21/07/2026
💛💛🏇🏇
Stay safe
Come back together.
I love you.
These are the last words I say to my sister before I send her cross country, whether she’s doing 70 or a 110.
Saturday was a truly devastating day for our sport and the equestrian community. On Saturday, there were two rider fatalities at two separate British Eventing competitions.
We know this sport is dangerous, it’s why I take it “too seriously”. It’s why I have always studded up, even when I had just broken my leg. I send my entire world out onto that cross country course without me, so you can bet I’ve done every single thing in my power to make them as safe as possible. But as soon as she leaves that start box, it’s just them and the course.
Cross country is the discipline where you have to leave it all on the table. It’s one of the reasons why we all love the sport so much. But it’s also the reason that the last thing I say to my sister isn’t anything about the course or the horses’ record. It’s that I love her and I want her home safe.
Someone doesn’t get to run to the finish line to meet their sister ever again.
So enjoy every second. Help each other out, be kind to each other, be stupidly passionate, care “too much”, take it seriously, stud up when you’ve just broken your leg, spend extra time cooling your horse down, stop to make sure your fellow competitors are okay, run to the finish to meet them, take care of your horses and each other.
I hope anyone who made a snide remark about Badminton grassroots not being the Olympics takes a moment to understand that these falls happened at 90 and Novice level, not at the Olympics. This sport is dangerous at every level.
So Good luck, have fun and come home safe. Because you’re loved. You are someone’s entire world. They don’t care about the record or the time penalties, they care that you come home together.
Thoughts are with each and everyone affected by Saturday’s tragic events.