Harry Meade is a British event rider who has been placed in the top 10 at Badminton Horse Trials and Burghley Horse Trials many times and is the youngest rider to have been awarded the Armada Dish, for completing Badminton five times. His best known horses include Wild Lone, Midnight Dazzler and Away Cruising.
Harry made an incredible comeback at Badminton in 2014 after shattering both his elbows in a fall in 2013. He finished third on Wild Lone and the pair were called up from the reserve bench to make their senior squad debut at the World Equestrian Games in Caen, France. After a clear jumping round across country as the anchor horse for the team, Wild Lone collapsed and died at the finish. The British went on to take the team silver medal.
In 2020, Harry had another serious accident when his foot caught in the stirrup when he fell across country while riding at Thoresby in October. He broke his right arm and suffered a head injury. Once again he made a brilliant comeback, finishing fifth at Kentucky Three-Day Event in April 2021 with Superstition, the horse he took over the ride on from Lucy Jackson at the end of 2019.
Harry has been a Horse & Hound columnist since 2015.
Harry Meade is the son of the late Richard Meade, who was the individual Olympic eventing champion at the 1972 Munich Games on Lauriston. He also won team gold that year and at the 1968 Mexico Games on Cornishman V. Richard died in January 2015.
Harry is married to Rosie (née Bradford) and the pair have two children, Lily and Charlie. He is based in Gloucestershire, very close to Badminton Horse Trials.
Event rider Harry Meade talks about the ‘frustratingly slow process’ of recovering from his head injury and how he is coping with competing again
Reigning champion Oliver Townend is set to return to Kentucky, while three other British riders will make the trip across the Atlantic to take on the likes of Boyd Martin and Phillip Dutton
Harry Meade returns to eventing later this month, following time spent recovering from the head injury he sustained last autumn
Harry Meade is doing daily exercises for eye-brain function and balance as he recovers from the head injury he incurred in a fall at Thoresby in October
Harry Meade is resting at home and waiting for concussion symptoms to subside, having had arm surgery following his fall at Osberton at Thoresby
The Horse & Hound columnist got his foot caught in the stirrup in a fall while competing at Thoresby and was dragged, resulting in repeated kicks to the head
Check out these exciting cross-country photos from Burgham 2020, where a star-studded field contested the showcase international classes
New-look eventing has many positives and a few tensions, says H&H’s eventing columnist
H&H’s eventing columnist on using this opportunity to train horses and improve his yard
The FEI and the eventing community are out of sync, says Harry Meade
A British rider won a big class in Poland last weekend, just two weeks after acquiring the ride on a high profile new horse
The three combinations have been withdrawn owing to injury and fitness issues
Harry Meade on the difficulty of replacing Belton and Badminton’s future
A number of the world’s best event horses and riders were out in force, using the event as an essential prep-run before Badminton in less than a month’s time. Here we take a look at some of those contenders...
Top riders including Gemma Tattersall, Oliver Townend to Andrew Nicholson, a mini-zoo with meerkats and the Shetland Pony Grand National are among the reasons to head to Wiltshire this weekend
The British eventing selectors have announced a long-list for WEG — but not everyone is equal on a long-list, says H&H’s eventing editor
The senior selectors have given the first indication of who might make the British eventing team for WEG in Tryon, USA, later this year
Check out what William Fox-Pitt, Gemma Tattersall, Pippa Funnell and Ben Hobday wore at the first trot-up at Badminton
