Jumping clinic with international show jumper Laura Kennedy
Saturday 16 November 2024
Big E day on March 29th 2021 seems so long ago and yet it was only 8 months! So in less time than it takes to make a new horse (or even a new human!) what has been happening in the Equine World?
If having a human Pandemic was not enough we also saw an outbreak of EHV-1 in Spring that helped to cause the cancellation of events across Europe, including the already delayed FEI World Cup Champs that were due to take place in Sweden, having been cancelled from the US in 2020.
NOTE: EHV-1 (Fullname: Equid alphaherpesvirus 1) is an equine virus that is most dangerous to unborn foals
With restrictions slowly being lifted between April and July here in the UK, events started to take place and some kind of normality started to return. Some larger equestrian events were cancelled again for a second year not being in a position to plan early enough with the full lockdown for the first quarter of the year. So many Agricultural Shows did not happen (for the second year in a row) and some may not return again in 2022. Some managed to run behind "closed" doors, like the Lincolnshire Show with its many HOYS qualifiers.
We lost a lot of 3 Day Events- with the big 3 all being cancelled: Bramham 2021 cancelled, Burghley 2021 cancelled, Badminton 2021 cancelled!
There was some light for the top end of the Equestrian Elite with last year's delayed Olympics going ahead in Japan, albeit with no physical audiences, and Team GB came back with some well deserved medals:
And here we are at the back end of the year with the Pandemic still burning away in Europe causing Show cancellations and restrictions including our very own Liverpool International Horse Show that was due to take place at the New Year!
Major news (outside of Pandemics and Equine epidemics) affecting the Equine World this year was the decision to remove Riding from the Modern Pentathlon and replace it with bike riding. Could be a rivival for the Raleigh Chopper!
So we look forward to 2022 with fingers crossed that things equine will continue to improve and with a hope that the events we have missed the last two years will be able to be planned and executed in full. We have our fingers, toes and hooves crossed.
Here's to 2022.
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