In light the coronavirus situation, all British Eventing competition is cancelled for the time being.
Coronavirus Update – 20 May 2020
Sadly, due to the ongoing restrictions surrounding sport and eventing in particular, we are unable to run Belsay International Horse Trials 28th – 31st May 2020, as originally planned.
However, we have formally applied to BE and the FEI (the international body responsible for equestrian competition) to hold our event later in the year. As you know, we will be hosting the British Pony Championships, the major trial to select the British pony squad attending the European Championships, which were due to be held in Poland in July. Although the Pony Europeans will not now take place, there is a plan to hold a Pony Masters event at Strzegom in Poland in late September/October.
At the moment, we are working closely with BE to plan for the recommencement of Eventing in the UK. We will obviously know more on 1st June when the Government announces the next phase of the easing of restrictions.
Closer to home, we had our course builder in residence during lockdown and he has continued work so that we will be ready to run at short notice. We have invested a large amount in reversing the course and building new fences. We have continued to promote the event, our sponsors, and trade stands, via social media and on the website. Please do send us your lockdown news – we were delighted and honoured to share the news this week that our headline sponsor, Barbour, is making PPE for the local NHS.
Should we be able to run an event a later date, there is a possibility that it will look very different to normal because of the social distancing measures that would have to be in place. At the moment there are lots of unanswered questions, but where there is a will there is a way and we will find it!!
We are very positive here at Belsay and hope that you will support us in our efforts to deliver a super event that we can all look forward to.
I will be in touch with you again as soon as I have more information regarding a potential new date for Belsay International.
Until then stay safe and stay home!
A fantastic write up in the ‘British Eventing Life’ magazine for Belsay International Horse Trials 2020!
Here at Belsay we are already gearing up for our International Event in 2020 and are so excited to be hosting the British Pony Championships alongside a CCI-S ** competition for seniors.
The British Pony Championships is the pinnacle of the Pony Trials Series for riders aged 16 years and under riding ponies (14.0hh – 14.2hh). It represents the toughest test for pony riders and is run as a long format international competition over three days to give potential GB Pony Team members vital experience for the European Pony Championships, which take place in August every year.
We have lots of exciting plans for 2020 and will be doing everything we can to give our competitors, sponsors, volunteers and visitors the most fabulous experience, generous prize money and some great entertainment.
Belsay Horse Trials already has the infrastructure in place to host an FEI event, with a specially designed ‘International Arena’ which has state of the art sports drainage, as well as a cross country course, which will be re-designed for 2020 by Adrian Ditcham, who was responsible for the track at the 2018 European Pony Championships held at Bishop Burton.
Please do follow this link to look at some of the fantastic photography from our 2019 event.
In addition to our International and National Eventing classes, we will also be hosting ‘Belsay Sunday’ on 31st May 2020 which will feature an exciting Arena Eventing Competition, as well as our already popular Inter-Hunt Relay and Pony Club Show Jumping, and a host of other family friendly entertainments.
For further information about trade stands, sponsorship or the event in general, please contact Laura de Wesselow on 01661881206 or 07889 437237
