December 3, 2025 
World no. 1 eventer Harry Meade doesn’t like a challenge. He lives for one. And that’s saying something considering what he’s already overcome.
In 2013, the Brit broke and dislocated both his elbows in a rotational fall at Wellington Horse Trials. Eight surgeries and one newborn child later, he made his comeback at Badminton Horse Trials CCI5* in the spring of 2014, finishing third while riding with both arms in braces.
In 2020, Meade again found himself leaving a horse show in an ambulance after a fall on cross country at Thoresby where he was dragged—at a gallop—and repeatedly kicked in the head by his horse, Merrywell Tradition. Meade suffered in a broken arm, head injury and broken jaw that day.
Once again he faced a long and arduous recovery, this time from a traumatic brain injury. And once again he returned to five-star competition the following spring, finishing fifth in the Kentucky Three-Day Event.
Then in August of this year, Meade fell again. This time from a bike, puncturing a lung, breaking three ribs and damaging his shoulder. He was back in the ring for the autumn, finishing top nine with not one but all three of his mounts in the Burghley CCI5*, taking third, fourth and ninth places.
Because that’s what Meade does.
Each time he falls, he fights his way back to five-star sport—and in specular fashion.
“Within the sport the thing that’s always motivated me has been very top level, the five stars,” said Meade. “I would never have come back to have ridden at a low level [after that first accident]. I was going to fully exhaust all possibility or ambiguity as to whether it was possible to come [back] and if that was not physically [possible], if things had fallen apart, then you could do it with no regrets. But it’s what I love doing and I can’t imagine a life without riding.”
What he means is he can’t imagine a life without riding at the five-star level. Pressure is Meade’s purpose. And he’s continually looking for ways to raise the stakes.
“If there was a six star, I’d have my name first on the list,” he smiled.
“For me, it’s not about a career, and it’s not about a necessity. It is much more deep rooted than that. It’s largely who I am in myself.
“In a funny kind of way, I think the thing that motivates me are the toughest five stars, and to add an extra challenge, it’s doing that then with three horses. And then to add an extra challenge is to do that off the back of a recent injury. It ups the ante each time and focuses the mind and that makes you feel quite alive.”
But, he said, it’s not the crowds or the accolades or even the rush of competition that’s driving him to such extremes. It’s the test—on him and on his partnership with his horses.
“I think it’s about having a sort of deep root of belief in the horses and the way they’re produced and what they’re capable of and wanting to set the biggest challenge you can to test yourself,” he explained on his drive to return to the five-star level.
“The whole point of five-star competitions is it really separates the quality and so it’s not so much an adrenaline junkie thing, it’s more about really enjoying that challenge,” he continued.
“It’s much more about the teamwork and the partnership and the horsemanship. You can combine that to push the boundaries in a good way, still with it being very easily within the horse’s comfort zone, and a really enjoyable experience for the horses, you can try and take it to another level.
“Those strong foundations you do put in can give the horses an indestructible resilience and enjoyment. I’ve always talked about producing horses that are independent thinkers and totally self-reliant and I get a lot of enjoyment out of producing those horses.”
Twenty years into his high performance career, it’s that challenge that continues to motivate the 42-year old.
“The Everest challenge is a thing that I dream about,” he said, “and the more times you climb it, you want to climb something higher.”
