The April Tetworth Horse Trials was a successful relaunch for the event which is under new management. The atmosphere was exciting, the weather kind, and the ground good.
It was so popular that an extra day had to be laid on to accommodate all the novice and intermediate entries. Being a partly rider-run event, it was well supported by the well-known riders with the likes of Harry Meade, Piggy March, Tom McEwen, Kitty King, and Tina Cook and many more all bringing horses to compete. Broadcaster Clare Balding came to support her horse Barrington Bear who is produced and ridden by Harry Meade.
This season Tetworth Horse Trials has been relaunched with a new organising team led by Joanna Beattie, Victoria and Richard Jones.
This year there will be two separate events, offering classes from BE80 through to Open Intermediate.
Richard rang me in the Autumn of 2025 to ask if I would help them to promote the event with my photography and videography, I was pleased to help.
The venue, Tetworth Hall, near Sandy in Cambridgeshire, is a Grade II* listed Queen Anne mansion built in 1710 for John Pedley, MP for Huntingdonshire, whose family had farmed this corner of Cambridgeshire since 1653. The estate passed through some notable hands over the centuries, including Edward Harley, the 2nd Earl of Oxford, and Philip Yorke, the 1st Earl of Hardwicke and Lord Chancellor. During the Second World War the Hall was requisitioned, and troops stationed in the grounds guarded Italian and German prisoners of war — with some outbuildings still bearing wartime graffiti on their walls.
Today the estate is owned by Julia Shaw, who has enthusiastically opened the grounds to the eventing community.
My first visit to the site in January of 2026 was for a course planning session with respected course builder Andrew Heffernan. Course builder Dom Moore joined Richard, Andrew and members of the Tetworth Estate’s management team to discuss where fences could go, what work would be required and whether those changes were acceptable to the estate. We were also joined by other members of the wider team who would be involved with the running of the event, so they could see how it would all work and raise any issues which came up. Piggy March joined us in the afternoon to see what the plan was and do some social media with us for the event.
I followed the team around the park, doing short form video to edit into longer form final edits as well as images for use on socials in various ways.
When the event came around in April, I set up camp with Julia Dungworth who would cover the event’s social media, so I could provide her with images and video. Julia concentrated on video interviews while I sent the drone up before competition started and got some establishment content of the whole site, as well as a fly-through of the cross country course.
During the event we did our best to keep track of who was leading the Open Intermediate classes, as these included the most experienced horses on site, some of whom would be going on to 4* and 5* competitions this season. When clear leaders emerged I did my best to be in two places at once, capturing their show jumping rounds and subsequent trips around the cross country course. I also did some interviews on my phone for other social media themes which Julia had planned. The riders are very used to this sort of media these days and I had no trouble getting reactions from the likes of Clare Balding, etc. who were all very helpful.
PR photography is different from the sort of images we would take for riders, including the need to capture elements I might not normally photograph at all. For example, there were regular prize giving ceremonies through each afternoon, some well attended and some not. On Saturday night we drove a golf buggy around the lorry park trying to find the various winners to make sure they received their prizes and had their picture taken before they started the journey home. It is important to make sure that the event has media to give to sponsors for them to use with their own social media posts, so part of each day was taken walking the cross country course to catch riders over sponsored fences, as well as looking for the juxtaposition of sponsors’ banners and hoardings with active competition images.
William Fox-Pitt arrived during the afternoon on Saturday and was driven around by Richard Jones to see how the courses were riding, and to see the new developments which had been put in place. He was also guest of honour at the sponsors’ drinks party in the house on Saturday evening, where he was very keen to emphasise the importance of events like Tetworth which are being put on at the right time of year, at a great venue in the middle of England. On Sunday he spent lots of time speaking to visitors and meeting with owners in the EHOA tent, where he also did an interview with Saffron Cresswell.
As part of the package, all media was uploaded to a shared library for the team to draw on throughout the season for ongoing promotion across digital and print channels.
If you’re organising an equestrian event and would like to discuss official photography and media coverage, I’d love to hear from you.
Tetworth Horse Trials Official Site
Competition photos from Tetworth.