“Where Eventing Lives” Welcome back to Go Eventing, the podcast where the heart, soul, and stories of the eventing world come to life. This is a big one! We are in full world championship season and Sally is joined by her favorite co-conspirator — Eventing Nation's European Correspondent and The Athletic contributor Tilly Berendt — for an unfiltered, wide-ranging conversation that covers the five star season so far, the road to the FEI Eventing World Championships at Aachen, the growing mainstream spotlight on equestrian sport, and what it will take for eventing to seize this moment. Buckle up. We have thoughts. 🔎What’s Inside Season 2, Episode 9? Host Sally Spickard and Tilly Berendt pick up right where they left off — from two different countries, at their respective computers this time, which is both more professional and arguably less entertaining than their last recorded episode barreling down a highway in England at 11 PM. Some upgrades come at a cost. Sally and Tilly dig into a full recap of Luhmühlen, with Tilly just off the ground there, before pivoting to the state of the five-star season at large — and the horses and riders who've captured their attention heading into the championship stretch. The conversation then broadens into the terrain Tilly and Sally know best: what eventing's growing visibility in mainstream media actually means, what the sport must do to capitalize on it, and a candid look at transparency, officiating, and the role of eventing media in all of it. 🔥In This Episode, We Cover... 0:00 — Tilly Berendt Is Back Sally and Tilly reunite for the first time on mic since the infamous moving-car episode at Burghley, which Sally confirms was genuinely car-sickness-inducing and, inexplicably, one of their best-received episodes. They set the scene for a world championship season that is moving impossibly fast. 2:12 — Luhmühlen Recap: The Fairy Tale Forest, Great Butt, and D-Day's Masterclass Tilly paints a picture of Luhmühlen — the Lower Saxony woodland setting, the sponge-like ground that absorbs flash floods and delivers perfect footing, and the Hanoverian foal auction that provides some of the championship season's more memorable naming moments. She then breaks down the performance of the weekend: Caroline Harris and D. Day, who became the only pair to make the time on cross country — 18 seconds inside it — on their way to victory. Tilly recounts her conversation with Caroline, who said she genuinely couldn't explain how it kept happening. They also discuss Emily King's competitive weekend and look ahead at what the five-star season's results are telling us about form heading into August. 24:00 — The Five-Star Season at Large: What We've Learned Broader reflections on a season that has felt unusually compressed — past what feels like a starting gun, already approaching selection deadlines for World Championships. The duo discuss which horses and combinations have made the strongest case for themselves across the year's major five-star results, which performances they're watching most closely, and why this particular championship year feels different from others. 35:00 — World Championships Preview: GB & US Team Picks Tilly puts forward her British senior team — Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo (her pick without hesitation for best event horse in the world right now) obviously make the cut, and there may even be a surprise or two on her list. Sally then lays out her US team predictions: Will Coleman and Diabolo (Kentucky winner, effectively a lock) and some others make the cut. 56:00 — Eventing's Mainstream Moment: The Athletic, Faultless, and What Comes Next Sally and Tilly discuss the broader renaissance currently happening in equestrian sport's mainstream visibility — led largely by show jumping and the Rolex Grand Prix series — and what it means for eventing. Tilly shares how she came to be writing for The Athletic, covering the Rolex series with journalist Gemma Redrup, and how she's been pitching features with the explicit goal of steering the platform's editorial attention toward eventing. Sally discusses Faultless, the new Rolex-backed documentary now streaming on Roku, and what eventing could learn from its Formula One-esque storytelling approach. If you see any equestrian content from Tilly on The Athletic, click it. Open it in five tabs. The numbers matter. 1:03:00 — What Eventing Can Steal from Other Sports: Transparency, Broadcast, and the Flag Rule One of the meatiest stretches of conversation in recent podcast memory. Tilly makes the case for bringing transparency in officiating decisions into the broadcast product — using the example of a referee body cam at the World Cup as a model for how decisions can be explained in real time rather than leaving audiences and journalists guessing. Sally adds the technology gap angle: the Morven Park flag review delay as a case study in how slow footage retrieval undermines the broadcast and the official review process simultaneously. Both agree: if something exists in our sport, we should be able to explain it. If we can't, that's worth paying attention to. 1:15:00 — Social License, Transparency, and Eventing's Relationship with the Public A candid discussion about the tension between protecting the sport's image and actually building public trust — and why those two things are increasingly in conflict. Tilly argues, persuasively, that the sport's relationship with the public is more like a tricky romantic relationship than anyone in administration would probably like to hear: trust is built most in the moments where things go wrong and the response is honest, not defensive. Sally raises the specific challenge of visible incidents on course — blood rules, horse welfare checks — and asks whether more transparency in those moments would actually help the sport's reputation, not hurt it. Both agree the answer is probably yes, and that fear of showing anything imperfect may be doing more damage than the imperfections themselves. 1:31:00 — Eventing Media: What It Takes, What's at Stake Sally and Tilly turn the lens on themselves — and their profession. What does it mean to be eventing media right now? What responsibilities come with the trust that officials, riders, and venues extend to journalists? Integrity, both argue, is the whole job. 1:39:37 — Finish Flags Tilly's next stop is Millstreet in Ireland for the inaugural Under-25 World Championships — her first time at the venue, and very nearly her first time at an Irish eventing event since Tattersalls 2019. Sally and Tilly will next see each other at Aachen. There is an open bar in the Champions Circle. That's all the motivation anyone needs. Sally previews two upcoming podcast series: a deep dive into the economics and business side of equestrian sport, and a series on the Thoroughbred in eventing. Stay tuned. 🎧 Tune In to Eventing Everywhere with EN Head over to EventingNation.com to read all the latest from all levels of eventing across the globe. Connect with us @goeventing, or you can reach us anytime at podcast@eventingnation.com. 📌 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review Go Eventing wherever you get your podcasts! Let's keep building this community together. #GoEventing #EventingNation #WhereEventingLives __________________________________________________________________________ The Go Eventing Podcast powered by Eventing Nation is your front-row seat to the heartbeat of eventing. From exclusive athlete interviews to behind-the-scenes insights, we bring you closer to the horses, riders, and stories that make our sport unforgettable. Our vision: Celebrate the stories of eventing while connecting fans, riders, and supporters worldwide. What makes us different: Rider-first conversations Honest, unfiltered stories 🧑🤝🧑 A community-driven approach
