Dear BEMA Member,
Another year, another terrific medal haul for Great Britain's equestrian teams and somememorable competitions, with the World Cup qualifiers at London still to come and the build-up to the 20 28 Olympic Games in Los Angeles steadily gathering pace.
The World Championships in Aachen was an outstanding fortnight—aside from the stiflingheat. Team GB captured team and individual medals in all three Olympic disciplines against close competition and amid an electrifying atmosphere in Germany's premier equestrian venue, at which the home audience is reliably knowledgeable, audibly demonstrating either appreciation or disapproval.
It takes some doing to beat the Germans on their talismanic home ground, but that is what was superbly achieved by the all-conquering British eventing team and by Lottie Fry, the first rider to win back-to-back dressage world titles on the same horse. Encouragingly, Lottie and Glamourdale's victorious freestyle took place on a sell-out night and in front of IOC president Kirsty Coventry, who was reportedly enthralled.
Just when it couldn't get any better, show jumper Harry Charles came back from the seemingly discouraging position of 23rd—having apparently been advised by Chat GPT that a medal was unlikely but not impossible—to win bronze on his lovely new ride LT Holst Freda. Remarkably, it was Britain's first individual world championship medal for 36 years
(since John Whitaker and Milton).
The USA is now the dominant nation in para-dressage, fielding some quality horses, but the wider distribution of medals in this discipline nowadays is healthy. Britain is now qualified for Los Angeles and the ever-consistent Sophie Wells won a Grade V gold medal on MSJ Gold Standard.
At home, the stand-out performance was that of Ros Canter and the magnificent Lordships Graffalo, who became the first combination in Badminton's 77-year history to win the event three times. Burghley produced a radiant and articulate winner in Gemma Stevens; her 16- year partnership with Chilli Knight, from foal to five-star, epitomises all that is good about eventing. Then, at Blenheim, Tom McEwen demonstrated some dazzling horsemanship to
become the first rider to win both the long and short-format CCI4*s there.
At Hickstead, William Whitaker, another shining example of British horsemanship, won his second Derby 10 years after the first, and at the National Dressage Championships, Charlotte Dujardin was back on the podium, convincingly winning a third title, this time on Brave Heart ll, despite it being their first freestyle together.
Despite these feel-good stories, the downward trajectory of mainstream media coverage continues. This is frustrating in a sport in which Britain actually wins things—Aachen was the first world championship for years that wasn't covered by the BBC.
It is something of an irony that coverage was far more comprehensive in the days before mixed zones, wall-to-wall CCTV, Equiratings, media training of competitors and deluges of press material—quotes, statistics and instantaneous results delivered straight to journalists' laptops. Perhaps the fact that, back in the day, riders didn't have to worry about social media was also a factor; showing too much 'character' can come back to haunt you nowadays.Expense, job cuts and the ubiquity of livestreaming all play a part in the downturn.
Another undeniable factor is that controversy and tragedy will attract far more column inches than medals, as evinced on that awful day of July 18 when two experienced riders, Sophie Fouracre and Kerry Donoghue, died hours apart at two separate BE horse trials, leaving two families bereft and officials shaken to the core.
Equestrian sport is also, even in the 21st century, beset by cliché and an image of elitism—the undeniably amusing Spectator article about Badminton's after-party was a case in point. However, Badminton, Burghley and HOYS all achieved newspaper reports and features and, during Blenheim, The Observer ran an excellent article with Gemma Stevens about the cloning of Chilli Morning offspring—it's well worth a read. Such senior presenter as Clare Balding, Rishi Persad and Nick Luck still want to come to the big events—and we're lucky to have them. We plug on.
Farewell to …
During the month of June, the horse world lost two much-loved figures.
Stephen Clarke, who died on June 14 aged 73, was one of the most respected and liked figures in the dressage world. A former international rider (he was longlisted for the Seoul Olympics), his career as an official began early, some five decades ago, because 'he was fed up with everyone moaning about the judging'. He became a 5-star judge, officiating at the Athens, London and Rio Olympic Games. In London, where he was president of the ground jury, he gave a memorably eloquent and tactful explanation to enraged Dutch journalists as to why Charlotte Dujardin had won gold rather than Adelinde Cornelissen. He was hugely wise, measured and respected around the world.
Bob Ellis, who died, aged 79, only days before Stephen, also officiated at London 2012 where he was show jumping course-designer, the pinnacle of an illustrious career that took him to 33 countries and championships of all levels. 'Bob the Builder', a horseman through and through who competed in his younger days and trained riders, was a well-liked and familiar face at HOYS where he was leading course-designer for 44 years, and at Olympia where he produced several World Cup tracks.
In the eventing world, we say farewell to Pattie Biden, a flagbearer for the oft-underrated role of horse trials organiser. She died recently, aged 74, in Scotland. A former rider, who competed at Badminton and Burghley on Little Extra, she trained with Alison Oliver at the same time as the Princess Royal, who asked her to run a horse trials on a different part of the Gatcombe estate to the British Open. This popular biannual event ran for nearly three decades. Pattie, a charismatic, friendly, immaculate figure, was a BE steward and regional director who was instrumental in starting the British Event Organisers' Association.
Voting for BEMA Awards
Please email your votes to Lynne Reed (lynnereed88@gmail.com) by Monday, November 23
at the latest.
Here are the nominees:
BEMA Equestrian of the Year:
Ros Canter, triple Badminton winner, eventing world team gold and individual silver
medallist
Lottie Fry, dressage world champion for the second time and world team bronze medallist
Becky Moody, winner of the FEI Dressage World Cup final and world team bronze medallist
BEMA Story of the Year
Harry Charles's individual bronze medal at Aachen
Ben Maher's win in the Rolex Major at Spruce Meadows
Gemma Stevens's Burghley victory
Worshipful Company of Saddlers Young Rider Award:
Mette Dahl, individual Freestyle to Music bronze medallist at the FEI European Young Rider
Dressage Championship
Cerys Macaulay, team gold and individual silver medallist at the inaugural FEI World
Eventing Championship U25
Sophia Rogers, team and individual gold medallist at the FEI European Pony Showjumping
Championship
Ariat Kit Houghton Photo of the Year
For details of how to enter, please visit https://bema.org.uk/kit-houghton-award/. We also
welcome entries from non-BEMA members. The closing date is Monday, November 23.
The winner will be announced at the BEMA Lunch.
Annual BEMA AGM, Lunch and Awards: December 17
This takes place on the Thursday of the London International Horse Show, at Excel, which is
on both the Elizabeth Line and DLR (Custom House station).
The AGM is at 11.15am followed by drinks reception at 12 noon.
Lunch tickets cost £85 and space is limited, so please book your place with Lynne Reed
(lynnereed88@gmail.com or 07733 234619), with any dietary requirements and guest names,
by Friday, November 27 at the latest.
Annual subscription and directory
The subscription rate remains at £25 and is due by Friday, November 27 at the latest. If
payment is not received by then, contact details will be removed from the BEMA directory.
If you need to make changes to your entry in the directory, please email the BEMA Secretary,
Victoria Goff (victoria@victoriagoff.co.uk), by Monday, November 23.
How to pay
Bank details for paying subscriptions and for lunch tickets:
Bank: HSBC, Branch: Richmond, Surrey
Sort code: 40-38-18
Account no: 71298291
Name: British Equestrian Media Association
I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the lunch on December 17, which
promises to be as jolly an affair as usual.