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Andrew Nicholson and Avebury at Burghley.

© Trevor Holt/FEI

Competing in the UK or Europe is an exciting but often daunting prospect. The dream of competing at events you may have only read about, or watched videos of, has helped you overcome the natural fear of travelling with your equine partner across the other side of the world, but what do you do next? Ideally, you will have done a bit of reconnaissance to get a feel for the country you wish to compete in, and hopefully have met some people you could train or base with in the future, but in case you haven’t, let’s start our journey there.

Where to base?

This is often a case of trial and error. It depends on many factors, including the competitions you are hoping to do and whether the people you base yourself with are also doing those competitions. Then there is the support side of things, i.e. the amount of training between competitions you would like, your transport to events and a groom to help you. Ideally, you will know the people you are staying with and will have their support from a training and general ‘showing the ropes’ point of view and it may be possible to arrange transport to the various competitions with your hosts as well … for a fee. Hopefully, they have vehicles that can be hired or can suggest shared transport arrangements with other riders based there or close by. Having independence in the form of one’s own horse transport can really cause expenses and logistical difficulties to spiral out of control, especially since insuring vehicles overseas when you have no history in that country means you pay a premium ... if you can insure them at all! In Europe last year, I really struggled to register a horsetruck (which friends in Australia had bought for me to use during my time there then export to Australia for them), as the Europeans decided that since I couldn’t prove I was part of their ‘community’, I couldn’t register a vehicle. I had to drive it back to the UK to register and insure it after the debacle of driving it on trading plates (which must be renewed every five days!), the whole time I was in Europe.

The cost of being based in someone’s yard will vary depending on the various factors above. In Europe, 1000 euros per month is relatively standard for one horse, stabling and training. I have had various deals in the UK, with being a ‘working pupil’ covering some of my basic livery and accommodation costs but paying for transport and all out-of-pocket expenses for my horse, including farrier and entries. This is probably the most practical solution for the younger rider heading overseas for the first time, just don’t expect your ‘work’ to amount to huge savings.

I have often had to change bases at various points in my overseas stays for more training opportunities, better facilities or simply a friendlier environment. Be prepared for the unexpected, be flexible in your planning and remember that what has worked for others may not be best for you or your current circumstances. During this trip to Europe, I have had many changes of plan due to the uncertainty of which shows I would be selected to compete at as a part of the Australian Nations Cup Team and then in which country – Belgium or the UK – the flight would land! For example, I had been planning to stay in Europe at a big yard in Belgium but on meeting fellow Australian rider, Amy Graham, at my first show at Lummen, I opted to travel back with her to Holland.

Grooms

Deciding whether to take your own groom or not will depend on how long you plan to stay, where you are basing yourself and the likely amount of help that can be sought locally. While it is a great experience for anyone to groom on the other side of the world, there are many factors involved in living away from home and it may be a less stressful experience to use someone already ‘at home’ in the country you are going.

Visas

As an Australian, you are allowed to travel to and stay in the United Kingdom for six months at a time, providing you don’t work and can prove you have the funds to look after yourself. Europe is a little less obliging with a limit of 90 days in a six-month period. Extended travel periods become a paperwork nightmare and really test how much you want to live out of Australia!

My personal experience has been a comedy of errors. Suffice to say, I feel in a position to advise that you read all the paperwork they give you and steel yourself for many hiccups along the way. If you can afford to, it may be simpler and less stressful to pay a migration expert to help you, but I had a huge issue with the $4000 price tag for their assistance. It can be a tedious process of learning the system: what boxes they need ticked, i’s dotted, t’s crossed, but I hear that Paul Tapner was pretty impressive in gaining his different visas and then his residency, so I would recommend contacting Taperz ... he is a champion!

Travel

Driving in Europe is a little more challenging than Australia, not only because you have to drive on the other side of the road, but also because the complexity of the road system and the congestion of traffic, at times, can add to the drama. Driving in the UK can be even worse, with their ridiculously narrow lanes, overgrown hedges and well-disguised stone walls.

Travelling between countries separated by water (that is anywhere out of the UK and between Europe and Scandinavia) requires a health certificate from a government veterinarian. The UK also requires an export driver licence to drive to Europe, except for France for some reason. It is a bit of a pain because it means you can’t just pop an extra horse on the truck at the last minute. The customs officials are pretty serious about stowaways and the trucks sometimes have to go into a sealed shed where a heart-rate detector goes over the cargo section of the truck before it is released.

Entries – Jumping vs Eventing

Entries for eventing are very similar to those in Australia if you are entering national British events. You have to join BE (British Eventing) and then face the challenge of choosing the events you are least likely to get balloted out of and when to use your priority-entry sticker so you don’t get balloted from the event that you really need to do. Added to that is always the unknown of whether an event might be cancelled due to inclement weather!

I have currently chosen to just enter FEI events, which can get confusing since you need to ask Equestrian Australia (EA) to put your name down for all events that you may want to run in well in advance, then remember to do the paper entries and pay before the closing date. Unfortunately, to do dressage days and jumping days for our event horses can get a little more complicated because there isn’t just the one body to join like EA in Australia, there is British Dressage and British Showjumping as well. I believe there is now a system of ‘tickets’ that allows you to do a set number of jumping and dressage days up to a certain level without being a member of these associations.

FEI Jumping entries are considerably simpler, but at the same time it is much harder to get invitations to the shows. The process is meant to be that EA asks the show for an invitation (unless you are in the top 30 in the Rolex rankings, when you automatically receive invitations to all the shows), then the show invites the rider to enter. The reality, though, seems to be that you either use whatever contacts you can to get an invitation or persistently ring the organiser and say whatever you can to get in!

Competition venues

All venues are different, but on the whole they are pretty good. The Lummen venue, on the Postleman family’s beautiful private property, had three super arenas – two grass and one part-surface/part-grass with two all-weather warm-up arenas and one dirt arena that was also pretty good. I have recently been at Hickstead where they had done a phenomenal amount of work to pull up the top 150mm of the grass surface in the International arena, do major drainage work and put it all back down again! As a 12-year-old riding at my first Adelaide Royal, I remember thinking, “Wow, I’m riding on Holy Turf”. I did that again at Hickstead almost 25 years later.

Event venues in the UK are the primary reason I keep going back there. I have a love-hate relationship with the UK ... I love the event venues and the Doel family, who I stay with, but hate the weather and the expense of living there means I can’t have the required number of horses to keep me happy! It seems that all events are either at a Duke’s or Lord’s property with castles, moats and drawbridges, or at least, very impressive entrance gates.

Competing overseas is a world away from competing in Australia. I love that there is so much going on over here and I get to compete with some amazing riders. I am slowly coming to terms with the differences between these two worlds and am grasping every opportunity to learn and develop as a rider. So if you have the dream to compete overseas – go for it … just be prepared for the bumps along the way. 

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