Dressage-News

Mar. 20, 2020

Great Britain’s Windsor CDI4* scheduled for mid-May and Hickstead CDI3* for late June as well as Wiesbaden CDI4*, a major German show in early June, have been canceled, according to the International Equestrian Federation calendar.

The calendar shows that about 40 dressage competitions around the world have been canceled from the beginning of March into July. But the list is incomplete as some shows known to be canceled have not been reported.

More than 300 international equestrian events of all disciplines are listed as canceled, but several are late in the year and it is not known how many are due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Cancellation of the multi-discipline Windsor event and dressage at Hickstead leaves Harthill-Bolesworth CDI3* scheduled for June 9-14 as the only remaining international dressage event in Britain before the July 6 deadline for entries for the Olympics in Tokyo at the end of July. Hartpury CDI3* is scheduled for July 5-7.

Hickstead that has also hosted a Nations Cup for several years opted ahead of the coronavirus outbreak not to do so this year because the Olympics in late July would likely impact participation.

The cancellations of Windsor and Hickstead came  a week after British Dressage and British Show Jumping placed a moratorium on national events until April 17

But, the two organizations said in a statement: “While suspending national sporting and training activity will inevitably impact on most participants, the elite athletes campaigning for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games will continue to train and prepare as normal.  British Dressage and British Showjumping will, in conjunction with the British Equestrian Federation and the National Lottery funded UK Sport World Class Performance Program, continue to support them in any way possible towards their selection goals.”

Some other countries, including the United States, suspended until about mid-April all activities including official events involving preparation for the Tokyo Games.