Rosalind Canter, a British equestrian currently competing in eventing, made history on Sunday following her win at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials. But her achievement was hardly recognised in the media in comparison to the celebrations of successful football teams or a famous tennis player’s achievements.
On the 8th May 2023 and the 11th May 2025, Canter won The Badminton Horse Trials on her horse Lordships Graffalo, which was closely followed by her win at the Defender Burghley Horse trials for the second year in a row on Sunday 7th September 2025. This makes her one of the only riders in history to complete the Burghley-Badminton-Burghley treble, with the last rider achieving this over 40 years ago. But, she also won this Burghley Horse Trials while being 5 months pregnant with her second child.
However, many equestrians feel that she has not received the praise and celebration in the media that she deserves for such a significant achievement in the equestrian industry.
Football players and teams receive a lot of coverage in the media, having many news articles written about them and what they have won, as well as updates on broadcast news sites and live coverage of their whole matches, just for weekendly premier league matches. However, prestigious equestrian events such as Badminton and Burghley Horse Trials only receive coverage of the highlights of the event, with full live coverage only being accessible on pay-per-view livestreaming sites.
Furthermore, they only receive light coverage in print and online news articles, with the media attention primarily being in equestrian-specific magazines rather than news sites like the BBC, Sky News, and The Guardian that cover a range of sports along with other topics. This feels to equestrians like a form of discrimination against a minor sport that has accomplishments just as significant as popular sports like football.
In addition, equestrian is one of the only sports in the world where men and women (and all other genders) compete against each other in equal terms. Ros Canter, having competed in these events against multiple men, including Max Warburton and Harry Horgan, defies a stereotype that has been stated throughout history that men are better than women at sport.
Therefore, in a society which is trying to promote women’s rights, power, and equality, why is a sport where all genders are equally treated competitively not broadcasted and reported about more often in comparison to a gender-specific sport like football? This would be a perfect opportunity for the media to discuss how this stereotype is false, yet it is a sport which is swept under the rug due to its lack of popularity outside of the equestrian bubble. By increasing the media coverage, the sport could become more popular, which would benefit riders, brands, and the sport’s economic value.
For horse riding, there is no retirement age. This means there are still riders competing at the highest level at the age of 70 years old, such as John Whitaker. Some of these riders have been competing for over 50 years. However, the average retirement age for a footballer is around 35 years old. This further shows how impressive equestrianism is, which is why it should receive more media coverage and praise.
Equestrian is a sport that requires a lot of skill, especially as the rider must not only control how they ride, but must also control how the horse behaves and must manoeuvre them around an arena or a course of jumps in a skilful way. When competing at such a high level, the skill level rises and perfection and precision become more important. This should be something that is praised in the media, as while all sports require different skills, not many people are brave enough to get on a horse, so those who are brave enough, but also push themselves to the maximum level of jumping fences at 1.5 metres high, should be celebrated. It should not be forgotten just because other sports are more popular.
Overall, it is felt that equestrian is a sport which should receive more praise and more coverage in the media, as those competing at the highest levels have proven they can achieve equally competitive goals as more popular sports such as football. For example, Ros Canter’s achievement was even more significant because of the fact that she had won each event twice, one of which while she was pregnant. Horse riding is a minor sport which could become just as popular if it received more media coverage and praise for its immense skill and precision, as well as for the sport’s broad range of competitors of all different ages and genders that all compete on equal terms.