By Di Lampard

Chef d'Equipe for the British showjumping team

I believe our sport is in a wonderful place at this moment in time. To see partnerships competing at the highest level, how intelligent and beautiful quality these horses are. The riders themselves take responsibility to be in great shape so the horses can give peak performances. There's so much attention to detail, to the training and welfare of their horses with top class grooms, vets, farriers and physiotherapists – all playing their part to deliver the fantastic sport and competition that we are seeing.

It gives me great pleasure to see partnerships that are successful over the years. Now we have Scott Brash's Jefferson at 17 years old, and probably in the best form of his life, looking so well and happy – like a spring chicken! Recently in Abu Dhabi, to see Luciana Diniz's Vertigo, also 17, jumping the Nations Cup and winning the Grand Prix so easily was wonderful. Malin Baryard-Johnsson's Indiana was recently third in the World Cup qualifier in Gothenburg at 18. John Whitaker has been showing the way for decades with mature horses winning Grand Prix and Welham winning the Hickstead Derby at 20. It also runs in the blood of Steve Guerdat, a natural horseman whose empathy with his horses is a delight to watch, the horses give their best, dig deep and would jump through fire for him! These are only a few examples of pure horsemanship in our sport today.

The horsemanship throughout showjumping concerns me, with the lack of education taken up by a lot of young and new riders coming into our sport. Our sport isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. Knowledge and experience are accumulated over time, hours spent with horses getting to know their characters and how they are feeling during everyday training and competitions. Patience to let young horses develop at their own pace is important; some develop naturally by age, with others it needs to be recognised that a slower plan has to be put in place to reach their full Grand Prix potential. Planning is so vitally important today. With over 100 FEI five-star shows available to the riders, it’s easy to get carried away.

Every week, riders are competing at shows all-round the world, rotating their horses.

Some aspiring young riders are more passionate about the type of shows and over competing whilst looking up at their idols and aiming to climb the heights through the FEI ranking system to emulate them. This is where horsemanship and self-discipline make the difference. It isn’t the more you jump, the more you win!  It’s one thing getting up the ranking as long as you and your horses aren’t burnt-out when you get there. Sliding down the ranking ladder comes so quickly if you haven’t got the horsepower. Good horses are so difficult to find and purchase nowadays that they need to be appreciated, not over-used. We mustn’t get greedy for success. Riders with parents that have ridden usually have an advantage, subconsciously siblings are picking up good riding habits while seeing the good horse management at home. Youth that has experienced the pony club and come through pony, children, junior and young rider teams integrate well into the sport and senior Nations Cup teams.  As a chef d’equipe, I see them relaxed in the team environment, helping and sharing support for each other. Young athletes advance to senior levels much quicker in the latter years; Jessica Mendoza joined the Rio Olympics as a reserve at 21, and Harry Charles competed in Tokyo in 2021.

In Great Britain, we're in a very good shape now, where we have a lot of British riders slowly moving up in the Top 100 on the world ranking and competing around the world at the very best venues and Nations Cups. We've been very successful with the young rider European Championships in the last two years, with Oliver Fletcher and Rachel Proudly winning individual gold medals.

I think the system in England has its advantages in that we have venues with different surface conditions. A lot of riders – including our two young rider European Champions – were brought up jumping in grass arenas, at the county shows with great public attendance and atmosphere. I believe the more riders that could do this it would benefit their riding skills. Equestrian centres with all-weather arenas nowadays are the fashion for producing young riders and horses along with the popularity of barefoot horses. Unfortunately, recently, fewer young riders are prepared to put studs in and ride on a grass ring that has a slope.

Towards the World Championships in Aachen 2026, we have partnerships that we're looking at, but it's early stages. We work back from Aachen and see how everything progresses with the planning in place. There's no pressure. We let everything come in a very natural way for the horses and the riders competing in Nations Cups, building towards the August championships. It's very late in the year this time, so some partnerships are starting a little later and some are starting early and will have a short break before, depending on the individual. Hopefully everybody keeps healthy towards selection and through the championships.

When it comes to the future, I'm not sure where the sport can go. With the world class course designers we have, we've seen material change; we've seen shallow cups, lighter softer pastel colours, narrow flimsy planks, walls that have great design and shapes, we've seen even shorter times allowed.

I believe we're jumping at maximum height and width on the big occasions. It’s purely the time allowed that puts more pressure on the riders that lead to mistakes. The type of horses, as well the athleticism and quality has improved. Riders have improved their skills over the years to ride faster and train horses better. Everyone connected with the sport is looking for that millimetre to improve their performances. Maybe the all-weather arenas should have a slope introduced, which would test riding skills on good consistent footing – then I don’t believe the jumps would need to be so big all the time.

Should more national federations introduce a system to prove the competence of riders at certain height classes that’s relative to children through to senior level when they first become a member? Before being allowed to move upwards in height, it would allow time to get to know the new pony/horse around various courses and educate new riders that buy a pony/horse instead of jumping straight into bigger classes than they are capable of. Maybe jumping four double clears at each level within a year should be enforced?

Also, it would probably be good if the FEI could think of capping the number of starts for horses through the year. If everybody was only allowed to start so many times throughout the year, I think this would be a help – and I feel strong about this. It has been talked about before, but it's never actually been brought into open discussion that I know of. It would help in more ways than one. 

Groups that campaign against our sport have very little knowledge of horses, if any. They are making national federations nervous and defensive, which then carries though to training stewards and officials to police how riders are warming up as well as the tack they are using. Emotions are high enough during competitions, and this adds unnecessary pressure for all involved. We are very much on the back foot defending ourselves now and we shouldn’t be!

Being proactive, promoting our discipline is what we should be doing more of. It’s fantastic when we see good interviews with riders showing their yard, stables and the horses, showing how well they are looked after with their personal grooms, farriers, physiotherapists and turn out paddocks, hacking and anything that’s tailor made to the horse. Good stories about the horse’s journey and the attention to detail that we give them is all so important. Most horses love competing, these horses wouldn’t be happy to just be in a field grazing in all kinds of weather. Horses have five-star treatment, I believe this is what a lot of people don't understand out there. Our horses want for nothing; they have the best of the best. I feel it’s sad that we're not more actively promoted by the national federations. We should be doing more to stick up and promote what a beautiful sport we have.

Top horses now are so few and far between. When you know you have a good horse, you really want to be planning for longevity – because they're irreplaceable. You must be very lucky as a rider to have a consistent flow of top horses.

Talking about planning, going back to British rider Nick Skelton with Big Star, after injuries to both horse and rider, how Nick had the patience to deliver the golden plan with the discipline and passion to get himself and Big Star 100% fit. Just jumping a handful of shows before Rio, to deliver on the biggest stage, their gold medal was a fantastic example of how our sport isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. Scott is another good example; he has been very patient to build his string of horses. Everybody needs a big element of luck with this as well. Now, Scott has four horses that are not over-jumped but are in a good place in their condition and their mind, performing at the highest level which has catapulted him to number one in the world for the second time in his career.

At every level of this sport, I find it is an absolute honour to work with horses, riders and their support teams. We can always learn from each other. Different disciplines as well; we can learn by watching and talking with our fellow colleagues from eventing, dressage, speaking to the racing yards. You can pick up a little nugget of advice everywhere you go in the horse world. It’s so valuable to keep improving our knowledge and skills, it is essential to keep an open mind and keep learning.

3.4.2026 No reproduction of any of the content in this article will be accepted without a written permission, all rights reserved © World of Showjumping.com. If copyright violations occur, a penalty fee will apply.