This summer I heard a commentator at a show announcing that a winning pony “was ridden and shown by ....”. My immediate thought was that this perfectly describes showing at its best, highlighting not only a rider’s ability in the saddle, but also to present an animal at its best.

A switched-on jockey with excellent ringcraft can easily beat even the potential class winner if it has a less skilled show rider on board.

Overall, riders have upped their game with their individual displays, but some still fall short in the conformation section, especially in working hunter pony circles when poor presentation can lose you valuable marks.

Could this be the reason that successful flat riders can often come to the fore in the workers?

I cannot believe the number of times riders – including adults – feel the need to ask, “Where would you like me to stand?” in the conformation phase, or ask the judge to explain the set show again because they haven’t been watching other competitors during the class or from the collecting ring beforehand.

For me, it’s akin to working hunter competitors not walking the course properly nor observing how it rides in the early stages of the class.

“Which camp are you?”

On the subject of workers, I was confused recently when an owner complained that a course was “too easy and it turned into a show class” as the section came under the jurisdiction of the British Show Pony Society!

The problem lies in the fact that course designs vary so much. Some can appear gladiatorial, sometimes taking over four minutes to complete.

Davina Whiteman advised me to always look for the next fence before landing at the previous one. Nowadays, that fence could be lurking around a corner out of sight, which must be daunting for the younger competitors during their round.

So which camp are you in – an owner appreciating a show hunter pony that can jump or one who advocates that jumping is everything and the more challenging the task, the better?

It’s disturbing to hear that competitors not returning for championships and supremes is becoming more commonplace and surprising in this economic climate when a decent purse is on offer and prize money won earlier will be confiscated for non-attendance. One could argue that by entering a show, you have signed up for the whole step-by-step process.

The situation is more understandable if a supreme like a Horse of the Year Show in-hand qualifying round is two days later, but not if it’s on the same day. I’m told some Price Family supreme in-hand qualifying shows are contemplating following in the footsteps of Royal Cheshire and Pembrokeshire that have all the in-hand classes in one day.

I firmly believe that when a rider withdraws from a championship – usually without permission – or when they elect which animal to show and leave their other eligible contender(s) in the horsebox, they are influencing the outcome and undermining the role of the appointed judge.

Why rosettes are like chocolate bars

Is it me or are rosettes, like chocolate bars, getting smaller at some events? With a vast range of colours and designs available, why are some of the county shows still awarding ghastly rosettes in 50 shades of gravy and boring white ones, for the major placings?

On the flip side, some of the sashes are completely over the top and I wonder if there is a case of private ‘one-upmanship’ taking place among the sponsors. Some sashes wouldn’t look out of place at Chelsea Flower Show or encasing a massive celebration cake.

I fully appreciate the time and workmanship involved and dread to think of the expense, but sometimes less is more. Call me old-fashioned, but there is nothing better than a traditional lined sash that doesn’t appear crumpled in the presentation photos..

● What sort of working hunter pony track do you like to see and why? Let us know your thoughts at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance to have your thoughts published in a future issue of Horse & Hound magazine

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Jess Mendoza was 15 when she decided that “horses would be the main part” in her life. Thousands of pony-mad teenage girls declare similar dreams; few follow it through. But Jess’s single-minded pursuit of those goals took her from pony gold medals to the Rio Olympics in just four years; and from Wiltshire, via the Netherlands, to America.

“I knew I didn’t want to go down any other avenue, I just had to figure out how to make money from it,” says Jess, fresh from playing her part in Britain’s Nations Cup victory at the Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead.

But let’s go back a step, because before the practical realities of business come into play, there’s usually an emotional trigger that sets the path. For most elite riders, it’s one special pony that lights the touchpaper. Enter Tixylix, a “big mama” of a mare, who also later ignited Jodie Hall McAteer’s career.

In 2007, when Jess was 11, Tixylix won double gold with Zoe Adams at the pony Europeans. As fate would have it, when Jess’s parents were looking for a 148cm a couple of years later, Tixylix was based a few miles from their Wiltshire farm.

“She was owned by someone in the next-door village who had a car garage,” Jess explains. “His daughter was riding her a bit, but every day my dad went down the road to the garage to try to convince him to let me buy her. Eventually they became friendly enough for me to have a trial – but we already knew we wanted her. “She was wonderful from the beginning and really shaped my pony career.”

Jessica has gone on to have an affinity with mares – notably Spirit T and In The Air – and arguably Tixylix laid the foundations for these relationships.

“She was like a mini horse and bred like one,” Jess says. “She wasn’t petite; didn’t have any pony features. She was tall, long and crazy-blood. You couldn’t jump her at home – she was a typical chestnut mare.”

Besides winning at Horse of the Year Show and Olympia, the pair represented Britain four times at the pony Europeans, winning two golds and a bronze.

While she was studying for her A levels, Jess and her parents moved to the Netherlands as her burgeoning business plans began to take shape.

“I didn’t know if I would be selling horses, training or competing, but basing myself in Europe was the best thing I did for my career, because I could go to all those FEI shows every week and get that experience,” she says. “Eventually I learned that going to America and training people could be another route to making a business.”

Jess has been based on the east coast since Covid precipitated the permanent move, splitting her time between Florida and New York – with a few summer months in Europe.

The States offer a very different business model to this side of the Atlantic, but it’s one that works for Jess. Besides competing, which is much more lucrative than in the UK, Jess estimates that most of her business is training other riders. This ranges from those competing at 1.10m to others jumping five-star grands prix.

