A Bigger Calendar Ahead

Tent pegging's international calendar is about to get considerably busier. At a Board of Directors meeting held in Muscat on April 2, 2026, the International Tent Pegging Federation (ITPF) reviewed hosting bids from member nations for a wide slate of new championships planned across 2026 and 2027 — including dedicated junior, youth, beach and women's championships, alongside military, university, friendship and club competitions.

The move marks a shift for a federation that, for most of its history, has centred its calendar on the flagship Tent Pegging World Cup — held once every few years and currently building toward its 5th edition in Jordan. Splitting the sport into age-group, gender-specific and category-specific championships gives more riders a competitive pathway, even if they never make a senior national team.

A Federation That Keeps Growing

The expanded calendar follows several years of steady growth in ITPF's membership. In 2025, the federation's General Assembly approved new member federations from Slovakia, France and Japan, extending tent pegging's reach into Europe and East Asia — regions with little historical connection to the sport's South Asian and Middle Eastern cavalry roots. The federation has also deepened ties with regional bodies, signing cooperation agreements with the Arab Equestrian Federation and Saudi Equestrian Federation in Riyadh, and strengthening links with the Asian Equestrian Federation.

By April 2026, ITPF's membership had grown to 45 countries — a scale that would have been hard to imagine when the federation first began organizing standardized international competition.

Why It Matters

For newer federations, dedicated junior, youth and university championships offer a lower-stakes entry point into international competition — a chance to build riders, coaches and officials before competing for senior World Cup spots. For established tent pegging nations like Pakistan, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and India, the wider calendar means more opportunities to medal internationally across more categories, and more chances for emerging riders — including women's teams — to gain the kind of international exposure that was rare even five years ago.

The specific hosts and dates for each new championship had not yet been finalized as bids were still under review, but the direction is clear: tent pegging's international footprint is widening, on and off the horse.