Frickley Horse Trials goes international as it steps it up for forthcoming equestrian event

A corner of South Yorkshire will host International Horse Trials next weekend as organisers say they are “excited” about what is a “big step up”.

The Frickley Park International Horse Trials and Area Festival Championships will be held on The Frickley Estate nestled between Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster between August 18 and 21.

For the first time the event, which started in the 1980s, is hosting international classes including CCI-S 2* and CCI-S 3*.

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It is the first time that international classes have been added to the programme for Frickley Horse Trials, which originally started out in Beckwithshaw at Harrogate.

Action from a previous horse trials at Frickley ParkAction from a previous horse trials at Frickley Park
Action from a previous horse trials at Frickley Park

However, as the trials grew in popularity the event outgrew the showground and relocated to The Frickley Estate where it is hosted by the Warde-Aldam family.

Dressage and show-jumping are held in the arenas in front of Frickley Hall while the cross country courses through the grounds are said to be a “true riding experience”.

Vanessa Fleming is one of the joint organisers said: “We have 3* and 2* competition which is a first for us. It is a big change in course design and build but it is exciting and we are pleased to do this – it is a big step up.”

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It is also the first event since 2019 that will be running without COVID restrictions.

While Frickley Park Trials were able to take place in both 2020 and 2021 – they were quite different to the set up that competitors and spectators can expect next week.

Miss Fleming added: “The first COVID year people were just desperate to get out and do something and the same with the second year so we ran at a success.

“This is a normal setting for us and we are running without any restrictions, so we can put tents up, bring people into tents and means that the infrastructure is what people would expect it to be at a normal event.

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“We are international this year which is much bigger than last year and we are running at a much higher level.

“It is exciting and we are pleased but it is a big step up.”

It is a long way from where Frickley Trials started nearly 40 years ago as an unaffiliated event. However, as rules changed over the years, the event did affiliate with British Eventing to make it more sustainable.

This year there are also the Area Festival Championships with the following classes – BE100 Open; BE100; AFC 90 Open; AFC 90; AFC 80 Open and AFC 80.

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There are three national qualifier classes (BE 80/90/100) and four national classes – open, open novice, intermediate, open intermediate.

Frickley Horse Trials follows big events such as Blair Castle International, Burgham International and Hopetoun International and Ms Fleming says while it may take some time to top these for rider choice, it is still a coup for the area to be hosting an International.

She added: “It is a really big plus and I don’t think it has been done in this area before.

“We are a good location. People travel an awful long way in this sport to get to events and it is not unusual for people to travel three or four hours to come to Frickley.

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“Established events have a long track history and you find in eventing people have their big hit places. We are looking forward to it, entries have picked up and we are trying to make it a showcase event.”