“It’s very different financially in America,” she explains. “At FEI shows, you’re spending about $4,500 [£3,340] to enter – compared with $400 to $1,000 in Europe. However, you can jump two horses in a grand prix qualifier of $100,000-plus in prize-money and a grand prix of up to $1m dollars, and ranking classes too. So there are many more chances to jump more horses and win more prize-money – I’d take a lot of my income that way.

“What’s also interesting, for me, is that it’s a lot more client-based. In Europe, it’s more common to see amateurs who do it by themselves or with their family, whereas in America, you essentially have to have a trainer, there is not another option. The girls I train are a pleasure, and many of them and their parents have become owners, which is a great opportunity to get quality horses.”

Another commercial enterprise is Llangollen, a 1,100-acre retirement farm, owned by a client in Virginia, that she set up this year with her husband, fellow showjumper Nicholas Dello Joio. They have 20 retired competition horses so far, and are hoping to build to 150.

“In England it wouldn’t work because more people have land, but in America, it’s very uncommon to have large farms – clients put their horses with the trainer,” she says. “So it’s a unique opportunity because it’s rare for people to retire their horses on their own land.

“We’re getting a lot of interest. I think people are gravitating towards us because they know we understand competition horses, that retirement is not just about putting a horse in the field but giving them time to adjust.”

Jess is married to an American, firmly established stateside, and her accent has an American lilt. There is much she may love about her adopted country, but Jess is still a Brit to her core. Of her home in New York, she smiles, “It’s a lovely climate and more like England in its style of barns and houses, it’s like home.” She even misses the food.

“That’s actually a good thing,” she laughs, “because if I lived in England I would be a lot bigger! I’d eat my way through the day. I love English food. When I go back home, that’s what I look forward to – a Sunday roast or a really good Indian takeout.”

And when it comes to competing, there is nothing she rates higher than representing her homeland.

“I really do love the teams – that’s my favourite type of competition,” she says. “I get more nervous watching my team-mates jump than doing it myself – it’s an element you don’t have in individual competition.”

This ability not to be affected by nerves while she’s riding is surely a prize asset.

“If you ask my husband, he’d say I’m a little different, maybe strange, but I don’t really think too much on the mental side of things,” she says. “My dad set it into me, good or bad, from a young age, that you just do it, don’t overthink it and just take the next step. It’s a very simple mindset but I try not to overcomplicate things.”

That said, with her training hat on, Jess knows that her mindset isn’t for everyone.

“There’s not a perfect way or a good or bad mindset to approach showjumping,” she says. “I’ve been around so many different people – some find sports psychologists helpful, some don’t. Maybe in two years’ time I’ll have another perspective, but right now, I have a very simple way of approaching the sport.”

Her team-mate nerves have been tested in three Nations Cups this season, with two podium finishes.

“One of my favourite things is to win a Nations Cup,” she adds. “Obviously winning an individual grand prix is great, but winning a Nations Cup is almost more fun.”

Jess’s Nations Cup rides are two half-siblings out of an Indoctro mare: Summerhouse (by Guidam) and In The Air (by Air Jordan Z) – “but they couldn’t be more different”.

“I was on the way to try Summerhouse and 10 minutes before I arrived the guy doing the deal said they had his sister if I wanted to sit on her,” Jess says. “I jumped the gelding first and he was perfect, I couldn’t find a fault. So the guy said, ‘Well, you don’t need another one,’ but I wanted to try her just in case.”

The black mare slammed on her brakes at the first fence.

“The guy said, ‘Come round again, she’s just spooky. So I did and she stopped again. He said, ‘Just once more, she’ll be all right.’ And she was good.

But something piqued Jess’s interest – and that gut instinct has been richly rewarded in the time since.

“It wasn’t the most romantic trial, but she’s ended up being great,” Jess says. “She’s a funny character – like a cat. She doesn’t love people but she also needs people. She wants to be near you but not petted.”

As with Tixylix, jumping In The Air – known as Fly – at home is a delicate procedure.

“If I put a vertical up with different coloured poles, she’ll stop three strides out, so I have to do canter poles to start with, then add a cavaletti and build up – it’s like jumping for children,” says Jess. “But when she gets to a horse show, she’s in game mode, she’s fine.”

Her younger (but bigger) brother is “completely different – whatever you put up either at home or in the ring, he’ll just cruise over”.

“He’s massive and she’s tiny,” says Jess, “but although they’re very different in lots of ways, they are both very blood. All my horses are different, but as long as they have a big heart and a good amount of blood, that’s all I need.”

This pair spearheads her string of six – with Ascadina PP Z rounding out the trio competing at 1.60m grands prix. This is the number Jess feels she can do justice to alongside training clients as her long-term goal of LA 2028 looms ever closer.

Once upon a time, before her operation in America gained serious traction, Jess briefly channelled her creativity into another venture, painting animals and large abstract canvases, even running a stall at Olympia.

“I do paint, but now it’s only when I need money or I have a lot of time – luckily I’m good on both at the moment,” she smiles.

Jess’ artwork is spectacular, but if you’ve bought one of those paintings, it’s likely to be a rare limited edition, because she’s figured out exactly how to make her teenage dream come true.

In just a few days’ time, riders will be assessing the Defender Burghley cross-country course challenge for 2026 – checking strides, working out routes and deciding what will suit their particular horse best.

We sent multi-medalled event rider Tina Cook to Burghley Horse Trials to preview the course, which is designed by Derek di Grazia. You can read all her thoughts in the current issue of Horse & Hound magazine (issue dated 27 August) and we have a few pictures for you here…

Fence 7abc: Boodles Raindance

This is the first real combination on course. Rider on the straight route jump up a step, followed by a short one stride, over an angled house and then two strides to another angled house.

Fence 9abcd: Defender Dairy Mound

The direct route here consists of a log trailer, four strides to a log, then down a slope to a corner at the bottom. As the name suggests, the complex is set over a mound and terrain is an important part of the question.

