Dublin devastation

THE Dublin Horse Show, which had been scheduled for July 15th to 19th this year, so as not to clash with the Olympic Games, was cancelled in mid-April, although most people had a feeling much earlier that it couldn’t be staged. Again, kowtowing to the Olympics, the five-star show has a date for 2021 of August 18th to 22nd.

For many, Dublin, usually held in early August, is about more than show jumping. And, even if it was only about show jumping (who knows, that might be the situation next August), surely nations have more than enough riders – and horses – to send a team to both Tokyo and Dublin.

Also in April, it was most disappointing when the FEI issued a statement which started: “We regret to announce that the FEI European Championships in the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines of Jumping, Eventing, Dressage and Para Dressage will not be held in 2021 due to the revised dates for the Tokyo Games next year.”

Thankfully, in October, the FEI declared itself “committed to allocate European Championships in two Olympic disciplines – Jumping and Dressage – for 2021, both to German venues.” However, the statement also included the following sentence: “Sadly there will be no FEI European Eventing Championships in 2021 as the organisers that had put in expressions of interest to host the Championships subsequently withdrew from the process.”

Again, thankfully, the FEI has since reconsidered that situation and has agreed to reopen the bidding process for the 2021 European Eventing Championships. After the year riders have endured perhaps these should be open to nations outside Europe as has happened in the past.

However, riders would need to know as early as possible to plan for the season ahead. Equestrian sports opened up quicker in other countries after lockdown than Ireland which put riders based here at a disadvantage when they returned to the international stage.