The FEI World Championships opened in Aachen, Germany, on Tuesday, August 11, with the first part of the dressage Grand Prix beginning a 13-day programme of elite equestrian competition. The opening contest serves both as the team final and as an individual qualifier, making the first rides consequential for medals and for places in the later Grand Prix Special.
The International Equestrian Federation lists six disciplines in Aachen through August 23: dressage, eventing, vaulting, jumping, para dressage and four-in-hand driving. Endurance, the seventh championship discipline in the 2026 cycle, is due to take place separately in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, on October 17, according to the federation.
Organisers scheduled Tuesday's dressage action in the Main Stadium from 08:20 to 18:00 local time, with no more than two riders from each team competing on the first day. The remaining team riders are due on Wednesday, when team medals will be decided after both parts of the Grand Prix and the individual classification will also be established.
The confirmed dressage entry contains 92 horse-and-rider combinations from 34 countries, according to specialist publication Horse & Hound, with 18 nations fielding full teams and 16 sending individual competitors. Germany enters as the reigning European team champion, while Denmark defends the world team title it won in Herning in 2022 and Britain is pursuing its first world team crown.
The wider championships will expand on Thursday with eventing dressage and the opening vaulting tests. Eventing cross-country is scheduled for Saturday, August 15, and jumping begins the following week. Para dressage and four-in-hand driving also form part of the second-week programme, spreading medal decisions across several venues at the Aachen Soers complex.
An opening ceremony featuring more than 250 horses is scheduled in the Main Stadium on Tuesday evening. Dressage team medals are due on Wednesday, followed by the individual Grand Prix Special on Friday and the freestyle final under floodlights on Saturday. Those rounds will provide the first major verdicts of a championship that brings multiple equestrian world titles together in Aachen.
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