Fence 10abcd: Fairfax & Favor at Keepers

The brush had not yet been added to the frames here when Tina visited so these fences will look quite different, but you can get an idea of the challenge. The two skinnies on the direct route will be taken on three strides.

Fence 14abc: Pedigree Ditches

Again, brush will be added here, with the first spread fence consisting of a brush oxer. There is then a right-handed curve to the open corner over a ditch.

Fence 22abcd: Defender Valley

In the later stages of the course, riders taking on the quickest option here jump a set of rails, then an open ditch, then up a slope to a brush arrowhead.

For more insight to this year’s Burghley cross-country course, we also have videos of Tina walking the course.

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Burghley Horse Trials is a great day out for any equestrian sport fan, but it’s also a great opportunity to get some shopping in, so we’ve rounded up our favourite official Burghley merchandise for 2026. Whether you want to remember the autumn event with a limited edition souvenir or pick out a gift for a horse lover, there are some great options for ladies, gents and children.

The vast shopping village at Defender Burghley Horse Trials is one of the many highlights of the event, attracting a huge collection of many well-known brands – from equestrian fashion to country lifestyle brands, there is plenty to choose from. On that note, if you’re not sure what to wear to Burghley, we’ve got this covered too.

This year’s official merchandise partner is Joules and the 2026 collection combines traditional event branding, classic Joules country styling and heritage embroidery across clothing and accessories. We’ve rounded up our favourite items of official 2026 Burghley merchandise below, so that you can shop the collection even if you’re watching Burghley on TV or following our Burghley live reports service from home.

2026 official Burghley merchandise

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British and US riders will go head to head in a new invitational team eventing competition with a £50,000 prize pot at Agria Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials (17 to 20 September).

“The Blenheim Challenge” will run as part of the CCI4*-L class and will involve British riders from the Rising Lions taking on the US Stars & Stripes. Rising Lions is a privately funded initiative designed to give up-and-coming riders more opportunities at high-profile events.

The competition has a privately funded £50,000 prize pot, which will be split between riders, grooms, a youth programme and a charity.

Riders invited to represent the Rising Lions and the US Stars & Stripes are yet to be announced.

Blenheim event director Katrina Midgley told H&H the horse trials is “really excited” to welcome the Blenheim Challenge to the fixture.

“It brings a completely new dimension to the CCI4*-L without changing the integrity of the competition itself,” she said.

“The riders will still be competing for individual honours in one of the most prestigious CCI4*-L competitions in the world but there will now be this additional team contest running alongside it. We hope the head-to-head format will give spectators another storyline to follow throughout the three phases and create some friendly rivalry along the way."

She added that the format draws on inspiration from golf’s Ryder Cup scoring system.

“The aim is to create a simple head-to-head contest that spectators can easily follow and get behind, while leaving the established CCI4*-L competition unchanged,” said Mrs Midgley.

The riders from the two teams will compete within the main CCI4*-L as normal but before each phase there will be a draw so each member of the team is paired against a rider on the opposing team for that phase.

The rider with the better score in each individual match wins one point for their team for that phase. If their scores are equal, each rider receives half a point. There will be four points up for grabs in each phase (based on two teams of four riders). The team with the highest overall points total from all phases will win the challenge.

Commenting on The prize money for The Blenheim Challenge, which is larger than the total for the main CCI4*-L class (£48,000). Mrs Midgley said the money has been privately raised by the team behind the Rising Lions.

“No funds have been diverted from any other classes to support this, so it is all additional prize money that would otherwise not be available as part of BPHIT [Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials],” she said.

“It is great to see new initiatives like this bringing more money into the sport, particularly as a number of different groups will benefit from this additional pot.

“A large part of the prize fund will go to the riders, but amounts are also allocated for the grooms of both teams, the youth programme of the national governing body of the winning team and an equestrian charity selected by the winning team.”

Rising Lions supported a squad of British riders contest the CCI4*-S at Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event in May and Blenheim will be the first of its initiatives on home soil.

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Gemma Owen is carving out quite a career for herself in the equestrian world. While millions of TV viewers know her from the 2022 season of Love Island, in which she finished runner-up, horse sport fans know she’s an accomplished dressage rider, who represented Britain at the junior European Championships. And now racing’s getting a look-in.

She’s still competing in dressage, currently at inter II on her Polish-bred gelding King Ron-P (Ron William x Corleone Z), who has won at grand prix with Sarah Rao.

“Ronnie is a grand prix schoolmaster,” Gemma says. “He’s not the easiest ride – he’s quite complicated, but incredibly talented, so amazing for teaching me all the harder movements.

“He’s teaching me a lot, in terms of the grand prix movements and also patience and resilience. He is amazing.”

The latest equestrian string to Gemma’s bow is her recent foray into the racing world. Over the past year, she’s transformed herself from the long stirrups and deep seat of the dressage world, to raising her irons and galloping down the home straight at “Glorious Goodwood” in the Markel Magnolia Cup at the end of July.

The transformation is captured in detail in a new Amazon Prime docuseries, Meet The Owens, a six-episode insight into the Owen family’s daily life, produced by Whisper.

Gemma, the eldest child of England football star Michael Owen (not to be confused with the five-star event rider of the same name), is portrayed as she starts from scratch in her quest to become a jockey. There are thrills and spills, hard work in the gym, hours on the equicizer – and ultimately the charity race goal.

Gemma describes her early gallops as “humbling”, with a stark contrast between the two disciplines.

“I’ve trained dressage for as long as I can remember, and how the dressage horses are and how the thoroughbreds are is completely different,” she says. “My position when I’m riding dressage to going up the gallops is completely different as well.

