Oliver Townend
Oliver David Townend (born 15 November 1982) is a British eventing rider competing at the international three-day level. His wins include team gold at the 2007, 2009 and 2017 European Championships and wins at Badminton Horse Trials, Burghley Horse Trials, and the Kentucky Three Day Event. He also represented Britain at the World Equestrian Games in 2006 and 2014. He was the Event Rider Masters series champion in 2016. He has been eventing's world number one twice, in 2009 and again in 2018, and British number one seven times since 2009. Biography. Townend was raised in  Scapegoat Hill, a small settlement on the moors near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. He won the junior newcomers showjumping at the Horse of the Year Show with Cool Mule aged 11, rode in the pony European Eventing Championships aged 13 and left school at 16 to pursue riding and selling horses professionally. He credits his love of horses to his parents. His father was also an event rider and his mother showed side-saddle. In 2010, Townend had his horse fall on top of him while participating in the Rolex Kentucky Three Day in Lexington, Kentucky. He broke his collarbone , shoulder bones, sternum and four ribs, but credited the air bag vest with allowing him to leave the hospital after only one day, saying that without the vest he "would be in a box or in America for a month". Townend presently lives at Ellesmere, Shropshire. Townend was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to equestrianism.