What's On: March 2026

The Spanish Riding School on Tour

When: March 1 at 4.00 p.m.

Where: La Défense Arena, Paris, France

How much? From €84, with tickets available here. 

What's the deal? The world's oldest riding academy heads out of their home base in Vienna for a whistle-stop winter tour. Catch them before they head back to their Hapsburg empire on the 28th of February and the 1st of March – their first Paris shows since 2023.

The Winter Equestrian Festival and Adequate Global Dressage Festival, Weeks 9-12

When: Throughout March

Where: Wellington, Florida

How much? General admission is free all day every day, though valet parking will run you $20–$25 per day. There are plenty of hospitality options available for Saturday Night Lights, whether you want an upmarket meal or fancy turning it into a night out. WEF options can be found here, while the Global Pavilion can be booked here for meals throughout the day over at the dressage show.

What's the deal? The world's biggest horse show comes into the home straight this month, with the final weeks of competition playing out across the expanse of Wellington. Don't miss out on Saturday Night Lights in the International Arena at WEF, especially in week 12 – that's March 28 – when the $1,000,000 Rolex Grand Prix will serve as the grand finale. Week 9 is hunter derby week, week 11 features the Thursday night equitation championship, and Friday Night Stars, over at the Dressage Festival, brings you the very best of the US dressage scene under lights. March 13 is the best of the Friday Night Lights: it's World Cup night, and it's ABBA-themed. The best bit? It's all free to watch. The second best bit? Grabbing afternoon margaritas and flirting shamelessly with show jumpers in the tiki bar. 

An Equestrian Takeover in Shanghai

When: Throughout March

Where: Across Shanghai, China

How much? Depends where you go, really, but many exhibitions are free to visit.

What's the deal? In case you missed the memo, it's the Year of the Fire Horse, and China's celebrating appropriately. If you find yourself in the country's largest city this month, you'll have no trouble filling your diary with equine-themed activities: exhibitions include Galloping Into Spring (closes March 17) a showcase of ancient equestrian artefacts at the Shanghai Museum; Galloping Wonders (until August), a deep-dive into the horse's impact on the development of civilisation, at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum; Horse or Not Horse (until May 5), a group exhibition at the Xiao Hui Wang Art Museum, which sees a wide-ranging group of artists reinterpret the horse and everything it stands for, and an exhibition at the Duoyuxuan Institution of Xu Beihong's opulent woodblock prints of horses, which closes on March 8. You can find all the details, full exhibition listings, and tickets here.

Unbridled: Horsin' Around

When: until March 14

Where: LATITUDE Gallery, 5 Lispenard Street, New York City

How much? This, frankly, depends on how well you can resist the urge to buy a painting. Good luck. 

What's the deal? 35 contemporary artists come together in Tribeca for an expansive exhibition of pieces in a salon-style show that interprets and reinterprets the horse as muse, cultural touchstone, and concept. Which is to say, there's a lot of great art covering a lot of different styles, and no matter your taste, you'll find something you adore here. Our pick of the bunch? Darcy Whent's surrealist Our Close Call, which we've already bought a print of. 

The Pasola Festival

When: early March - though the dates fluctuate each year, and are entirely dependent upon the arrival of the Nyale, or sacred sea worms, which are observed by Marapu priests as they wash ashore.

Where: the island of Sumba in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province.

How much? It depends, really, on whether you want to DIY your trip or go via a tour provider, such as Explore Sumba. NIHI Sumba, the luxury resort renowned for its opportunities to ride along the pristine Sumbanese beaches, can also help you get there, if you've got the budget for a bucket-list sort of trip.

What's the deal? The Sumbanese ancestral religion, Marapu, is heavily folkloric, and one of those sacred stories tells of a local woman of noble blood who fell in love with a man from a feuding village. That star-crossed romance led to a full-scale war. Ever since, the battle has been ritualised and made ceremonial, but it still features 'warriors' from different villages, charging towards one another on the backs of Sumbanese horses, aiming spears at their rivals. Like jousting, but somehow even bloodier – though these days, reassuringly, the spears are blunted and competitor deaths are... rare, if not totally obsolete. There's boxing matches for young men to test their mettle, Palaingu Jara, or horse training days, the arrival of the sea worms, and then, finally, the two official days of Pasola: one for young warriors and the next for older, experienced men to ride and fight for glory.