“It took a while to fully adjust. Your stirrups are so unbelievably short and I remember when I first started riding out and I thought my stirrups were short, I look back and I literally look like I’m a dressage rider that wanted to do a bit of jumping or something. It was humbling.

“But I’m getting there,” she adds. “My legs and lower body I found OK; it was more my upper body strength that I found more challenging and had to develop.”

But however tough the challenge, there’s no question which Gemma deems harder overall.

“Nailing the perfect test is definitely harder [than winning a race],” she says. “There is so much that goes into dressage, and you are dealing with the tiniest, tiniest detail. You’re constantly chasing the perfect picture. Which obviously is subjective to a certain extent.

“Racing, there are loads of different challenges – I have to concentrate in a different way when I’m riding dressage to when I’m going up the gallops.

“It’s just a completely different way of riding. It’s not necessarily when you’re going up the gallops, it’s more the stopping and starting, walking to the stables, from the collecting ring, all of the little bits in between you just have to be so on it.

“These horses are so young and you just can’t switch off, they will spin round and go off with you! Learning to control the pace up the gallops is something I had to learn. If you pull the reins that doesn’t necessarily mean stop, it means they take a hold and we’re going faster. So I’m like, ‘If I can’t pull the reins how do I stop?’ But it’s all learning.”

Dad Michael was known as one of the most competitive strikers of his era. Now he’s running Manor Farm Stables, a Flat racing yard with trainer Hugo Palmer, he’s channelled that ambition to a new sphere.

Gemma admits she’s no match for his intense drive.

“Dad is more competitive,” she says. “I’m extremely competitive and want to do well in everything I do, but Dad is ridiculously competitive. When it comes to card games or a family quiz, whatever it is, everything has to be a competition.

“Mum, on the other hand, when it came to the Magnolia Cup was like, ‘enjoy the experience, enjoy learning a new discipline’. I think I’ve got the best of both of them I’d like to say.

“Dad and I have a lot of similarities. One of the first things Dad says about me on the show is ‘she’s a female version of me’ which is kind of accurate. I do think in a similar way about a lot of things. I’m extremely driven, focused, competitive and determined.

“When I set my mind to something I want to achieve it and put as much in as I can and get the best out of it. In those ways we’re similar.

“But because of my mum’s slightly different approach, I try to enjoy the journey and learning of a new skill as much as it does kill me when I don’t do as well.”

When it comes to the dressage, Michael has been happy to take a back seat. There’s a hilarious (and very relatable to most riders) moment where Michael is prancing around his lawn as if he’s practising a dressage test. But that’s about as far as his involvement goes.

He’s been crazy about racing, however, since he was a child. And there’s a scene in the show where Gemma goes upsides on the gallops when she wasn’t meant to – and goes really fast. Cue frosty exchange between dad and daughter.

“In dressage he’d support from the sidelines but he’d never tell me how to ride, whereas the racing he knows a lot more, he’s more passionate about, he’s more knowledgeable,” Gemma says. “When you’re learning something new there are a million things you need to think about and we had a miscommunication.

“We were meant to be going single file, and I came up upsides, which now I know is a completely different thing and the horses know they’re racing each other, as opposed to just cantering nicely.

“I had to learn that the hard way but I think having Dad here and passionate about the racing stables is incredible and I’ve learnt a lot from him.”

When it came to riding in the big race, it nearly didn’t happen at all. Michael relates how she had a fall on a racecourse gallop at Southwell a few days before – but somehow she was back in the plate in time for Goodwood.

She finished fourth – on a miler called Turbo Trotter for whom the sprint distance was far from ideal. Not good enough, says Gemma, who rued her own bad start.

“I was frustrated with myself – I completely missed the start,” she says. “I made up good ground and finished the race strong. The horse gave me an incredible ride and I’m so happy to have ridden him. But I should have been more on it and ready for the start to go at any point. Yup, I’m competitive.”

As for what the future holds? Will she carry on racing?

“Yeah! And dressage! I’m going to try,” she says. “Racing’s completely different, but I love it so much I don’t want to stop.

“I love the people, I love the horses , I love the routine and the involvement I’ve got here now. So if I can do both, I will. Racing in the morning, dressage in the afternoon.”

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Huge progress continues to be made in tackling equine obesity in the show ring – and key to future success must be “embedding” this thinking in judging.

Those behind the Weigh to Win awards – by which the horse or pony in the healthiest body condition in a participating class is given a special rosette – held a discussion at the Royal International Horse Show on 22 July.

The scheme is funded by The Horse Trust and supported by the University of Liverpool, has been running since 2019 and is expanding every year. In 2026, there was a 19% increase, to 60, in the number of events hosting the awards. Representatives have been invited to societies’ judge-training conferences and run training days, covering areas including body condition scoring and the risks associated with excess equine weight.

Scheme spokesperson Rachael Holdsworth reported on the first Weigh to Win awards championships last year; finalists who had won multiple awards were invited to the London International Horse Show and the winners presented with rosettes and sashes. The second championship will take place at this year’s show.

Ms Holdsworth added that the scheme’s social media posts are now being seen by thousands of people, including 70,000 views in three months on Facebook this year.

“It blows my mind to see all these people engaging with this; I think it’s a huge step forward,” she said. “Looking to the future, we’re going to talk about how we move the program forward. We’d like to work more with judges, to encourage winners to give us more feedback. We’ve had our judges’ WhatsApp group in operation for a couple of years, which works really well, and more involvement with that will help us cover more shows.

“Thank you all for being such supporters of this programme. We’re all in this together and making a difference.”

Body condition score data collected since 2021 show a “significant improvement”.

