EQUESTRIAN
Equestrianism made its Olympic debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
It disappeared until 1912, but has appeared at every Summer Olympic Games since. The current Olympic equestrian disciplines are Dressage, Eventing, and Jumping. In each discipline, both individual and team medals are awarded. It is one of the sports on the programme where women and men compete together on equal terms.
What is dressage?
In modern Dressage competitions, horse and rider are expected to perform from memory a series of predetermined movements, known as ‘figures’ (volte, serpentine, figure of eight). They perform these movements in a completely flat, rectangular arena, measuring 40 x 20m or 60 x 20m. The arena is skirted by a low rail along which 12 lettered markers are placed symmetrically indicating where movements are to start and finish and where changes of pace occur. Upon entering the arena, each rider proceeds down a marked centre line and halts to salute. In all competitions, the horse has to show the paces: walk, trot and canter as well as smooth transitions within and between these paces.
Dressage is one of the three disciplines in competition at the Olympic Games, the other two being Jumping and Eventing.
What is Jumping?
In modern Jumping competitions, horse and rider are required to complete a course of 10 to 13 jumps, the objective of which is to test the combination’s skill, accuracy and training.
The aim is always to jump the course in the designed sequence with no mistakes – a clear round. If any part of an obstacle is knocked down or if the horse refuses a jump, penalties are accumulated. The winner of the competition is the horse and rider combination that incurs the least number of penalties, completes the course in the fastest time or gains the highest number of points depending on the type of competition.
Jumping is one of the three disciplines in competition at the Olympic Games, the other two being Eventing and Dressage.
What is eventing?
Eventing demands of the competitor considerable experience in all branches of equitation and a precise knowledge of the horse’s ability and of the horse a degree of competence resulting from intelligent and rational training. It covers all round riding ability and horsemanship: the harmony between horse and rider that characterise Dressage; the contact with nature, precise knowledge of the horses ability and extensive experience essential for the Cross Country; the precision, agility and technique involved in Jumping.
Eventing is one of the three disciplines in competition at the Olympic Games, the other two being Jumping and Dressage.
The winning individual is the competitor with the lowest total of penalty points. The winning team is the one with the lowest total of penalty points, after adding together the final scores of the three highest placed competitors in the team
Ireland won a bronze medal with Cian O’Connor in the show jumping event at the London Olympic Games.
National Federation: Horse Sport Ireland
International Federation: Fédération Équestre Internationale
EQUESTRIAN NEWS
In The News – May 12th
Equestrian: Austin O'Connor Achieves Podium Finish at Badminton Horse Trials Four time Olympian Austin O'Connor delivered one of his finest performances to date at the prestigious 2025 Badminton Horse Trials, finishing third overall aboard his long-time partner Colorado Blue. After a modest start in the dressage phase, where he placed 20th, O'Connor surged through the [...]
Irish eventers win Boekelo Nations Cup in stunning style
Albert’s crew excel in show jumping to blow elite field away Dag Albert has hailed a fantastic team effort in testing conditions after the Agria Irish Eventing Team blitzed an elite field to win the four-star FEI Eventing Nations Cup at Boekelo today. Albert’s squad of Aoife Clark on Sportsfield Freelance, Susie Berry on the [...]
DAY 11 MORNING REPORT FROM TEAM IRELAND
Team Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam with James Kann Cruz, and Daniel Coyle with Legacy, both missed out on the medal jump-off in the show jumping final at the Palace of Versailles this morning. Running a brilliant PB Sophie O’Sullivan narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 1500m semi-finals by just one spot, finishing 7th in her heat, [...]
2024 OLYMPIC GAMES – DAY 3 AFTERNOON REPORT FROM TEAM IRELAND
In Canoe Slalom double Olympian Liam Jegou put in an incredible run in the semi-final of the Men’s C1 to reach his first Olympic final an hour later where he placed an amazing seventh overall. Defending lightweight champion Kellie Harrington impressively defeated Italian Alessia Mesiano in the last 16 to advance to the quarter-finals on Wednesday evening (31st July). Her [...]