The Longines Global Champions Tour, Leg One

When: March 5–7  CANCELLED

Where: Al Shaqab Equestrian Centre, Doha, Qatar

What's the deal? The first leg of the 2026 Longines Global Champions Tour, which brings showjumping into some of the world's unlikeliest and most exciting cities, was set to kick off in Doha, but has now been cancelled due to the onset of conflict in the area. You can find the LGCT's official statement here.

The Cheltenham Festival

When: March 10–13

Where: Cheltenham Racecourse, Gloucestershire, UK

How much? From £54 for entry to the Best Mate Enclosure, and from £15 for park-and-ride parking. Check out all your options here. 

What's the deal? Jumps racing doesn't get much better than the Cheltenham Festival, the world's biggest gathering of tweed-wearing day-drinkers and, yes, sometimes horse lovers. As far as 'iconic noises of equestrian sport' go (a listicle we don't think anyone's written – yet), the famous roar of the crowd as horses gallop along the front of the grandstands and towards home has got to be right up there. Yes, you might get rained on, but the prevalence of the aforementioned tweed, a seriously hot race card, and plenty of overpriced pints will mean you hardly notice the rising damp. Our favourite day? Ladies' Day Wednesday, not for the chance to be papped by the Daily Mail, but because of the Glenfarclas Cross Country Race, which twists and turns quite creatively through the racecourse. It's also a great day to play Spot the Olympic Eventer. They're everywhere here.

George Stubbs: Portrait of a Horse

When: opens March 12 until the end of May

Where: The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London 

How much? Free to all visitors, no pre-booking required.

What's the deal? If you're a horse-lover, based in the UK, and even the slightest bit keen on art, you've no doubt visited Whistlejacket, George Stubbs's masterpiece of an Arab stallion, who rears life-sized and wild-eyed over Room 34 of the National Gallery. But that was hardly Stubbs's only work: he was prolific, not just in painting horses for the landed gentry of 18th century England, but in progressing the very art of equestrian portraiture. He spent as much time working on the dissection of horses as he did on capturing them, heralding in a new era of truly lifelike pony paintings. Now, the National is going in-depth on another of his paintings, the lesser-known Scrub. Like Whistlejacket, he was a racehorse; like Whistlejacket, too, he rears up in his frame at his full size. The free exhibition will focus on how he made this painting, which is part of a private collection and seldom on show, and you'll have the chance to see some of his other work and many of his preparatory drawings, too. 

The Dutch Masters

When: March 12–15

Where: Indoor Brabanthallen, s'Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands

How much? From €25 for unassigned seats on quieter days, up to €21,000 if you want a top-end VIP box. Find the box office here.

What's the deal? The Dutch Masters is one of the last major indoor shows on the European winter circuit, and one of the most-loved, too. Its crown jewel is the Rolex Grand Prix on Sunday, which is the first leg of the Rolex Grand Slam of Showjumping, but that's just the tip of the iceberg: there's World Cup dressage, more jumping classes than you can feasibly watch, demonstrations and masterclasses, some fairly spectacular shopping, and close proximity to some of the best areas of The Netherlands, if you need a break from horses. You can find out all about how to plan your trip in our travel guide, right here on thp.

The Durbar Festival

When: from mid-March to the end of the month

Where: northern Nigeria, concentrated around Kano, Katsina, and Zaria

How much? Going with a tour group can cost a few thousand - with Last Places, for example, it's €3,590, although the itinerary goes well above and beyond just a day at the Festival. 

What's the deal? Durbar began in the fourteenth century as a military parade, and it's become a hugely important cultural and religious festival for Nigeria's Hausa and Fulani people since the 19th and 20th centuries. The Hausa and Fulani tribes are predominantly Muslim, and Durbar happens twice a year – so this, the first of two Festivals for 2026, centres around Eid, the end of Ramadan. The basic premise is this: over four days, tribal representatives parade on horseback in front of the Emir, wearing richly coloured and adorned garments, both on their own bodies and on those of their horses. This regalia shows off the craftsmanship specific to different people: dyeing, weaving, embroidery, and leatherwork among them. Maintaining such high standards of craftsmanship for the Durbar also ensures that the next generations are taught how to craft in the old ways, bringing this vibrant part of Nigeria's rich history forward into the modern age. 

