This weekend the FEI Eventing Nations Cup action is taking place at Lignieres in France, but the 2026 season final is just around the corner at Military Boekelo-Enschede (Thursday 1st - Sunday 4th October) in the Netherlands.
The 55th edition of the Military Boekelo-Enschede FEI Eventing Nations Cup final will see 83 riders from fifteen nations competing with 103 horses. Great Britain brings forward the largest contingent, with nineteen riders and 23 horses including Gemma Stevens, Yasmin Ingham, Tom McEwen, Izzy Taylor and Zara Tindall while Germany’s 10 entries will be led by dual past winner Julia Krajewski (riding Samourai du Thot in 2018 and Nickel 21 in 2024) riding Ero De Cantraie along with Christoph Wahler and Ingrid Klimke.
Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA will also be fielding teams with the USA having already announced their team of Hallie Coon riding Sirius SB, Jack Curtis riding Luska Candy Clover, Allie Knowles riding Montpellier Scais and Lauren Nicholson riding Landmark’s Jungle Gold.
Brazil, Italy, Spain and Turkiye will field individual competitors, as will Australia and New Zealand.
Australia will be represented by Grace Kay riding Bluefields For Cello and Lamoza Velisha riding Call Me Cooley while New Zealand has Jonelle Price riding Indian Tonic and Tim Price, another past dual winner (on Cekatinka in 2017 and Happy Boy in 2022) this time riding both Gloire De Marchenval and The Highlander.
Belgium’s Lara de Liedekerke-Meier will make her twentieth appearance in the Twente classic as the defending champion. becoming the first Belgian rider in the history of the event to claim the individual victory in 2025. The Netherlands, which has never produced an individual winner in the 55-year history of the event, will be represented by eight riders.
Nine teams to contest 2026 FEI Eventing Nations Cup Final
Military Boekelo-Enschede has for many years provided the setting for the final of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup. This year, the team competition will take on a different format, with the final being contested according to a new system. Nine selected teams will start the decisive competition with a clean slate, guaranteeing considerably more suspense than in previous years.
Germany will defend their 2025 Series title while Britain took the Boekelo leg win last year. At the recent World Championships on home soil in Aachen, the Germans had to settle for second place behind Great Britain, while finishing ahead of the United States in the battle for silver. In addition to these three nations, teams from Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland will line up in Boekelo.
Boekelo course to run in the opposite direction
Adrian Ditcham is preparing for his seventh time as cross country course designer of Military Boekelo-Enschede. The 55-year-old Englishman succeeded his compatriot Sue Benson in 2019 and this year, Adrian will present a course that will be ridden in the opposite direction to previous editions.
“Boekelo is a very important event for the sport of eventing” says Adrian “At the end of the season, many riders use it to test horses they hope to compete with at an international championship, such as the World Championships or the Olympic Games, the following year or two years later. Internationally, there are very few other events at this level where you see young horses from around the age of nine competing.”
With the course running in the opposite direction, none of the 26 obstacles will be exactly the same as last year. One significant difference compared with previous editions is that the most important of the two water combinations will now have to be negotiated early in the course. Traditionally, it is the most selective test on the approximately six kilometre long track and invariably attracts by far the largest crowds of spectators.