Weight to win awards’ “fantastic” progress

British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA) president Imogen Burrows said it was “fantastic” to see the initiative’s progress, but asked if availability of people to judge body condition in participating classes may be a barrier.

“BEVA has tried to advertise for people who want to get involved,” she said. “It is quite daunting to stand alongside a judge but you do tend to get asked back, and I think at local shows, that’s good advertising for the practice.

“We get members saying, ‘We see all these fat ponies in showing’, what are you doing, and staying engaged with this gives the opportunity to see the change, and to go back to them and say ‘You can be part of the solution’.”

Ms Burrows suggested that vets champion clients who have won the healthy weight awards to help inspire others and spread the word of the scheme.

It was agreed that no award should be given out if no horses in a class are in a healthy condition.

“If there’s nothing [healthy], should we give a rosette?” said Jan Rogers of the Horse Trust.

“They may be the healthiest, but [the excess weight] is doing damage just by being there. If we’re giving it to horses who are not healthy, even if they are the healthiest looking, what message are we conveying to people watching?”

The wrong message?

One organiser said that in such a case, the show moved the body condition judge to another class rather than give the rosette to an overweight horse. A judge said she had walked out of classes as giving an award would give the wrong message.

It was suggested that in classes with several healthy horses, some could be given highly commended cards to show owners they are on the right track.

Ms Rogers said all the data from participating classes is collated by researcher Tamzin Furtado, who has been running the scheme with Ms Rogers from the start.

“There are some really positive changes,” she said. “Pony crests, for example – we’ve seen a nice downward line on the graph, and that’s fantastic. There are some classes that are quite resistant to change. Those would be the maxi cobs, but they have improved. They were off the scale, now they’re on it but there’s still far to go.

“Also Welsh section Cs and Ds and Highlands are the ones where we’re really trying to get changes. We need to think about what it is in those classes and communities that means people aren’t quite getting the message.”

Welfare at the forefront

It was agreed that welfare must be at the forefront in judging, and that societies must empower judges to work in this way.

“The whole thing about body condition should be more mainstream, embedded in the judging culture and in the judge,” Ms Rogers said. “Judges are saying they’re instructed to do it, and some do, to a greater or lesser extent.”

Producer Edward Young said that although things are improving, “there are still fat horses being rewarded” in class placings.

“I’d love one of these rosettes,” he said. “There are still classes where the horse who wins the weigh to win isn’t placed. Until judges start putting those horses higher; that’s going to be the biggest challenge.

“The biggest acid test will be when horses that condition-score correctly are making up the majority of the line, and that will be through the societies. It has to be embedded in the judging criteria, that’s the only way forward.”

What do you think about the progress made in tackling obesity? Let us know your thoughts at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance to have your thoughts published in a future issue of Horse & Hound magazine

In this modern era of characterless, flat, sand showjumping rings, how refreshing for a championship to be held on grass where the natural undulations – not just the technicality of the fences – sifted out all but the very best riders.

So hats off to the organisers, the Aachen ground crew and course-designer Frank Rothenberger, who must have had some sleepless nights when faced with nearly 150 horse and rider combinations, 30 teams of varying abilities and the forecast of some challenging and changeable weather. We went from shorts to raincoats very quickly!

Luckily the thunderstorms weren’t as severe as we feared, but Frank had to make allowances for them nevertheless, which meant the courses for the first two days were on the lenient side, with a huge 49 clears on round one of the team final.

We were told that certain jumps would be moved if needed during the rain, but that’s why the water jump wasn’t used until the team final. The option of moving the fences also meant the time allowed had to be more generous. A tighter time in that first team round would have produced a very different result.

With the surfaced dressage ring still sited in the middle of the arena, Frank was limited with the lines he could use. There was one rollback on day one, but otherwise the course consisted of a lot of smooth turns – it was the nicest course I’ve seen to open a showjumping World Championship.

There were faults everywhere in Friday’s team final – even fence one, which was big and had a long, slightly uphill run to it – and the atmosphere was unbelievable. The Brits came to win team gold, but bronze is still a great achievement. Gaining qualification for the Olympics with a year to spare is also a huge advantage as it means Di Lampard and the riders can already start to focus on Los Angeles.

Aachen, like Hickstead and other grass venues, has so much character. Showjumping needs to keep that identity.

“Best horseman in the world”

Coming into Sunday’s individual decider there was just one fence between first and 10th; not even two rails split the entire field of 25 and I’ve never seen it that close. Over two rounds of jumping, even those down the bottom of the leaderboard had a chance for a medal, and so it proved with Harry Charles winning bronze.

Harry’s championship record is unbelievable – he’s won seven junior and senior medals and he’s only 27. He has great horses, the inspiration to do it and I can see him becoming world number one at some stage.

Steve Guerdat has long been the best horseman in the world. The way he is with his horses, his impeccable balance and the freedom he gives his horses in the saddle, make him a great ambassador for our sport.

It was an exciting week in my role as chef d’equipe with the UAE riders, and Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi and Enjoy De La Mure finished 13th individually. Since getting the individual final in Paris under his belt, he’s gone from strength to strength and Enjoy was a horse I sourced for the team.

None of the riders had done a championship before Paris and, having trained them now for three years, we’re a much closer unit and there’s lots to be proud of.

A super initiative

I don’t know if it was the FEI or Aachen’s idea to have 50 young riders competing in Aachen alongside the championships (report in H&H magazine, 27 August, p66) but what a super initiative for these under-21s, who were selected by their countries to take part in a grand prix and team competition in the main ring.

It offered a great opportunity for our future championship riders to compete in the main ring, walk the courses and to feel a part of it all.

