Bertram Allen on coping with COVID-19

For our top international riders, the 2020 season has been rife with uncertainty, confusion and cancellations. One week a show was on and the next it was gone as nations went into COVID-19 lockdown or were included on a new red travel list.

Just last week, Shane Breen got caught up in COVID-19’s coils as he was stranded on the continent. It all appeared to be like trying to jump on shifting sands.

To get a feel for what it has actually been like, I caught up with Bertram Allen at his continental base in Hunxe, Germany from where this Wexford star has been a consistent top-performer for Ireland over the past six seasons.

We were locked down altogether for three months with no shows

“It has really been a big change for us. We were locked down altogether for three months with no shows. Now we are up and running a little bit with a few two- and three-star events. So we are trying our best to work up the horses and there is a little bit of business going on,” he says.

His quiet Wexford voice then brightened up as he noted that he was included on Ireland’s first European Nations Cup team of 2020 at Prague last weekend. He was joined there by four more Irish Diaspora, Anthony Condron, Mark McAuley, Richard Howley and Michael Duffy, who was able to travel from his base in England due to the Czech Republic being currently on Britain’s green travel list.

Team Ireland finished on eight faults after the two rounds on Friday for a second place finish, while victory went to the Dutch team who finished on a four fault total.

Trade and rankings

On the subject of horse trade, Bertram noted, “there was really no business going on during the lockdown but now with a few shows running we have been trying to sell some nice young horses to professional people that are planning for the future.

“With few big grand prix events happening, there is not much trade for older horses. And nobody knows when the big events will return again,” Allen said.

At the moment I cannot see any of those indoor shows going ahead at all

A three-time winner of world cup qualifiers and third placed in the 2015 Las Vegas final, Bertram would have hoped to take part in the 2020/2021 cup season.

“At the moment I cannot see any of those indoor shows going ahead at all,” he sadly notes.

During his six-year senior career, Bertram has never been outside the top 40 in world rankings. I asked how COVID-19 is impacting on that important aspect of international show jumping.

“It is now agreed that we do not have to drop any ranking points from last season and happily we can add those we earn in the current one,” he said so we ended on a positive note.