H&C has learned that the Normandy region in France has today been awarded the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games. It will be the seventh WEG and the first to be held in France.

HRH Princess Haya of Jordan, FEI president, made the announcement today: “The bid committee, in cooperation with the French Equestrian Federation, have worked for eight years and presented a project of outstanding quality and vision, with an exceptional platform in the very heart of a region that shares our passion for horses.”

Phillippe Duron, French MP and mayor of Caen, the capital of Basse-Normandy, said: “Caen is the cradle of horse riding. Trotting races first took place here in 1837. It is proof that ‘Yes We Caen.’”

Normandy is being championed as a symbol of the vitality of the French horse industry. It boasts an excellent infrastructure, a favourable natural environment, renowned equine research centres, and high level horse related industry.

The FEI World Equestrian Games are the combination of the world championships of all eight FEI disciplines - Jumping, Dressage, Eventing, Driving, Endurance, Vaulting, Reining, and Para-Equestrian – held concurrently at the same place. They take place every four years.

Nearly a thousand horses are expected at the two week long competition: the culmination of the world championships of all eight FEI disciplines - Jumping, Dressage, Eventing, Driving, Endurance, Vaulting, Reining, and Para-Equestrian – held concurrently in the same place.

The 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games will be held in Lexington, Kentucky, from 25 September to 10 October.