Friday Video from World Equestrian Brands: Feet on the Ground, Eyes on the (Four) Stars

“Um, over here, my son.” The (rather suspect) Creation of Crisp: a little-known piece from EN’s shrine to Eventing Jesus.

Happy Friday, denizens of the Eventing Nation, and welcome to your extra-special double-feature video offering. This week, we’re getting the rare and exciting opportunity to dive into the busy Sussex operation of Eventing Nation’s new favourite eventer, Tom Crisp. You might remember Tom as the man who offered up so many powerful words of wisdom for us after finishing sixth at Pau last month — a result that made him the only rider to complete all four European CCI4* competitions this year.

Some of you may also remember Tom for a slightly different reason. Four-star, you say? How about PHWOAR-star, ha ha ha, ha ha… don’t worry, I’ll see myself out.

Anyway, we see you, loyal readers, and we want to give you what YOU want, for we are a fully functional democracy, and definitely never a well-meaning but verging on tyrannical eventing-crazed dictatorship. Never! You asked for Tom, and we’re delivering him on a metaphorical plate, thanks to budding filmmaker Safiya Hodgson, who has kept herself seriously busy this year balancing work experience on Tom’s yard with the creation of two brilliant videos about everything she saw and learned while she was there.

In part one, meet Tom and discover his journey to the upper echelons of the sport…

…and in part two, take a tour of Team Crisp HQ, where you’ll get an insight into the running of a bustling top-level eventing yard, which still manages to maintain a down-to-earth, family-centred ethos. The lynchpins? A great team, as you’ll discover, which is led by head girl Amy Akehurst.

Need any more convincing? You get to take a look at Tom’s second job, too — he’s a retained firefighter. You are welcome, ladies.

Happy Friday!