If heading to Scotland for the second year of Scone Palace International Horse Trials is off the cards, then make sure you tune into ClipMyHorse.tv, which is broadcasting all of this major three-day event via their streaming channel.
All four members of Britain’s gold medal-winning team at the World Championships in Aachen are entered with exciting younger horses, plus stars such as Oliver Townend, Piggy March, Tim Price, Sam Lissington, Wills Oakden, Clarke Johnstone, Sammi Birch and Emily King.
The cross-country course - designed by Alec Lochore, who will responsible for the track for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles - is stunning; it loops from the centre of the neighbouring Perth Racecourse through the grounds of Scone Palace and along the banks of one of Scotland’s most famous rivers, the River Tay. It incorporates many aspects of Scottish history, heritage and rural culture into its design - look out for the carved wooden beaver and salmon, the Highland cow, the Stone of Destiny and many more!
ClipMyHorse.TV & eventing livestreaming - what’s the story so far?
An exclusive interview with ClipMyHorse.tv’s Valerie Schullan, Country Manager, Great Britain
How did ClipMyHorse.TV begin?
ClipMyHorse.TV was founded in Germany in 2007 by a group of equestrian enthusiasts who believed our sport deserved far greater exposure than it was receiving through traditional television. At the time, coverage of equestrian sport was largely limited to major championships and the Olympic Games. There were countless fantastic national and international competitions that simply weren't accessible unless you were there in person. The vision behind ClipMyHorse.TV was to change that by making equestrian sport available to watch live and on demand, wherever you are in the world.
Nearly 20 years later, that vision has grown into the world's leading equestrian streaming platform. Today we broadcast thousands of competitions each year across showjumping, dressage and eventing, while also offering an extensive on-demand library, rider and horse information, educational content and integrated live results.
Why is eventing such a unique sport to broadcast?
Eventing is probably one of the most technically demanding - and resource-intensive - equestrian disciplines to livestream. Unlike showjumping or dressage, where everything takes place within a single arena, cross-country covers a huge area, with horses travelling through woodland, open parkland, water complexes and combinations that can be several kilometres apart. Capturing all of that action requires extensive planning before the event even begins. Reliable internet connectivity, wireless transmission systems, carefully positioned cameras and constant communication between the production team are all essential.
It also means eventing productions typically require a much larger crew than a standard showjumping or dressage broadcast. A crew of at least eight camera operators are spread out across the course, technical teams have to maintain stable connections over long distances, and directors are constantly coordinating multiple feeds to ensure viewers don't miss a moment. Naturally, that makes eventing one of the more expensive disciplines to produce, but it's a challenge we genuinely enjoy. Our aim is always to do the sport justice and showcase it in a way that reflects just how exciting it is to watch in person. Eventing is fast-paced, unpredictable and visually spectacular, and we want viewers at home to experience every bit of that excitement, whether they're following a rider through the water, watching a tight finish against the clock or enjoying the incredible scenery that so many of these venues - and especially Scone Palace - have to offer.
By the time viewers see the finished broadcast, there has usually been weeks of preparation behind the scenes, all with the aim of making the viewing experience feel as seamless and immersive as possible.
What does a typical production involve?
The size of the production naturally depends on the event, but even a relatively streamlined eventing broadcast involves a sizeable team working together.
On the production side, there are producers, directors, vision mixers, camera operators, technical specialists and commentators, with camera teams spread across the cross-country course and arena teams covering the other phases. Where appropriate and permitted, aerial footage can also be incorporated to give viewers a better perspective of the course and its setting.
But there is a whole other layer of work happening behind the scenes within the ClipMyHorse.TV system. Our event and content managers are responsible for setting up the event, managing schedules and making sure all the information viewers need is available. Our product and development teams are constantly working in the background to make sure the website, app, player and wider platform can handle the event and provide a seamless experience.
There are also people working throughout the competition to make sure the content is properly organised afterwards. Cue points, for example, are often added manually so that viewers can jump straight to individual rounds, riders or key moments rather than having to search through hours of footage. Start lists, results, horse and rider information and replays all need to be connected and checked so that, when someone comes back to the platform days, weeks or even years later and searches for a particular horse or rider, they can actually find the round they are looking for.