Overall, first-rate horse welfare was on display and we could show how much these horses mean to us. With so many equestrian disciplines together at these World Championships, it’s been a superb, two-week long celebration of horses.

● What were your highlights of the World Championships at Aachen? Let us know your thoughts at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance to have your thoughts published in a future issue of Horse & Hound magazine

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Olympic medallist Tina Cook has given exclusive insight into the 2026 Defender Burghley Horse Trials (3 to 6 September) cross-country course.

Tina finished in the top 10 at Burghley many times, and also won individual bronze at the European Eventing Championships held there in 1997 with General Jock.

Tina, who won multiple senior championship medals including being crowned European champion in 2009, has rated and reviewed all 28 numbered fences on Derek di Grazia’s Burghley course.

Her full analysis of the 2026 cross-country track features in H&H’s Burghley preview edition, available from today (Thursday, 27 August).

“It’s a horse-friendly, attacking Burghley track and is big, without being confusing for horses. It'll make riders be positive to encourage the horses to get into a really lovely rhythm early on,” Tina said.

Don’t miss today’s issue of H&H magazine – out now (27 August) for the full Defender Burghley preview.

Watch Tina walk three fences on the 2026 Burghley Horse Trials cross-country course

Joules at the Maltings (15ab & 16abc)

There are lots of fences in this area. The direct route is over two arrowhead brushes (15a and 15b), followed by a triple bar (16a) to a corner (16bc).

“The triple brushes will be big and imposing as you come round the corner,” Tina said, adding that fence 16abc is a “real tester of power and accuracy”.

“You’ll hopefully get time in the air jumping the triple bar to look at a nice curving line to the open corner,” she said, noting that riders will need power and to be in balance at these elements, which are set on Burghley’s undulating terrain.

Watch Tina walk the direct route at Joules at the Maltings

Trout Hatchery (19abcdef)

Horses go through all three ponds at this key Burghley fence. The straight route is over a trailer at 19a, landing on dry land followed by a splash through. They then turn left and jump a hanging log (19bc) into the second pool, before heading back on to dry land to jump a house (19de), then turn right-handed into the third pool where there will be a brush-topped corner (19f).

Tina said the hanging log at 19bc will feel “a big drop”, adding: “Riders will have to sit tight and keep the gallop through the water as they then have the accuracy question of jumping the house, but the luxury of going on to a little bit of dry land.”

Watch Tina walk the direct route at the Trout Hatchery

Holland Cooper Leaf Pit (24abcdef)

The quickest route at the Holland Cooper Leaf Pit is off the famous drop (24ab), followed by a curved brush fence (24cd) and a related distance to a big corner (24ef). The longer alternative here avoids the drop but involves two extra jumping efforts. Riders could also choose to mix and match a little, by jumping off the drop, then taking the longer alternatives at the bottom.

Tina said those on the direct route will need to keep the momentum to the final element (24ef) as it is “a very big corner”.

“The odd horse might run out here,” she said, adding that it will be up to each competitor to assess the ride they are having and make the best decision for their horse on the route they take here.

Watch Tina walk the direct route at the Holland Cooper Leaf Pit

• To stay up to date with the latest news and reports throughout Defender Burghley Horse Trials, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

In episode 180 of The Horse & Hound Podcast, which is sponsored by Equine America, top British showjumper Robert Whitaker talks to our showjumping editor Jennifer Donald about his third King George V Gold Cup win at Hickstead, what life was like growing up in a famous showjumping dynasty and how his partnership with the talented Vermento came about.

In this episode, Robert explains that he rode Vermento’s dam, a tall hot black mare called Vicky, in classes up to 1m50. He talks about how mother and son are different and why his father John Whitaker’s stallion Argento was a great match for her when they decided to put her in foal.

To hear more about Robert’s early life in the Whitaker family, how a trip to Spruce Meadows helped set Vermento up for Hickstead this year and why he thinks they can equal his uncle Michael's record of four King’s Cups at Hickstead next year, listen to the podcast.

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Whatever your preferred discipline, there is so much to enjoy listening to in our podcasts. We love to hear your feedback on any of our podcasts, so please do send your thoughts to pippa.roome@futurenet.com

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The entries are in and Defender Burghley Horse Trials is “ahead of the game” in ensuring ideal conditions for the horses during one of the driest summers on record.

The site build and construction of the 2026 cross-country course are well under way at the home of the Lincolnshire CCI5*.

Burghley’s cross-country track is fenced off all year and has an underground irrigation network covering the whole course, which was installed around 26 years ago under the charge of clerk of the course Philip Herbert and then director Bill Henson. It involves 4,500m of pipes linked to one computer-operated pumping point at the lake (feature, 31 August 2023).

“Burghley for many years, before I was here as well, has been ahead of the game with the cross-country track,” said director Martyn Johnson at the event’s media day on 11 August.

“I don’t think you can go anywhere else in the world and have a dedicated track that is only used for one day of the year for 60 horses. The care and attention that goes on in December is as important as what we are doing in the build-up to the event now.

“It walks very well – yes, it’s been very dry, there is a limitation with the weather. But we’re very fortunate to have a year-round ground care plan, and that we have the ability to irrigate as well. So the ground will be as good as it can possibly be; the team here are really experienced at doing that, so we’re very hopeful and confident.”

There are a total of 56 entries from seven nations for this year’s event, and Equestrian data analytics company EquiRatings has Sarah Bullimore and the 10-year-old Corimiro as favourites.

Harry Meade has been drawn as pathfinder with Et Hop Du Matz, the first of his three rides. He will also partner Superstition and Cavalier Crystal. Other entries include 2023 Burghley runners-up David Doel and Galileo Nieuwmoed, Tom Jackson (Hawk Eye and United 36), Laura Collett (Bling), 2021 Bicton five-star winners Gemma Stevens and Chilli Knight, plus Burghley debutant Yasmin Ingham on Goliath Du Loir.

