Text © World of Showjumping

“The only thing I need to worry about is to make sure that the horses jump well – that is the only target,” Spain’s mastermind Santiago Varela tells World of Showjumping as the action at the 2025 Longines FEI Jumping European Championship in A Coruña, Spain, is about to get underway. “At a continental championship, you don’t need to put too much pressure because there are five rounds – it is a long championship. You need to be careful not to be in too much of a hurry; you just need to wait. Things are going to happen, and the sport will do the job.”

Together with Isabel Fernandez de Cañete, Elena Boix Gracia, Javier Trenor Paz, Fernando Moreno Purroy, Andrea Colombo and foreign technical delegate Elio Travagliati, Varela is in charge of designing the courses that will decide the 2025-titles at the stunning Casas Novas Equestrian Center – a permanent facility that also hosts one of the FEI Jumping World Cup legs during the indoor season of the Western European League.

“The venue here in Casas Novas is fantastic,” Varela says about the facility that this year celebrates its 25th anniversary. “I am proud to be working at the European Championship after coming here since 2000. The family has done a super job and put in a lot of effort to have this fantastic venue adapted to a European Championship, including building a new warm-up arena. I hope that people will appreciate their effort and come to watch this event. I hope that it will be a very successful championship.”

My only concern is to make sure the horses have a good experience

- Santiago Varela to WoSJ -

“For the fence material, the organiser has developed a new set of fences, and they are different,” Varela reveals. “These fences are not fully dedicated only for this championship, but they will be used here at this venue in the future as well.”

For Varela, who was the co-course designer for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games alongside France’s Gregory Bodo, working on home soil adds another layer of excitement for the week. “When I got the call, I felt proud,” he says. “It is our sport that gives us these opportunities; when you have the chance to build a championship, it is always special, but doing so on home soil, even more so. I am proud that I was asked, and I am grateful to the organiser for doing so. Whenever you are in charge of a major championship, it is an honour, and I can only thank the team here at Casas Novas.”

For Varela, there is only one focus: The horses. “In this arena, the horses normally jump very well,” he explains. “I think at these facilities, everything is calm, and it looks like everyone is relaxed. I feel that everyone is happy to be here. We like to see horses jumping well, and that is the target that we have. My only concern is to make sure the horses have a good experience.”

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