Future Proofing: Lessons From 2025 Equestrian Event Marketing

The 2025 season once again proved that our competitions can deliver extraordinary atmospheres and world-class performances. It showed us that the model is well established, but it also highlighted that repeating success is not the same as building the future.

If equestrian sport wants to grow beyond its current borders and earn broader media attention, attract investment, and engage fans who aren’t already converted, it needs to shift focus. Too often, sponsorship proposals and fan engagement strategies lead with assets instead of ideas because we forget that investors and audiences don’t buy assets; they buy outcomes. They lean into stories.

The opportunity for equestrian sport lies not in doing more, but in doing better. Better in crafting creative strategies that connect rightsholder value with brand ambition through stories fans actually care about. And this is where the difference between stagnation and growth will be defined.

From Reliability to Relevance: Storytelling, Access, and the Media Gap

Equestrian sport’s calendar is a model of stability. Events run on time, athletes return season after season, and the sport’s economic contribution remains dependable. Yet reliability is not enough. Tennis, Formula 1, and sailing all prove that pairing tradition with reinvention creates global growth. They have invested in storytelling, data, accessibility, and broadcast innovation to turn loyal audiences into expanding ones.

Pan American Games 2023.

Equestrian sport holds the same potential: heritage, gender equality, and high performance. What it lacks is a unified vision to communicate these strengths clearly and ambitiously.

No sport has richer human stories than equestrianism, yet few reach beyond the insider audience. Riders balance athleticism, discipline, and empathy in ways unique to any sport, while horses themselves could easily be cast as global icons of partnership and power. Still, much of this narrative remains confined to niche media.

Part of the problem lies in the contraction of independent equestrian journalism. Once-leading publications have been acquired or downsized, narrowing both expertise and diversity of voice. As PferdeWoche editor Sascha Dubach observes, mainstream newspapers that once sent specialist correspondents to major shows now focus only on national sports. What remains is a patchwork of smaller outlets and freelance contributors without the reach or authority to bridge the gap between insiders and the public.

Without strong, independent storytelling, achievements risk being reduced to names on a start list. Journalism provides context and connection—the elements that make performances matter to those unfamiliar with the sport.

This lack of clarity extends to the structure of equestrian competition itself. With overlapping tours and complex scoring systems, even dedicated fans struggle to explain the hierarchy of events. For newcomers, this fragmentation creates confusion rather than curiosity. The most successful sports thrive on simplicity and narrative consistency; equestrianism must do the same.

Opening the Doors to New Audiences

Access remains one of the sport’s biggest barriers. Much top-level competition sits behind subscription platforms or fragmented coverage, making discovery difficult. In contrast, other sports have grown precisely by lowering those barriers. Formula 1 and smaller disciplines such as volleyball have reached new audiences through open-access highlights, streaming partnerships, and active social engagement.

Luciana Diniz at CHIO Aachen 2025.

Younger fans, in particular, consume sport through short-form clips, behind-the-scenes features, and digital storytelling. Surveys show that more than 90% of Gen Z sports fans engage primarily through social media. To remain relevant, equestrianism must meet audiences where they are, with stories that feel familiar because they follow a pattern from other mainstream sports.

The recent FEI and ClipMyHorse.TV series The Last Line shows both progress and limitations; it brought viewers closer to elite competition but stopped short of creating an emotional connection through athlete interviews or clear explanations of the new format. The result was content that spoke to insiders rather than newcomers. Yet, as the Foundation for Equestrian Sport Advancement (FESA) points out, this highlights an opportunity for transformation.

FESA co-founder Matt Cooper draws from skiing and sailing: “Data, safety, and broadcast innovation turned those sports into modern, global properties. By combining those frameworks with equestrianism’s welfare and heritage, we can move faster than incremental reform ever could.”

Juan-Carlos Capelli, also of FESA, adds: “Equestrian sport already holds a unique advantage. It is the only Olympic discipline where men and women compete on equal terms and where champions can be 17 or 77. Once this message is embraced and communicated to sponsors, the sport’s global potential will be extraordinary.”

Fan Experience and Commercial Growth

Live events remain the sport’s strongest asset, but too often they are designed for insiders rather than first-time spectators. Other sports have evolved their event models into cultural experiences. Formula 1 weekends feature concerts and fan zones, golf and tennis majors have created aspirational atmospheres, and even horse racing has built entire identities around fashion and celebration.

SailGP’s transformation offers the clearest model: simplified rules, shorter formats, and a focus on storytelling and national rivalries made the sport accessible without losing depth. Equestrian competitions could follow a similar path by streamlining formats, adding fan activations, and embracing lifestyle storytelling to make every event both a sporting and cultural experience.

Commercially, the sport must also evolve. Too much of the fan-engagement and investment opportunities still rely on static signage and hospitality experiences rather than measurable storytelling. Modern sports are about selling narratives, not just space, and equestrian sports must move with the times here, because when sports position their athletes as elite performers and relatable personalities, the sport becomes aspirational and scalable.

Research across global sponsorships shows athlete-led content delivers up to five times the impact of traditional signage. In equestrian terms, this means celebrating riders as high-performance athletes and the horses as emotional equals; we have stories that appeal to mainstream media, fans, and brands alike.

Future Proofing: Doing Better, Not More

The 2025 season proved the strength of equestrian sport, but also exposed the limits of repetition. Adding more shows, formats, or series will not attract new investment or audiences. Progress requires clarity in competition, collaboration across stakeholders, and accessible, athlete-driven storytelling that helps the wider world connect.

Sponsors and broadcasters buy outcomes, not inventory. The sport’s future depends on packaging rights as meaningful stories that reflect its values and ambitions. Doing more may keep equestrian sport steady; doing better will ensure it continues to thrive.

Want to explore this topic in more depth?
Read the full article on EQuerry Co’s LinkedIn, where we unpack the lessons from 2025’s event marketing season. To subscribe to our Newsletter for similar articles, head this way.