dreams lost this season. But one little dream remained, from the early glance at the Pau entries, one little dream emerged - could gorgeous Dan make amends for the unlucky tragedy of the Europeans last year.
Read MoreYou know that good things must come to the inevitable end, but when they have been this good, it’s a hard pill to swallow.
Gorgeous Gary has taken me on a memorable journey as his number one fan, he has taken me to courses I’d only ever dreamed of attending. It has been a complete pleasure to follow him all the way from the Highlands of Scotland to the French Pyrenees.
Read MoreI do still feel like the pause button has been pressed on life though - it’s so engrained in my brain that April is the Grand National, May brings Badminton, Chatsworth & Rockingham then onto Bramham in June - without these I do feel like I’m stuck in a Groundhog Day kind of loop; April fools day on repeat.
Thankfully there does seem some socially-distanced light at the end of the tunnel. British Eventing have delivered the much-needed news that after much consideration, deliberation and planning; Eventing is returning.
Read More…but I can pick pick my 10 favourites.
Well some few hours later and instead of 10, I had 29 on my ‘shortlist’ - the greats of the sport, some that pull on the heartstrings and some that will just always hold a special place in my heart.
When reading the list below, you will notice a theme, one that could be used to create the ultimate Eventer - powerful, quirky, enthusiastic and brave when going XC, whilst being in true harmony with their human partner. I am a big lover of this great sport and have been lucky enough to watch many who fit the aforementioned description.
Read MoreThe beautifully colour-coded calendar on the fridge of all my national and international Eventing fixtures is now obsolete. Wiped out. Gone.
One by one the fixtures make the inevitable announcement, cancellation is sadly communicated.
When all the social distancing is but a weird, distant memory, we shall again begin to plan those adventures and journeys. The color-coded calendar shall be re-born and off Eventing we shall go.
Read MoreUltimately Eventers (both competitors and supporters) are a bloody tough breed, we’ve got through previous outbreaks, disasters and wartime; the sport will make it through this. We’ve weathered cancellations and abandonments before, and this time will be no different.
Whether Tokyo comes or is lost, all that matters is everyone is still here when we pick up where the season paused, be that hopefully in a few weeks or we draw stumps and start a fresh next season with renewed energy. As long as the friends I have made on this wonderful journey are here with me, that’s all that ultimately matters.
Read MoreIt’s not just the Premiership that is the home of big money transfers anymore; the FEI deadline for horses and riders to be declared for each nation ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. And this impending deadline of 15th January seems to have bought with it scenes akin to Sky Sports News Deadline Day news coverage.
Quarrycrest Echo & Piggy French, FEI European Championships, Luhmuhlen 2019
Recent, assumed big money, transfers have included Cekatinka, Fischer Chipmunk FRH, Superstition, Creevagh Cooley and most recently bought the biggest news of all to Team GBR supporters last month: Quarrycrest Echo, the dependable chestnut gelding who has helped propel Team GBR to Team Gold at WEG and Team Silver at the Europeans this summer, has left Piggy’s yard in a big transfer deal.
Red, as he is affectionately known, has joined Team Japan.
Quarrycrest Echo & Piggy French, FEI European Championships, Luhmuhlen 2019
Team Japan have been busy building an enviable team of top horses - Cekatinka joined them last year, along with Vinci de la Vigne and now Red has joined them too. An enviable yard of stars.
Team GB can’t be too down in the mouth though, they have benefitted from Superstition leaving New Zealander Lucy Jackson’s yard and going to Harry Meade’s stable.
Lucy Jackson & Superstition, Chatsworth, May 2019
Personally it rather leaves a tiny sour taste in the mouth....
It, in a small part, appears that medals are being ‘bought’ rather than the traditional buy them young, put hours/weeks/months/years into schooling them and hope one day you have a championship winner in the yard. Whilst this is nothing new, the trend seems to be increasing.
As much as you can expect these high level transfers, ones at this end of the sport are rare . Mostly I’m guessing due to money, Quarrycrest Echo will not have come cheap - £millions I can only imagine. The supply will also be a factor, there aren’t an abundance of top level horses that people wish to part with.
If you want to make money, Event horses aren’t the typical place to look, very few manage to break even let alone make a notable investment return. So who can blame owners when they have the chance to finally see their investment mature. These chances rarely come along, if ever, so they must be taken.
Team GBR’s loss is most definitely Team Japan’s gain - Red has a fantastic championship record. Whilst I really hope he fulfils his potential for his new Team, there will be a tinge of sadness watching him in Tokyo.
But what success does this move bring, last years big-money transfer of Cooley SRS to Australian rider Hazel Shannon’s yard hasn’t bought the assumed 5* success, with ‘Aero’ an absentee from Adelaide’s big showpiece.
Although the German machine that is Michael Jung did achieve a Silver Individual & Team Gold at the Europeans with Fischer Chipmunk FRH less than 12 months after the horse moved to his yard.
Michael Jung & Fischer Chipmunk FRH, FEI European Championships, Luhmuhlen 2019
Will a recently bought team really bring home the medals - the allure of equestrian sports, more so Eventing in particular is the dynamic partnership that riders build with their horses over a long period of time - can this really be achieved with only less than 9 months till Tokyo?
Can a medal-winning partnership be fast-tracked? Will Team Japan deliver a medal for the home nation?
Wow. What a week.
It has been a dream of mine to cover a championships. And this week my dream came true.
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