It may well be that I am preoccupied by the UK’s unceremonious “outing” of itself from Europe, but this week I can’t help but be more intrigued by the circumstances around the notable riders out of Rio as opposed to those still hoping to be in. Confirmation that Scott Brash isn’t in the British jumping […]
Two of my last three blogs were about the speciousness of FEI rankings lists and the injustices of the individuals’ qualifying procedure for Rio. So it was interesting that both topics come together in the matter currently dividing the jumping community in Ireland. Irish social media has come out largely in favour of Bertram Allen, […]
I am not keen on the FEI’s three-to-a-team proposal for future Olympics, and the inevitable catering for a lower standard of riding that will come with it. But in potentially opening up the Games to many more countries, we could at least see an end to desperate courtroom machinations like this one, recently buried in […]
In a long career you can’t remember every news story you ever wrote. However, one from the early 1990s sticks in my mind because it involved a conversation with Jacques Chirac, and it’s not often that a humble equestrian journalist gets her call put through to one of the most famous statesmen of his generation. […]
Last year I had quite a few conversations with the sports desk of a national newspaper which went something like this: “Hello, can I interest you in a piece about Scott Brash winning his fourth consecutive Grand Prix?” “We’re a bit short of space today because of the soccer/cricket/rugby. Remind me who he is?” “He’s […]
It can be rather endearing when someone who is not a native English speaker mixes their metaphors. At the end of an intense, five-hour debate about the future Olympic formats, FEI president Ingmar De Vos told me that “we can’t keeping going round and round the hot potato.” I did know how he felt, though. […]
The UAE was reinstated after signing a legally binding agreement to do better. This was promptly forgotten in the 2015-2016 winter season.
Dr Hallvard Sommerseth has been suspended for a mere two years for his role in the submission of over 500 sets of bogus endurance results to the FEI.
Well, as an American endurance chum put it, that was as useful as a bucket of warm spit. I don’t know a single sceptic who wouldn’t have been ecstatic to be proved wrong about the efficacy of the “strong new measures” put in place on February 13th for the remainder of the UAE winter season. […]
Two days ago, the FEI wrested its latest second/third/fourth-chance agreement from the UAE over the breaking of endurance rules and the breaking of horses. There is no black and white solution. After 20 years of doing exactly what they want, the UAE was never going to roll over in a matter of months. At first […]
