Newsletter N°1: 100 years and counting!
The CHIG centenary festivities are officially under way and there’s a sense of anticipation and excitement in the air, not least because we have a whole host of surprises in store for you to mark this 100th birthday. Suffice to say, that we are not doing things by half. This 65th edition promises to be truly exceptional and will offer up a historic first at Palexpo, with five days of international competition running from 9 to 13 December, something that Geneva has never seen before, outside the World Cup finals.
But let’s start at the beginning, or rather with the two posters that are setting the tone for this very special landmark. The 2026 iteration has not come out of nowhere. It is directly inspired by the very first of them all, created in 1926. The layout is the same and so is the spirit behind it; there’s just the small matter of 100 years between them. As the sidesaddle rider passes the flame to their young successor, the two look at and acknowledge one another, a gesture that encapsulates what this centenary is all about: looking forward but never forgetting where we’ve come from.
And where is that exactly? The answer can be found in the video series Le CHIG d'un siècle à l'autre (“The CHIG from one century to another”). Its seven episodes were produced and directed by Nicolas Bossard of MS Prod, under the watchful eye of Alban Poudret, the event’s historian and a walking encyclopaedia of the CHIG and equestrian sport in general.
The first episode, which dropped on 21 May, covers the period from 1926 to 1938 and includes contributions from riders Steve Guerdat and Martin Fuchs, and Sophie Mottu Morel, the general director of the CHIG. And, without giving too much away, we can tell you that the following episodes focus on the venues that have hosted the event since then: Plainpalais and the return to the Palais des Expositions, the Patinoire des Vernets, and three-part look at its current home, Palexpo. The complete film will be premièred in November, while an exhibition on the history of the CHIG will be held at Les Automnales in Geneva for anyone looking to delve a little further.
As for the event programme, here’s a little taste of what you can expect: Le Défi du Siècle (“The Challenge of the Century”) is well worth waiting for, with 20 of today’s top riders, champions all, taking part. The first round will see them take on old-school, derby-style fences from another era. The top eight will then go head-to head on a course that looks very much to the future, featuring more modern fences. It’s a unique competition, designed especially for the occasion.
And what would a centenary be without some music to celebrate it? With that in mind, the CHIG is launching the Wild Music Cards songwriting competition (rules available here). Based on the wild-card system that allows the leading riders in French-speaking Switzerland to compete at Palexpo every year, it invites artists on the Swiss music scene to come up with a theme song for the centenary, to be played at the medal ceremonies, laps of honour and other high points of the event.
Music lovers, professional, musicians and students of music schools in French-speaking Switzerland are all invited to take part, either individually or as part of a group. The deadline for entries is 10 July, works must be submitted by 1 September, and the winners will be announced on 15 October. The prize for the winning song is CHF 3,000 and an audience of tens of thousands of spectators. Not a bad way to announce yourself to the world.
We hope you enjoy reading this first newsletter of a year like no other. We’ll see you very soon to celebrate it together.
The long-skirted record breakers
There are some images that remain a source of fascination even 100 years after they were taken. It’s November 1926 and the venue is the Palais des Expositions in Plainpalais, Geneva. Pictured are women riding sidesaddle in long skirts and jumping fences to boot. But they’re not doing it for show. They’re there to compete and to win.
And win is what they do. The first edition of the CHIG featured an event for female riders only, won by a Mrs Maroussia Haecky. Four years later, a Mrs Stoffel cleared two metres in the Puissance event on her mare Primula, a women’s world record that would stand for 20 years, until Pat Smythe jumped 2.10m in Paris in 1951. And Mrs Stoffel did it sidesaddle, thank you very much, at a time when the men were clearing 2.30m riding straddle, using both legs for balance.
A trio of intrepid horsewomen
As the poster for the very first edition of the CHI Geneva shows, women have always been an integral part of the most prestigious indoor horse show on the international calendar. Among the many female riders to have graced this legendary event, which this year celebrates its centenary, three stand out, so inextricably linked are their careers with it: the USA’s Katie Monahan-Prudent, US-German rider Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and Sweden’s Malin Baryard-Johnsson.
When they saw the poster for the inaugural CHIG in 1926, which shows a woman jumping sidesaddle, they reacted as one. “I don’t think I’d be able to jump a fence sidesaddle,” admitted Baryard-Johnsson. “It’s incredible that these women did, but it’s a very good thing that attitudes have changed and we can now ride horses normally, like the men. I just feel fortunate that I wasn’t around then.”
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