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.

Whip use
Townend has received several cautions or warnings during his career for excessive use of the whip during competitions and has been pulled up for riding excessively tired horses. He received a verbal warning at Badminton in 2014 for "abuse of the horse" and a verbal warning for "abuse of the horse/inappropriate use of the whip" at Floors Castle in 2017. In 2018, Townend received an official warning for “abuse of horse/excessive use of the whip” while riding at the Badminton Horse Trials in an event that was widely televised. After the incident he lost two sponsors. Townend later apologized. Later that year, he was again warned for excessive use of the whip at the Blair Castle International Horse Trials 2018. In 2022, he received a oral warning for abuse of horse/excessive use of the whip at an indoor eventing competition in Stockholm.

In 2023, the FEI disciplined Townend for dangerous riding at Badminton.

Notable Horses

 * Flint Curtis
 * 2006 Badminton Horse Trials third place
 * 2007 & 2009 European Championships – team gold
 * 2009 Badminton Horse Trials winner
 * Carousel Quest
 * 2009 Burghley Horse Trials winner
 * Armarda
 * 2014 Badminton Horse Trials runner up
 * Willingapark Cooley
 * 2017 European Championships – team gold
 * 2018 Badminton Horse Trials runner up
 * Cillnabraden Evo
 * Badminton 5* dressage record holder (19.7)
 * Ballaghmor Class
 * 2017 Burghley Horse Trials winner
 * 2018 Burghley Horse Trials runner up
 * 2019 Badminton Horse Trials runner up
 * 2019 Burghley Horse Trials runner up
 * 2021 Kentucky Horse Trials winner
 * 2020 Olympic Games – team gold, individual 5th
 * 2023 Badminton Horse Trials runner up
 * 2023 Burghley Horse Trials winner
 * Cooley Master Class
 * 2018 & 2019 Kentucky Horse Trials winner
 * 2019 European Championships – team silver, individual 9th
 * 2021 Maryland Horse Trials runner up
 * Swallow Springs
 * 2022 Badminton Horse Trials third place
 * As Is
 * 2022 Maryland Horse Trials third place
 * Cooley Rosalent
 * 2020 World Young Horse 6 Year Old runner up
 * 2023 Maryland Horse Trials third place
 * Tregilder
 * 2023 Pau 5* runner up