The British Equestrian Federation (BEF) is justifiably proud that half the six horses selected for the British European Eventing Championships team are British-bred.
Two of the three — William Fox-Pitt’s Cool Mountain and Nicola Wilson’s Opposition Buzz — were on last year’s gold medal winning team at the World Equestrian Games .
They are joined by Piggy French and British-born Jakata (pictured) for the HSBC FEI European Eventing Championships at Luhmuhlen, Germany (25-28 August).
Jakarta is by Abdullah out of Flora, Cool Mountain is by Primitive Rising out of Ice Lolly (by Idiot’s Delight) and Opposition Buzz is by Fleetwater Opposition and his dam is Jungle Bee.
The three horses on the six-strong squad not to hail from Britain are Polly Stockton’s Irish-born Westwood Poser, Mary King’s Irish-born Imperial Cavalier and Laura Collett’s Dutch Rayef.
Head of equine development at the BEF, Jan Rogers said: “It’s so good to see a consistent rise in the number of British-bred horses competing at this elite level, and there are many more waiting in the wings, including a few really promising horses in the other disciplines as well.
“It shows that British horses are here to stay, and linking the Futurity with the World Class Equine Pathway means that we have a long-term plan in place.”