“At the top of the sport we’re going through a bit of a transition at the moment with some of the older experienced five-star horses having retired, a couple of whom will be here in other guises this time,” said Mr Johnson.

“We have some really exciting young horses here. Tom and Sarah have probably two of the most exciting horses at the top of the sport at the moment, and I think we’ll see those horses for many years to come at five-star and championships. To have those horses here at this stage of their career is really exciting.

“We also have some really good entries from the US and continental Europe, which is good for the sport and for five-stars. We always know in a World Championships year that we’re going to lose some horses to that, but we’re very happy with the field. We have some quality entries and really nice stories.”

Event president Miranda Rock, whose grandfather David Cecil, the sixth Marquess of Exeter, founded the horse trials 65 years ago, said the fixture is “such a calendar landmark, not just here at Burghley, but across the whole sporting sector”.

“I think he’d be thrilled about that,” she said, adding that the first event had 19 competitors and that her grandfather would be “astonished” by its size and professionality today.

“He was a passionate horseman, and that’s really what he wanted to do: to support riders who were brave enough to compete.”

• To stay up to date with the latest equestrian news in the run-up to Defender Burghley Horse Trials, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

A new in-hand championship at the Agria Royal International Horse Show (RIHS) will “celebrate and promote excellence” in horse and pony breeding.

The National Pony Society (NPS) and RIHS are “delighted” to confirm that the Cases Ltd NPS Pendley supreme in-hand series will run next year, culminating in a championship in the International Arena at Hickstead.

Qualifiers will be held at NPS and Sport Horse Breeding of Great Britain affiliated shows, for hunter, hack and riding horse, British Riding Pony and show hunter pony breeding, as well as all registered mountain and moorland ponies.

NPS chair Jackie Webb said: “The brainchild of 2025 NPS president Sara Hird, the competition aims to identify and celebrate the leading light horse or pony in-hand champion of the year, while also recognising and rewarding breeding excellence, reflecting the charitable objectives of the NPS.”

Hickstead director Lizzie Bunn said this will be an “exciting addition” to the show, thanking those who have worked towards it, and the sponsors Suzanne and Ian Burns.

Mrs Burns said the couple were delighted to support the championship.

“Ian and I are passionate about investing in the future of pony breeding and showing,” she said. “We believe this competition has enormous potential to promote our native and riding pony breeds while supporting breeders during these challenging times.

“We are thrilled that the NPS is driving this exciting new initiative forward and look forward to seeing the finalists compete at the 2027 Agria Royal International Horse Show.”

Details of qualification criteria, venues and championship conditions will be announced shortly.

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The Princess Royal is to visit Defender Burghley Horse Trials on the final day (5 September) – when a legend of the sport will also officially bow out.

In her role as president of World Horse Welfare, the event’s supported charity for 2026, and as president of the British Eventing Support Trust, Her Royal Highness will present the prizes after the final phase. A spokesperson for Burghley said this will “provide a fitting climax to a true ‘Super Sunday’ celebrating world-class sport”.

As well as the princess, who won the European Championships held at Burghley in 1971, there will be more medal-winning eventers for the crowd to cheer. The team gold medallists from this summer’s World Championships – two-time Burghley winner Ros Canter, Laura Collett, Tom McEwen and Gemma Stevens, plus individual World Championships rider Caroline Harris – will parade in the main arena before the prizegiving.

Burghley event director Martyn Johnson said: “We are very honoured that HRH the Princess Royal is attending Burghley again this year.

“As a former winner of Burghley, and a British gold medallist herself, it is highly appropriate that Her Royal Highness will play a role on a day which celebrates so much British equestrian sporting achievement.”

More emotion is promised when four-time CCI5* winner and Olympic gold medallist Ballaghmor Class will canter once more round the arena in which he clinched his two Burghley titles with Oliver Townend. The 19-year-old superstar owned by Karyn Shuter, Angela Hislop and Val Ryan is to be officially retired on the same day.

The Sunday crowd will also be able to enjoy the Defender Shetland Pony Grand National, the British Army Tidworth band and a parade of the Fitzwilliam (Milton) hounds.

To stay up to date with the latest equestrian news in the run-up to and throughout Defender Burghley Horse Trials, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

Leading Belgian dressage judge and official Jacques van Daele died on 4 July, aged 71.

Jacques started his career training horses for the Belgian mounted police. He moved into dressage judging in the 1980s and moved up the levels to become a four-star judge, continuing at national and international level until last year.

He officiated at six Olympics, multiple World and European Championships, World Cup Finals and young horse World Championships. He was on ground juries across the world and was chief steward at CHIO Aachen.

Jacques was FEI honorary steward general for dressage and served on the Belgian and Flemish dressage committees, chairing the Belgian committee for four years and serving as general steward for the Belgian equestrian federation.

He was muchrespected by riders, officials and organisers, and his contribution to equestrian sport was recognised in 2022 when he was named sport personality of the year by Horse Sport Flanders.

Jacques van Daele: hugely respected

“Jacques van Daele was a hugely respected figure in international dressage, valued not only for his knowledge and professionalism but also for his passion for our sport and the way he supported those around him,” said FEI dressage director Ronan Murphy.

“He was thoughtful, fair and always willing to listen, share his experience and support the development of others. His commitment to the rules, to the sport and above all to the wellbeing of the horse defined his approach as an official. Jacques’ wisdom, kindness and friendship will be greatly missed by the entire dressage community.”

