AFTER TEETERING on the brink of cancellation, Brechin Castle Horse Trials has finally fallen from British Eventing’s fixture list for 2013.
The loss of the horse trials will come as a blow for Scotland’s eventers and supporters.
Local equestrians now have just one remaining national level affiliated horse trials to contest during the coming year, at Kirriemuir Horse Trials, Auchlishie.
The future of the Brechin event had been hanging in the balance after it emerged the former organising team at the Earl of Dalhousie Estate would not continue to shoulder the financial burden of the event.
The lease of the ground at Brechin Castle and Maulesden was made available for tender for the competition and Brechin Horse Trials was temporarily saved for the 2012 season as the result of a takeover by chief steward David Reid, of Ethiebeaton.
However, Mr Reid confirmed to The Courier in October he would not be running the event during 2013.
According to Ian Christie, who led the horse trials organising team for the earl until the end of 2011, the sporting body has made no effort to contact the estate over recent months and the competition has been struck from the calendar as a result.
“The course is ready and waiting for anyone who wants to organise the competition,” Mr Christie told The Courier. “We are still very willing to lease the ground to enable the continuation of the horse trials but we have not heard from anyone at British Eventing.
“The event has always been very popular with hundreds of people. There is never a shortage of riders who want to compete at Brechin in fact, we balloted out around 30 riders the last time it was organised by the estate.
“The demand for the competition is certainly there,” he added.
According to both Mr Reid and Mr Christie, the event, which attracts more than 200 riders each year, was successful in financially “washing its face” but was heavily reliant upon sponsorship money in order to break even.
Mr Christie added the entry fees from riders alone are not sufficient to cover five-figure costs for medical cover, PA systems, vets, farriers and additional costs including several thousands of pounds payable to affiliate to BE each year in order to run the trials.
The release of BE’s fixture list also deals the membership the blow of confirming the cancellation of the Edinburgh-based Oatridge Horse Trials.
The loss of Oatridge and Brechin takes the tally of Scottish competitions down to just nine national and two international venues for 2013 and a number of Scotland’s BE competitors have told The Courier they will not renew their membership for 2013 as a result.
According to BE, Scotland’s event riders accounted for only 6% of its total 11,010 membership during 2012.
phstephen@thecourier.co.uk