John Kyle is from an Irish eventing family – his brother Mark is an Olympian, both his parents competed and his mother, Gillian, is a regular technical delegate – but his role in the sport has very much been heard rather than seen. This year, his rich tones can be heard as the anchor on Badminton TV.

His commentating career, which has taken in four Olympic Games, started when he was a member of the control team at Blarney Castle in Ireland and an announcement was needed. “You’re loud,” someone said, and then: “Great, you can do the pony classes.”

John was invited to Burgie in Scotland by the Lochore family and his first television job came in 2002 at Blair Castle in Scotland when Mike Tucker was away at the World Equestrian Games. His first major gig was the 2010 WEG in Kentucky for Martin-Bird Productions.

“I printed out my own strip of cross-country fences and made my own rider cards, which I still do,” John recalls. “And for my ‘peg system’, I pinched four forks from the hotel – the others thought I was mad.”

His first Badminton was in 2011 and one of the occasions he is most proud of is when Michael Jung won the Rolex Grand Slam in 2016. This year, Badminton Director Jane Tuckwell invited John to front the new partnership between Badminton TV and ClipMyHorseTV.

“Commentating is an underrated art,” John says. “Combining research and knowledge with pace and cadence in the voice is more difficult than people think. I did a bit of theatre and debating at university and I was in the army, which helps with preparation.

“You need to have a story ready to go for a hold-up, perhaps interviewing the guest commentating with you, and know that you can fill, five, 10 or 15 minutes – it’s like spinning plates. One of my greatest disappointments is that when, in 2023, Tom Crisp fell in the Lake at Badminton and started pretending to swim, I was literally speechless.’

The highlight? “Announcing the cross-country at the London Olympic Games, in the city in which I was living, amid that incredible atmosphere and noise. It doesn’t get any better than that. When I said something about how grateful we were to the army for stepping in and providing security for the Games, the roar of applause that elicited was both thrilling and humbling.

“And it is always nice when you get a text from someone in New Zealand or America saying ‘I’ve been listening to you’.”