A lot of this work is completely invisible to the viewer - and that's exactly how it should be. When everything is working well, it simply feels like you press play and the coverage is there. But behind that one stream is a much larger team of people, systems and processes working together to make the whole experience possible. Our aim is therefore not just to produce a great-looking broadcast, but to create a complete viewing experience that follows the competition live and makes the content genuinely useful and accessible long after the event has finished. And ultimately, we want the coverage to capture not only the sport itself, but also the atmosphere and character of the event.
What makes ClipMyHorse.TV different?
One of our biggest strengths is that we specialise entirely in equestrian sport. Everyone involved in our productions and content understands horses and the sport itself, which makes a real difference when deciding where to position cameras, which stories to tell and how to follow a round in a way that makes sense to an equestrian audience. The livestream itself is really only one part of what we offer. We have built an entire platform around equestrian sport, rather than simply providing a video player. Viewers can follow live competitions alongside start lists, live results, graphics and replays, and then come back afterwards to find individual rounds, horses and riders.
One of the features our viewers particularly value is our cue point system. During competitions, rounds are manually indexed so that individual performances can be found afterwards. If you want to watch one particular rider's cross-country round, or go back and watch a specific horse's showjumping round, you don't have to scroll through an entire day's recording - you can find that performance directly. Across thousands of hours of coverage, that creates an enormous searchable archive of equestrian sport.
The scale of that archive is something we're particularly proud of. ClipMyHorse.TV covers an extraordinary range of equestrian sport around the world, from grassroots and national competitions through to the biggest events in the international calendar. We work with organisations including the FEI and USEF, and our coverage includes major events such as Badminton, the London International Horse Show and the Horse of the Year Show, alongside international championships, World Cups and countless other competitions across showjumping, dressage and eventing - all within one membership.
There is also much more to the platform than live sport. Alongside competitions, we produce entertainment and editorial content, documentaries, interviews and educational formats through ClipMyHorse.TV Academy. This means that there is something to watch even when there isn't a major competition taking place - and it allows us to tell stories around the sport, rather than simply showing the competition itself. For riders, owners, breeders, trainers and fans, this creates something much bigger than a collection of livestreams. It is a place where they can watch a competition live, find a round from a horse they competed against years ago, follow their favourite riders around the world, learn something new through our educational content, or simply discover events and stories they might never have encountered otherwise.
And perhaps most importantly, all of this means that an event such as Scone Palace can reach far beyond the people who are physically able to attend. A rider's family can watch from Australia, an owner can follow their horse from the other side of the world, and an international fan can discover an event they may never have heard of before. Our ambition is to make equestrian sport genuinely accessible wherever you are in the world - not just during the competition itself, but throughout the entire year.
Looking ahead
Technology continues to evolve rapidly and we're always looking at ways to improve the viewing experience. Whether that's higher picture quality, smarter production workflows, new camera technologies or deeper integration of live data, our focus remains on making equestrian sport more accessible while continuing to raise the standard of coverage.
But our ambition goes beyond simply making the best possible livestream. We want ClipMyHorse.TV to become a genuine storytelling platform for equestrian sport - a place where you can follow the stories behind the results as well as watching the competition itself.
One of the really exciting possibilities is being able to follow the journey of a horse throughout its life: from its early appearances and young horse classes, through its development and major international competitions, and potentially all the way to the biggest stages in the sport. The same applies to riders. Rather than seeing one competition as an isolated event, we want to be able to tell the story of a rider's career over time - the horses they've ridden, the championships they've competed at, the highs and the setbacks along the way.
That also means showing more of what happens around the sport. The training, the preparation, the people behind the horses, the personalities, the venues and the stories that don't necessarily make it into a competition broadcast. Our entertainment, documentary and Academy content already plays a big part in this, and we see huge potential to develop this even further.
In many ways, the livestream is the starting point. The competition gives us the moment, but the surrounding content gives us the story. Events such as Scone Palace International Horse Trials are a perfect example of why that's so important. Livestreaming gives a regional event a global audience, allowing people who may never have visited Scone to discover the venue, the competition, the riders and the stories behind it. And once that content exists on the platform, it doesn't simply disappear when the final horse crosses the finish line - it becomes part of a growing archive that can continue to be discovered and watched long afterwards.
Ultimately, we want to help make equestrian sport more accessible, more discoverable and more connected. Whether someone is watching a major championship live, looking back at a horse's career, discovering a new rider, learning something through our Academy or simply finding an event happening somewhere in the world that they didn't know existed, the aim is to create one place where the whole story of equestrian sport can live"
