Hickstead Director Lizzie Bunn has today released a statement to announce the All England Dressage Festival at Hickstead will not take place in 2025.
Reasons given for cancelling the event include costs of judges and stewards, alongside other expenses making the event ’financially unviable’.
First held in 2021, the show grew from being a three-day Premier League competition to a six-day CDI3* and CPEDI. However, the decision has been made not to run the event next year.
“Regrettably, we’ve made the difficult decision to end our running of our dressage fixture, but we would like to thank all our sponsors, especially I.C.E Horseboxes, as well as organiser David Crockford, and all the riders and owners who supported the fixture over the past four years,” said Lizzie Bunn.
“The timing of the event in May made things challenging due to the weather, but the main reason is that we cannot make it economically viable. The costs – particularly of judges and officials – at over £50,000 are exorbitant and, despite our best efforts, the event still ran at a loss.
The well respected and attended event will no doubt come as a blow to the dressage community, but not without shock. Sadly, 2024 has witnessed many other equestrian event closures, not only in dressage but others such as eventing too.
Gatcombe Park’s Festival of British Eventing was cancelled for the season due to economic restraints, Chatsworth International Horse Trials was also cancelled 2 days prior to starting due to rain, and unfortunately, the list goes on.
Perhaps the biggest shake up in the industry was the news that 2024 was the last year Blair Castle international Horse Trials would run.
However, it’s not all bad news. Hickstead also recently invested in a brand-new £1.5 million stabling complex, including hard standing for up to 40 horseboxes, to complement its extensive range of all-weather and grass facilities. This allows for year-round use of the Hickstead showground for external hires, clinics and camps.
“It is essential that any additional events are financially sound,” added Lizzie. “This year we added the British Young Horse Jumping Championships to our fixture list in August. This was a huge success, and we are looking forward to developing this event even further for next year.”
Feature Image (c) Boots and Hooves Photography
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.