EquiRatings Eventing Podcast

The first ever FEI Under 25 Eventing World Championships are here.
Nicole is joined by Diarmuid Byrne, Spike Milligan and Annie Bishop to look ahead to Millstreet, where a world title is on the line.
Topspin against Altair de la Cense. Alice Casburn against Calvin Böckmann. They've already gone head-to-head twice before, and now they meet again with the biggest prize yet. The Prediction Centre has them well clear of the rest of the field, but is it really that straightforward?
The team also looks at the strength of the American and Irish squads, which horses could shake up the podium, and where the championship might be won and lost.
Highlights
Topspin vs Altair de la Cense
Team medal predictions
The jump from three-star to four-star
Reading the Prediction Centre
Dark horses to watch
Guests
Diarmuid Byrne – EquiRatings co-founder and data analyst
Spike Milligan – FEI team vet with decades of championship experience
Annie Bishop – US eventing broadcaster and co-host of the US Equestrian Open Podcast
Connolly's Red Mills are offering 15% off Foran Equine products to Eventing Podcast listeners! Use the code EquiRatingsPodcast15 to receive your discount. View the full collection here.
Note this does not apply to the already discounted Pre-Fuel & Refuel combo packs.
If you have any other questions regarding feeding click here to ask the Connolly's RED MILLS experts.
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Is a horse's route to a championship as important as its destination? As we build towards Aachen, Sam Watson joins Nicole for one of these deep-dive overview shows, and this one gets right to the heart of how the modern event horse is made and managed.
The days of one road to a championship are gone. Now riders are picking their own paths, saving legs, choosing four-star over five-star, and building form lines that don't always line up neatly against each other. Sam has the EquiRatings numbers to prove it, and they tell a story that goes well beyond selection headaches.
Because underneath the championship talk sits a bigger question. Has the type of horse we're producing actually changed? And if it has, what does that mean for the long format, for injury risk, and for the future shape of the sport?
Highlights
Five-star starts on the decline
Rethinking the championship form line
The 33% drop in long-format numbers
What a "Horse of the Year" ranking could look like
Cost, ownership and the lorry park economy
Should young horses get their own showcase at the biggest venues?
Guests
Sam Watson – EquiRatings co-founder and 5-Star eventer, bringing the data behind the sport's biggest trends
This episode is supported by FLAIR Strips, the vet-developed, drug-free nasal strips proven to help horses breathe more easily and recover faster, worn by riders across disciplines.
 Find out more at flairstrips.com.

Sixty-five years in, and Burghley still gives its own team goosebumps.
In this episode of Inside Burghley 2026, Nicole heads to Burghley HQ to sit down with Miranda Rock, Executive Chair of the Burghley House Preservation Trust, for a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to preserve one of the world's most iconic five-stars.
From protecting Capability Brown's historic parkland and centuries-old trees to redesigning the shopping village, improving visitor flow and planning for the future, Miranda explains the work that goes on long before the first horse arrives.
Along the way, she shares stories from Burghley's remarkable history, her family's connection to the estate, the Olympic legacy that still lives inside the house, and why Ros Canter's unforgettable walk down Winners' Avenue with baby Seneh is one of her favourite Burghley memories.
Highlights
Burghley's Cecil family history
The retail and wayfinding changes for 2026
Protecting Capability Brown's historic parkland
Ros Canter's memorable Burghley victory
What the next chapter looks like for Burghley
Guest
Miranda Rock – Executive Chair of the Burghley House Preservation Trust and 16th-generation descendant of William Cecil.
🎥 Watch every moment on Burghley TV: exclusive live coverage, replays, and behind-the-scenes access all week.
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Everyone talks about training. Almost nobody talks about why it doesn't show up on the day.
Kirsty Chabert has just won the Nations Cup at Bicton on Classic VI, and she's admitting something most riders won't: she's terrified of heights, still can't walk to the edge of a drop fence, and has spent years working through it. If a five-star rider with that record still fights her own nerves, what does that mean for the rest of us walking into the startbox?
This episode of the Grassroots Show goes straight at that gap between the arena at home and the ring at a show. Kirsty breaks down what she actually leans on when the pressure's on, why competing above your level in schooling matters more in jumping than dressage, and why she disappears the week before a big event instead of riding.
Highlights
Managing nerves at every level
Training above the level you compete
Building pressure into schooling at home
Reading your own competition honestly
The trot-to-walk transition that matters most
A cross-country warm-up challenge to try
Guests
Kirsty Chabert, five-star event rider and coach, Nations Cup winner at Bicton on Classic VI.
Presented by Foran Equine, part of the Connolly's RED MILLS family.
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This week's Cup of Tea is with Sam Lissington, and she's arrived with news that's still sinking in: her first senior call-up, earned inside a fortnight that could easily have gone the other way.
Second at Bramham with Sooty, then the setback nobody saw coming when he came home from the vet with an injury that ended his season. So how do you show up for the next horse when everything feels uncertain?
Sam talks us through the whiplash of that stretch, a horse bought on a hunch in a Finnish indoor, the mistake she owns at Bilton without excuse, and the phone call that made all of it worth it.
Highlights
Bramham high, then a career low
Performing on Lucas Stone under pressure
Buying a horse in a Finnish indoor
Owning the mistake at Bilton
A stressful vet check day
What success at Aachen looks like
Guests
Sam Lissington – New Zealand event rider, newly selected for her first senior World Championships
This series is supported by Carr & Day & Martin, globally trusted equine care products since 1765 and now proudly part of the Connolly's Red Mills Group. Learn more about their full range at: https://www.carrdaymartin.com/
EquiRatings Eventing Podcast
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