The Equestrian Blog

Ian Stark, Event Rider in Hospital

Ian Stark is in hospital after suffering a brain bleed.

The 55-year-old former Olympic event rider is in the University Hospital of Wales undergoing tests to determine the cause of the brain bleed.

Scottish event rider Ian has won four silver medals at three Olympic Games, as well as gold, silver and bronze at the European and World championships. He was European champion in 1991 and won Badminton three times, in 1986, 1988 and 1999. Ian retired from international competition in 1997.

Ian Stark was recently selected as cross-country course-designer at Bramham Horse Trials taking over from Sue Benson who is designing the course for the 2012 Olympics.

Ian won Bramham four times; in 1983 (Sir Wattie), 1984 (Charlie Brown IV), 1985 (Deansland) and 1996 (Forest Glen). Bramham will be his first time designing at CCI*** level in the UK.

We wish him well...

Valentines Offer from Blenheim Horse Trials

Give your loved one a valentines present they will really enjoy, not just tickets to Blenheim Horse Trials, but also a cross country buggy tour around the cross country course.

Book tickets on the Blenheim Horse Trials website before February 14th and you can use the promotional code ‘VALENT09’ to add a cross country buggy tour to take you around the cross country course.

The dates for the 2009 Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials are the 10th - 13th September.

Terms and Conditions State;

The option to select a free cross country course golf buggy ride (voucher) will be available for all bookings made using the code VALENT09 before 14/02/09. The offer is one buggy ride per adult admission ticket booked for Thursday or Friday, buggies run Thursday and Friday only . Buggy rides must be selected at time of booking other tickets. Offer only valid on bookings made using appropriate code and is not valid in combination with any other offer.

Eventing isn’t exciting enough…

So now we have Express Eventing and... Best of all, competitors will be judged by "celebrities" who appear to know little or nothing about riding - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Arlene (Who) Phillips. .

Express Eventing is a radical new compact version of the sport of eventing, designed for arenas and stadiums around the world. It condenses all the drama and excitement of traditional eventing into just half a day, with all the action visible from one seat.

Sounds exciting and it may just be exciting, but is it eventing?

Or is it just a, made for television, minor celebrity filled, get your money out of your pockets, overpriced, under delivering, waste of time.

The runners and riders list looks impressive with Nicolas Touzaint, William Fox-Pitt, Clayton Fredericks, Bettina Hoy, Mary King, Andrew Nicholson and a variety of other top eventers all qualifying to compete for the £100,000 first prize at the International Cup in 2009. The express eventing website splashes liberal links to the qualifying riders list page, just to make sure you don't miss them.

So, How did the riders qualify?

We have used the FEI rider rankings and past rider performances to determine who should be invited to the inaugural competition.

Hmmm, so based on your current, crowd pulling, popularity then.

There appears to have been a lot of effort put into express eventing and the website is certainly pushing the excitement part. But, an event appears to only last for a morning, the cross-country course is a paltry 1500 metres long and cross-country and showjumping are combined with a quick change routine.

All we need now is the clown make-up and you can see the blooper re-runs for years to come.

I remember getting excited about indoor cross-country jumping after watching a youtube video of it in a Canadian competition, but after paying extra for the best seats at Olympia or some other big event, I was very disappointed to see it was just showjumping over small cross country obstacles.

No... I love eventing and I really, really respect and admire event riders and event horses. I really appreciate the effort riders and horses put in and I love those big three day events.

I don't like the sound of this. I don't see where Tara Palmer thingy and Jodie (get me on any show you can) Kidd, fit in. There's nothing about their participation on the website.

Or where being judged by celebrity judges adds any credibility to professional riders like Nicolas Touzaint, William Fox-Pitt, Clayton Fredericks and the rest of the riders featured on the website. If they ever actually compete.

But then, I checked the ticket prices.... Upper Tier £35.00 and Middle Tier £45.00

Looks like a hope to get it on television,  get your money out of your pockets, overpriced, under delivering, minor celebrity filled... GET ME OUT Of HERE.

Caistor’s cross country course

Caistor Equestrian Centre was somewhere new to me i'd never been before, they were holding a cross country event so thought i'd pop along to have a look.

 Im so glad i did what a fantastic course they have, their fences cater for eveyones ability, can't wait for their next event I'm definitely taking my mare, as well as getting a group of friends together and hiring the course.

The event was really well run and people were very friendly,  i was very impressed by their pedestrian walkways, which kept the public out of the way of competitors.

This is a great idea, as I've noticed a lot of cross country events allow people to walk wherever they like, even if a competitor is approaching a fence.

They have a great water complex on their fab x country course, with lots of  different options to take. Have a look at some photos from their event in the Lincolnshire photo galleries       

Have you been to Caistor's x country?  Then tell us what your experience was like, we'd love to hear from you.                                 

Caistor’s cross country course

Caistor Equestrian Centre was somewhere new to me i'd never been before, they were holding a cross country event so thought i'd pop along to have a look.

 Im so glad i did what a fantastic course they have, their fences cater for eveyones ability, can't wait for their next event I'm definitely taking my mare, as well as getting a group of friends together and hiring the course.

The event was really well run and people were very friendly,  i was very impressed by their pedestrian walkways, which kept the public out of the way of competitors.

This is a great idea, as I've noticed a lot of cross country events allow people to walk wherever they like, even if a competitor is approaching a fence.

They have a great water complex on their fab x country course, with lots of  different options to take. Have a look at some photos from their event in the Lincolnshire photo galleries       

Have you been to Caistor's x country?  Then tell us what your experience was like, we'd love to hear from you.