‘We must not be complacent’ warns Mark Phillips as cancellation of Maryland five-star highlights equestrian sport’s ‘fragility’

Former Olympic team gold medallist, four-time Badminton winner and top cross-country course designer Mark Phillips says 2026 will be a balancing act to keep horse sport thriving

After a long wet winter, spring seems to have come in the nick of time for a positive start to the 2026 eventing season.

It appears British Eventing (BE) has halted the decline of recent years in membership and horse registrations, even if numbers have not gone up. Early events have run with good numbers and without the spate of cancellations due to weather that have caused the cost of abandonment insurance to spiral.

We must not be complacent – the cancellation of Maryland five-star in October this year is a stark reminder of the sport’s fragility and our reliance on organisers, venues, funding and continued public confidence.

I’m sad about Maryland but not totally surprised. The site layout was expensive, not user-friendly for spectators and the event was over-reliant on state funding.

There have never been enough five-star horses to go round when World Championships, Burghley and Pau all run in the same year. Also, many thought that when the US Equestrian Federation put on a $200,000 (£150,550) CCI4*-L the weekend before, it would be the final nail in the coffin for Maryland.

The Fair Hill Foundation plans to continue to run the CCI3*-L this year but I wonder if it will be as popular without the five-star trappings.

International moves

The FEI has appointed a new director of eventing and driving, Molly Day, to replace Frédérique Reffet Plantier who was dismissed by the FEI at the end of last year. She has made a positive start, seeking the thoughts of many of the sport’s most influential players.

I haven’t spoken to her but I hear good reports about discussions on the Olympic format and introducing modern sport technology to eventing. It remains to be seen what Molly can achieve within the corridors of power in Lausanne.

All in equestrian sport should be worried about the way video evidence was edited to portray riders’ warm-up at the recent Amsterdam CDI. I know sport horses are among the most pampered animals in the world, but that’s not how an increasing number of people see it. Dressage may have the target on its back today but it’s only a matter of time before the target shifts.

In this country we say all the right things, but have fallen short of introducing measures to show that we mean what we say about horse welfare. We still have time to lead the way!

“It’s a shame if progress is held back”

I was part of a strategy task group last autumn to review some of the challenges facing BE, in particular the rising popularity of unaffiliated competitions at the expense of BE membership.

The group developed a concept – first mooted some years ago by Mike Etherington-Smith, Stuart Buntine, Helen West and me when we were then the BE Advisory Group – called BE Lite, to embrace the unaffiliated market and help unite different parts of the sport.

The plan was to roll out this more affordable model at BE80, BE90 and BE100 levels this spring to create a clearer, more attractive pathway into full BE.

However, the extensive consultations with many of the sport’s stakeholders became a painfully long process. Worse, unfortunately the BE office has encountered a hurdle due to issues raised by one high-profile organiser. I know these days everyone has to have their say, but it’s a shame if the progress and development of the BE model is held back in this way.

This weekend more than 30 four-star horses and 20 three-star horses crossed the Channel to compete at Kronenberg in the Netherlands, an event with increasing popularity. With all the wonderful venues in this country, it’s sad that we were not able to find a slot in our fixtures calendar to cater for this early season need.

This year will be a delicate balance to keep the sport thriving for horses, riders, organisers and owners – and acceptable for the public at large. Let’s hope the weather stays on our side!

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