We have just heard the very sad news that Roger Haller died last night, 30th March. He had had an apparently successful operation in late December but his aggressive cancer returned very recently.
Roger rode at Badminton in 1975 but to his lasting regret only in the dressage phase as the event was cancelled before the cross country. He started course designing while still riding and was given the accolade of designing the World Championships course in Kentucky in 1978. He went on to design the highly acclaimed Olympic course in 1996, at the Atlanta Olympic Games.
His greatest connection with Badminton was as the International Technical Delegate, a role he fulfilled on no less than 9 occasions between 1989 and 2004 – alternating every three years with the great German designer Wolfgang Feld. He made a great many friends on his visits to Badminton, getting to know most of the officials personally and was always a very welcome visitor and a fair and highly respected adviser and arbiter. He truly loved the sport of eventing, thinking deeply about its format and future.
He will be much missed in Great Britain as in his USA homeland – no one can have made a greater positive contribution to our sport.