About Us

Belsay has a wonderful equestrian heritage. The Middleton family, which has owned the estate for more than 800 years, bred and trained racehorses here in the 18th and 19th centuries.  Today, Belsay Hall, Castle and 30 acres of Gardens are open to the public and managed by English Heritage. The surrounding Grade 1 listed parkland that is the venue for the horse trials, is maintained by The Belsay Trust, the charitable arm of Belsay Estate, which is still in family hands.

Whistlejacket, perhaps one of the most famous horses of all time and the subject of George Stubbs’ classic oil painting (1762), was foaled at Belsay in 1749 and named by Sir William Middleton after a contemporary cold remedy containing gin and treacle.  He started his racing career in 1752 and won many races in the North before winning The King’s Plate at Newmarket in 1756 and being sold to the Marquess of Rockingham who commissioned Stubbs to paint him.  Whistlejacket was not the only good horse to come from Belsay, the Middleton family won the St Leger at Doncaster in 1859 with Gamester.

The beautiful stables at the Hall are still in evidence as is the old Stallion Park, situated at the bottom of Bantom Hill adjacent to the Castle.

Belsay Horse Trials was started in 2013 by Laura and Peter de Wesselow, who live at Belsay and represent the current generation of the Middleton family.  Over the past 13 years, Belsay has become an important international fixture, hosting the Pony and Junior National championships for five years until 2025 as well as classes up to CCI3*. 

In 2025, Belsay hosted the Chatsworth replacement fixture with a CCI4*-S and CCI2*, as well as Advanced and Novice classes. 

Following the success of this event, Belsay has now been awarded CCI4* status going forward and we are incredibly excited for this next phase of our development as a leading fixture in the British Eventing calendar.

Our thanks must go to all of our very generous sponsors, whose financial support has been so crucial in setting up Belsay Horse Trials. We are also extremely grateful to all the doctors, veterinary surgeons, farriers, judges, starters, timekeepers, jump judges, scorers and the many volunteers who give up their time so generously and without whose help running this event would not be possible.