Ed Holloway’s path to big-league equestrian sports commentator began at a Pony Club event in England. An eventer through his youth, Ed was helping his sister with her pony at a competition when the organizers needed extra help. Given the choice of fence judging or announcing, Ed opted for fence judging.
But mum knew best. She and a friend urged him into the announcer’s booth, and he quickly became grateful for the push.
The then somewhat shy 18-year-old found his voice in the announcer’s booth. “Once I got behind the microphone, I quite enjoyed making people laugh and surprised myself by enjoying the limelight.”
The Horse Bug at 3
Not born into an equestrian family, Ed recalls getting the horse bug at about 3 years old. He took riding lessons in his Buckinghamshire County home, in England’s Midlands area, embarking on a natural path to eventing and hunting. “Given the beautiful countryside where we lived, it was quite easy to get into the sport.”
Saddle time was supplemented with “endlessly watching” equestrian sports on the telly. The late BBC commentator Mike Tucker was a major influence. “He was awesome and he certainly primed my brain for commentating.”
Ed rode and competed every chance he got up until the age of 20. “The plan was to get it out of my system, then become a doctor.”
He did become a doctor, earning his Junior Doctor qualification 2011 and beginning what turned out to be a one-year career treating patients. The plan to get horses out of his system, however, didn’t work. By the time he dug into his medical career, Ed had already earned an impressive commentating resume including plumb posts on the European show jumping circuit.
The European Young Rider Championships in 1999 were his big break for his unplanned professional path. That opportunity arose after Irish jumping rider Eric Smiley heard Ed on the microphone. “Do you speak French?” asked the rider who was also involved in the Championships that year.
“That was my breakthrough moment because it became a platform from which I could contact other events,” Ed explains. After “pottering around doing some novice events,” the
Championships gig became a golden calling card. Outreach to the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials was well received – with Ed commentating for the 5* from 1999 to 2013.
Burghley and Beyond
Ed’s resume also includes four World Equestrian Games, five European Championships for Eventing, the European Championships for show jumping and dressage, and FEI World Cup Finals for Show Jumping and Dressage in 2016 and 2019.
Doha, Qatar, with the Longines Global Championships Tour, is on-deck next for Ed in a career that has him globe-trotting about 33 weeks a year.
In North America, Ed is the TV commentator for Major League Show Jumping Tour. The 9-stop, CSI5* North American tour offers $12 million in prize money. The current season concludes this April with Finals in Monterrey, Mexico.
No matter how exotic his other assignment locals, Ed says Temecula, California, will always be high on his list of favorites. He was first asked to commentate for the Galway Downs Fall International in 2012 – reportedly thanks to a call from East Coast 5* rider Jennie Brannigan to organizer Robert Kellerhouse.
“Robert has a very good team and it’s a very good atmosphere there, with nice chemistry between people on the team and the competitors,” Ed shares. “He’s a powerful presence in command, and that that leads people working for him to rise up to their full ability.
“The quality of the facility has gone up so much in the last 10 or 15 years,” continues Ed, with the perspective of having worked at many of the world’s top sport showcases. “I was devastated when they took the LA28 Olympic (equestrian events) away from Galway. I think it’s a waste of what could have been a brilliant legacy.”
Passion & Preparation
“I think my pure passion for the sport sets me apart as a commentator,” Ed says. “I love my work and I never have a day where I’m bored. It’s been in my bone marrow since I was a tiny kid.”
That passion is underpinned by a large database of rider and horse information. Ed built and constantly updates the database himself. Performance results are important, he acknowledges, but it’s the backstories of horse and riders that bring the sport to life for a wide audience.
Ed’s audience avatar is longtime friend Roly, a non-horse guy who lives in Australia. “I try to pitch it so it’s not overly detailed that a non-horse person would be lost in what I’m saying yet still be of interest to horsey people.”
If the technology fates align, commentating is a straight forward job, Ed says. Sensitivity is needed when things go poorly for a pair. “I certainly feel a responsibility to paint things as positively as possible, without lying to the listener or viewer. We always have a responsibility to be sensitive to the person who is struggling.”
Ed lives in Austria with his wife and fellow equestrian, Helena, and their 2-year-old son, Anton. He’s also passionate about snow skiing, and that’s how he landed in Austria. Its proximity to the major equestrian circuits is handy and he hits the slopes as often as possible.
From Temecula to Qatar, Ed is happy to be in a position that helps bring more people into the sport. He knows first-hand that equestrian sports are impressive, and he appreciates the chance to present them that way to the world.
