New service to help event riders after injury or illness

The British Eventing Support Trust aims to provide the “best care for the people in our sport” when most needed

- LUCY ELDER

NEW support for event riders struggling with injury or mental health has launched, with plans for the service to be fully operational by 2022.

The British Eventing (BE) Support Trust, born out of BE’s charitable foundation, has two main strands. The first is getting the right support to riders in need, the second to promote, research and develop initiatives for riders’ overall safety and welfare.

“We want to be there for our riders,” chair of trustees Ian Stark told H&H. “We feel it’s about time the sport had its own specific support.”

Ian said one great element of the eventing community is the way people look out for each other. He added that there are “brilliant” charities such as the Mark Davies Injured Riders Fund, Riders Minds and the Injured Jockeys Fund (IJF), stressing that the trust’s aim is to work with, not against, these organisations.