Hartpury allocated the 2022 Junior and Young Rider Euros

Hartpury University and Hartpury College have been allocated the 2022 FEI Dressage and Eventing European Championships for Young Riders & Juniors. The Gloucestershire venue had been due to host the 2020 Championships until they were cancelled in May due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The FEI Board reached the decision during a three-day video conference meeting last week, where the allocation of other FEI Championships and key events for 2021 and 2022 was also discussed. The date for the Championships is yet to be confirmed.

British Dressage Chief Executive, Jason Brautigam, commented: “After the huge disappointment that we all felt when Hartpury had to cancel the FEI Junior and Young Rider European Championships that were due to take place in July, we were absolutely thrilled to hear that the college had been successful in their bid to host the event in 2022 instead.  This at least provides some consolation after all of the hard work, effort and investment that went into planning this year’s Championships and provides our talented under 21 riders with another valuable target to aim for in two years’ time.  We are immensely grateful for the support we have received from all of the team at Hartpury during the COVID crisis and look forward to national and international competition returning to the venue in the near future.”

British Eventing Chief Executive, Jude Matthews, added: ““British Eventing is delighted that Hartpury have been awarded the 2022 FEI Dressage and Eventing European Championships for Young Riders & Juniors, particularly following the disappointment from having to cancel this year.  The team at Hartpury have worked extremely hard on their plans for this year’s competition, and we look forward to working with them to deliver an outstanding competition opportunity for the youth riders in 2022.”

Hartpury previously hosted the 1997 European Pony Championships and annually organises the NAF Five Star Hartpury Festival of Dressage, NAF Five Star Hartpury Showjumping Spectacular and NAF Five Star International Hartpury Horse Trials. 

Phillip Cheetham, Equine Director at Hartpury, said “We are thrilled to have been allocated the 2022 FEI Dressage and Eventing European Championships for Young Riders & Juniors. The decision to cancel the 2020 championships was not taken lightly and we were extremely disappointed not to be able to welcome riders and their support teams to Hartpury this summer. 

We’re very grateful to the FEI for allowing us to host the event in two years' time, and we’re extremely excited about providing the perfect environment in which the best young riders in Europe can perform to the best of their abilities. We must also thank the BEF, British Dressage and British Eventing for their continued support.

Our team is extremely experienced when it comes to staging world-class equestrian events and planning has started in earnest. Rest assured that we’ll be pulling out all the stops to put on a truly outstanding Championships in 2020” he added.

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Find more information at www.hartpuryequineevents.co.uk.