Pippa Cuckson

Spontaneous applause erupted when Fédération Equestre Internationale president HRH Princess Haya announced that the Saudi Equestrian Fund would be the new sponsor of the FEI show jumping Nations Cup series for 2012, with plans for a refreshing new look.

Prestigious Nations Cup shows such as Spruce Meadows (Alta.) and Aachen (Germany) will have to consider date changes and abandoning their grand prix classes if they wish to stay in the new-look official Nations Cup series announced by the Fédération Equestrian International on May 1 at its sports forum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Are you excited about the upcoming World Dressage Masters in West Palm Beach? Totilas won’t be there, but one of the newest dressage superstars will: British phenom Charlotte Dujardin. Carl Hester will be riding as well, although not on his most famous mount, stallion Uthopia. Did you ever wonder how the British dressage team went from being the redheaded stepchild of equestrian disciplines in Great Britain to winning team gold at the FEI European Championships over perennial powerhouses Germany and the Netherlands?

Mark Todd earned the accolade “Rider Of The 20th Century” after his 2000 retirement, but the 55-year-old is now running rings around riders in the 21st, winning his fourth Mitsubishi Motors Badminton CCI**** after a foot-perfect show jumping round on NZB Land Vision.

But that’s not going to stop him from taking aim on his seventh Olympic Games.

The silver Mercedes pulling into a quiet residential road in the south of England’s commuter belt could signal the return of any businessman from a day at the office. But one thing distinguishes this driver from his neighbors. It’s Mark Todd, sporting icon, who now aims to rewrite his own legend by representing New Zealand at a seventh Olympic Games.

For 20 years, the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton CCI**** (England) has run on the first Thursday to Sunday in May. But starting in 2010, organizers opted for an occasional April start date so the event could finish on a Monday, partly in response to the broadcasting preferences of BBC TV.

He may have been disappointed with his fourth-placed finish at the Alltech World Equestrian Games, but he’s still got as much potential ahead of him as he has history behind him.

There’s a prominent sign off the highway to Rodrigo Pessoa’s barn, and you certainly need it. The approach to one of Europe’s most influential show jumping hubs is up a nondescript, residential lane, and when you arrive at the forbidding electronic gates to Haras de Ligny your first impression is that you’ve made a mistake; surely this is a business park.

FEI president HRH Princess Haya welcomed the Fédération Equestre Internationale initiative to hold a congress on Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, declaring it long overdue. She hailed it as the first real opportunity to bring together new science on NSAIDs since the FEI’s 1993 ban on their use.

No one could have predicted that the Fédération Equestre Internationale delegates would vote to legalize threshold levels of drugs like phenylbutazone at the General Assembly in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Nov. 19.

There is an air of unconfined joy in the small village of Thedinghausen in northern Germany, where its celebrity residents Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Markus Beerbaum have announced they are expecting their first child.

While the show jumping community adjusts to the possibility of a winter season without the challenge of the reigning Rolex FEI World Cup champion, the lady herself is well settled in a new home regime. All being well, she will return to the saddle in time to attempt a record fourth World Cup title at Geneva, Switzerland, in April.