The Armathwaite Hall Horse Trials & Country Fair, scheduled this year for the weekend of July 19th, 20th and 21st, has been cancelled.

The flagship Lake District event, which began in 1999, was due to run pre-novice, novice and advanced sections, plus the PERA Global Masters and the lucrative Armathwaite Hall Classic section, along with a comprehensive schedule of showing classes, young event horse qualifiers and a large country fair.

Since Pfizer’s decision not to renew support for the event under the Strongid-P brand, efforts to conclude a new title sponsorship deal have proved difficult due to upheavals in the global economy and costs have risen significantly as a result of the last year’s FMD abandonment.

Event joint organiser Charles Graves said, “We have very reluctantly made the decision to cancel our event, as other business commitments have impinged on efforts to secure a new title sponsor and we feel that the time scale now available to us is unrealistic.

“The significant cancellation costs we incurred as a result of last year’s FMD abandonment were a factor in our decision and the ever-increasing costs of staging a horse trials competition at the top level make the requirement for sponsorship support a necessity, rather than a luxury.

“There has been so much hard work by so many people and we have had tremendous assistance and support from riders, owners, sponsors and growing numbers of visitors. We had brought together an able, experienced and committed team and like all of them, I am extremely disappointed that this very difficult decision has become inevitable.”

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