The Normandy region in France has been awarded the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games. It will be the seventh WEG and the first one to be held in France.

 

Princess Haya of Jordan, the president of the international equestrian federation (FEI), announced the decision 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.”

 

Phillippe Duron, member of the French parliament and mayor of Caen, the capital of Basse-Normandy, said: “Caen is the cradle of horse riding. Trotting races first took place there in 1837. It is proof that ‘yes we Caen!’.”

 

About 900 horses are expected at the games, which are the combination of the world championships of all eight FEI disciplines: show jumping, dressage, eventing, driving, endurance, vaulting, reining and para-equestrian. They take place every four years; the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games will be held in Lexington, Kentucky, from 25 September to 10 October.