SELECTED ATHLETES
Abigail Lyle
BIOGRAPHY Abi comes from a completely non-equine background but finally persuaded her parents to buy her a horse after completing her GCSEs. She started college in Queens (English and Film), but left after 18 months and worked as a groom in a racing yard, before moving to England in 2009, to work and train in [...]
Daniel Coyle
BIOGRAPHY When his best horse Uptown Girl was retired in 2016 Daniel found himself at a crossroads but a move to Canada ignited his career to far greater heights. He initially went to work with Conor Swail but soon became first rider for owners Susan and Aeriel Grange in Ontario, and his world ranking has [...]
Aoife Clark*
BIOGRAPHY A graduate of UCD with a first-class degree in Maths and Classics Aoife performed brilliantly at her last Olympic Games in London 2012. Her seventh place, on Master Crusoe, was Ireland’s best individual finish in 36 years, and helped the team to a fifth-place finish. She rose to 11th in the world rankings in [...]
Susie Berry
BIOGRAPHY Susie was riding from a young age (her mum is a vet and a breeder) and, from 2012 to 2017 represented Ireland in six European Junior Championships, winning team gold and team bronze. In 2014 she relocated from Northern Ireland to Maidwell, Northamptonshire to train and work for Piggy March and won Junior European [...]
Heike Holstein
BIOGRAPHY Heike Holstein has represented Ireland in four Olympic Games. She made her Olympic debut at the 1996 Atlanta Games, finishing 26th in individual dressage aboard Ballaseyr Devereaux. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she placed 42nd with Royale 42, and at the 2004 Athens Olympics, she secured 50th place riding Welt Adel. Heike took 13 [...]
Sarah Ennis
BIOGRAPHY Sarah Ennis made her Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games, finishing 36th individually with her horse, Woodcourt Garrison, and contributing to Ireland's eighth-place team finish. Ennis was selected to represent Ireland at the 2024 Paris Olympics with her horse, Action Lady M. However, after the cross-country phase, she withdrew prior to the show [...]
Sam Watson
BIOGRAPHY Sam Watson represented Ireland at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Competing in individual eventing with his horse Tullabeg Flamenco, he finished 30th, and contributed to Ireland's 8th place in the team event. Since his international debut (2002) Sam has competed in three World Equestrian Games (2010, 2014, 2018) and contributed to three top ten team [...]
Austin O’Connor
BIOGRAPHY Austin is competing in his fourth Olympic Games in Paris. He and his Olympic partner from Tokyo had a sensational year in 2023 when he was the first Irish rider in 40 years (since Jessica Harrington) to make the podium in Badminton. He then went on to win the prestigious CC15* in Maryland; the [...]
Shane Sweetnam
BIOGRAPHY Shane began his Grand Prix career aged 16. After qualifying in IT from the University of Limerick in 2004 he headed to USA to work with US Olympic veteran Margie Engle, and has been based in Florida since. He was eighth individually to help Ireland to team gold at the 2017 Europeans. In 2021 [...]
Bertram Allen
BIOGRAPHY Bertram Allen made his Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games, competing with his horse Pacino Amiro. Allen qualified for the individual jumping final, finishing 15th with 8 faults and a time of 84.64 seconds. Beyond the Olympics, Allen has achieved significant success in international competitions. At 19, he won the opening round of [...]
Darragh Kenny
BIOGRAPHY Darragh Kenny made his Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games, finishing 17th in the individual show jumping event aboard VDL Cartello. He rode in his first Grand Prix at 14 and debuted in the Dublin Horse Show (2007) when just 19. He was a member of Ireland’s Nations Cup (Aga Khan) victors in [...]
Cian O’Connor
BIOGRAPHY Cian O'Connor has competed at four Olympic Games and is Ireland’s only equestrian medallist to date, winning a bronze medal on ‘Blue Loyd’ at London 2012. During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics he competed with his horse Kilkenny and finished seventh in individual jumping. He also finished 7th overall in the team event at the [...]