Heath Ryan and Bronze Boy R.

© Bronwyn Evans

Ryan's Rave: Time to define pathway forward

By Heath Ryan

With the World Championships just months away and Brisbane 2032 on the horizon, Heath Ryan believes that to preserve Australia’s equestrian success on the international stage it’s essential that we’re developing and managing young talent.

THE COUNTDOWN IS ON

Hello 2022, this year is the year of the FEI World Championships. Unlike the previous FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) format, the Championships will be staged in two different countries over three different time periods.

On 6-14 August in Herning, Denmark, the Dressage, the Para-Dressage, the Showjumping and the Vaulting are all together. On 15-25 of September in Italy at Pratoni del Vivaro, the Eventing and the Driving will be held. On 22 October in Verona, also in Italy, the Endurance riding will be held.

Australians in the past were used to the luxury of all the FEI disciplines being held in one location over a couple of weeks. This was a brilliant way of planning an overseas trip and watching Australians competing in all of these horse disciplines plus Reining. Reining is no longer part of the FEI, so this year there are seven disciplines only.

Sadly, the disciplines are spread over 11 weeks in two different countries, which does make it quite a long time to be away from home and unlikely that Australian families and supporters can watch all disciplines and support all Australian competitors.
From a competitor’s point of view here in Australia, we are seven months away before the Dressage, Showjumping, Para-Dressage and Vaulting start; we are eight months away from the start of the Eventing and Driving; and we are nine months away from the start of the Endurance…

Read the full article in our January magazine here.