Saut Hermès

When: March 20–22

Where: The Grand Palais in Paris's 8th arrondissement

How much? Generally from €70 for adults. Tickets for 2026 are currently sold out but can be refunded up until March 17, so keep an eye on the box office to nab yours.

What's the deal? Horse show venues don't come much more impressive than the Beaux-Arts Grand Palais, tucked into the bit of the eighth arrondissement that sits between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine. The glass hall was built for the Universal Exposition of 1900, and has housed some of the most remarkable creative and technological innovations of the 20th century - which contributes, in no small order, to lending the showjumping under its glass dome a sense of prestige. Showmakers Hermès also help on that front: this is where they truly embrace their heritage as a luxury saddlemaker and add an irreverent, insouciant fashion-house je ne sais quois to proceedings. It's absolutely the most stylish show you'll visit all year.

The Dubai World Cup

When: March 25–29

Where: Meydan Racecourse, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

How much? From 40 dinar, so around £8 for admission. There are, unsurprisingly, plenty of VIP options available, and some fun extras you can book including a stable tour and admission to morning breeze-ups as the sun comes up. Tickets can be booked here.

What's the deal? Six races. Thirty million dollars. A sparkling culmination to five months of racing at Meydan. You'll experience the full glamour of the Gulf Peninsula, not least during the feature race, which is worth $12m alone. Whether you're in it for proximity to luxury or to world-class Thoroughbreds, if the Dubai scene is your sort of thing, you'll find lots to like (including Jason Derulo, who's set to headline the post-race afterparty). You could also combine your trip with a visit to the Dubai Horse Fair at the Dubai World Trade Centre from March 17–19, which is a trade show with some delightful entertainment on the side, including a showcase of Arab stallions. At the time of posting, neither event has announced a cancellation due to the escalating conflict in the Middle East, but we'll keep you posted on thp if anything changes. 

The Cadre Noir on Tour

When: March 27–29 CANCELLED

Where: Palais Nikaïa, Nice, France

What's the deal? The godfathers of French military equitation take to the road this spring, starting with three dates at Nice's Palais Nikaïa. Or at least, that was the plan before the shows got cancelled. Instead, you can catch them at the end of 2026 in Reims and Tours, or throughout the year at their home base in Saumur, where you can tour the stables, watch the horses in action, and see behind the scenes at one of the world's most renowned equitation academies.

Workshop: Paint Horses from Life

When: March 28

Where: Keysoe Equestrian Centre, Beds., UK

How much? £70 if you're a member of the Society of Equestrian Artists; £80 if not. You can sign up for the workshop – and the Society! – here.

What's the deal? There's a lot of equestrian art to see this month, so you can hardly be blamed for finding yourself inspired to create your own masterpiece at the end of it. The Society of Equestrian Artists will take you back to the en plein air techniques of the turn of the 20th century in this one-day workshop, led by artist Jenny Bell. You'll work from life, painting Keysoe's resident therapy ponies in their paddock, and tapping into Jenny's deep well of wisdom if you find yourself getting stuck. Make a weekend of it, if you fancy it, by sticking around for the next day's Shetland Pony Grand National at Keysoe.

The Year of the Horse

When: opens March 29, closes April 10

Where: Gallery 8, Duke St., St. James', London 

How much? As at LATITUDE, this very much depends on whether you buy a painting. If you don't, you can have a nice, free day out.

What's the deal? Contemporary equestrian art scene's titans convene in central London for an exhibition that encompasses the breadth and depth of conceptual horsiness, all brought together by the folks at Country House. Expect works by Ireland's Tony O'Connor, who produces large-scale realism in oils, Freddy Paske, who plays with form and colour across playful canvases, and Stevenson Rocking Horses, the finest purveyor of pretend ponies in the land – plus plenty more.