An FEI spokesperson added: “The FEI extends its condolences to Jacques’ sister, his friends, colleagues and all those across the international equestrian community who knew and worked alongside him.”

To stay up to date with the latest equestrian news, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

“The goal was to broaden the audience and bring in a base that might never have had any idea about the sport,” sums up Ben Asselin of Faultless, the new six-part documentary series he’s produced with his older brother, Kyle Koss.

“If you can get them attracted to a certain character, or a certain story, they’re like, ‘I had no idea that’s what it took.’

“From just the 80 seconds in the ring, you don’t see all the hard work, the setbacks, the injuries, the financial burdens that go into it – and that’s where the real stories are.”

Ben had ridden at five-star level for years. Kyle has never sat on a horse competitively in his life. Between them, they’ve produced a series following 14 of the world’s leading showjumpers across a single season, focusing mainly at venues included in the Rolex Grand Slam.

It’s made by Brighter Frame Productions and Terminal B TV, in partnership with Spruce Meadows and Rolex, and narrated by three-time Emmy nominee Walton Goggins – of The White Lotus fame. And it exists, in large part, because of a Canadian venue that has belonged to Ben and Kyle’s family for half a century.

The idea itself, though, began somewhere much more improbably, with a non-alcoholic Martini. Kyle was in Los Angeles developing said Martini – the first in the world by his reckoning – with a business partner, Danny Stepper, when the conversation turned to television.

“I asked Danny because he grew up in Hollywood and I knew he might know some people,” Kyle recalls. “I said, ‘Is there anybody you know in reality TV?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I know this guy named Tom Forman.’”

That introduction – to Tom, a veteran producer at Terminal B TV – became the backbone of the series. But the concept had been forming for longer, born at the family’s Christmas table the year before.

“As someone a little more on the outside of the sport, I was thinking how showjumping would really benefit from something similar to Drive to Survive in Formula One,” Kyle says.

He took the idea to Ben, then recovering from a ruptured spleen and easing away from top-level competition himself.

“I gave him a document, which was the treatment of the episodes,” Kyle says.

Ben brought a lifetime of contacts within the sport; Kyle brought the deal making.

“We come at it from two different places,” Kyle says. “Ben being the athlete and I'm kind of just the observer. But I have more of the business background. It was a massive challenge because we’d never produced a TV show before. But I’d never made a Martini either!”

Scratch beneath the motivations behind the decision to make the show, and Spruce Meadows is usually somewhere underneath it. Their grandfather founded the venue, drawing on Europe’s best when he built it.

“He learnt a lot from European venues like Hickstead and Aachen,” Ben says.

Kyle adds: “He wanted a facility where North Americans also had an opportunity to compete on an international stage. It was part of a broader ambition, too – to put the sport in front of an audience that had never had a reason to watch it before.”

Faultless is a continuation of that ambition.

“We were representing our own brand, in Spruce Meadows. We were representing the Rolex Grand Slam. But we were also representing all these different venues that have been around for longer than we have,” Ben says. “And we didn’t build those, right? So it was a huge responsibility.”

The timing sharpened that further. Faultless was shot during Spruce Meadows’ 50th anniversary year, against the backdrop of a $5m grand prix prize purse and a Rolex Grand Slam bid that handed the season a ready-made narrative arc before a single camera began rolling.

Faultless isn’t the first attempt to bring cameras into the world of elite equestrian sport. But for Ben there’s a reason why most of those attempts missed the mark. He recalls hearing from the Whitaker family about previous approaches.

“Even speaking with the Whitaker boys, there have been numerous times where a production crew has tried to come in and film that. And they just want to go and film them at the bar or get into the drama of their families. And that’s something that we really wanted to stray away from.”

The brothers looked instead to Drive to Survive for a template – and, tellingly, to what they felt other equestrian-adjacent documentaries had got wrong.

“We found that the other equestrian docuseries that were out didn’t necessarily capture the actual top level of sport, per se – focusing more on the lifestyle around the sport,” Ben says. “We wanted to have something that resembled the same level of respect for the sport that our venue at Spruce Meadows did.”

Kyle picks up the same point from a different angle, pointing to the range of riders the series actually follows.

“You’ve got a Steve Guerdat, a Martin Fuchs – dialled in, but even the difference between those two is quite substantial. And then you go from a Lillie Keenan to a Kyle King, completely different backgrounds. But they all share the same goal.”

A few decades ago, equestrian sport was something of a regular fixture on mainstream British television. These days, you’re more likely to spot a horse on a fashion runway than in the ring. Fashion houses have leaned hard into equestrian imagery for the Year of the Horse and Rupert Campbell-Black has galloped onto the small screen in Hulu’s adaptation of Rivals – yet the sport itself is barely visible at all. It raises the question: does equestrian media need to start telling new stories?

“I wanted to make something that I wanted to watch,” Kyle says, “because in some cases it can be a bit boring to watch 30 riders go around the ring. But it can also be a bit boring to watch a Formula One race for 90 laps.”

His argument isn’t that the sport lacks material.

“There’s so much there that you can unpack and create a real narrative around what this actually is that people just don’t see. I think there’s a real potential for all horse media, for all horse sport, to take it and say, you know what, this is a special thing.

“You’ve got men and women competing against each other on an equal playing field. You’ve got people coming from all walks of life, not just people that had tonnes of money growing up.”

Irish rider Daniel Coyle's story, told across episode five, is his go-to example.

"He talks about how he couldn't read or write,” he says. “There wasn’t that much opportunity for somebody like that. And he's now made himself one of the top athletes in the sport.”

Ben adds: “A lot of the time in the equestrian industry, we’re always marketing to ourselves. To actually educate people on what's going on, you have to open up the doors to it. I feel like a lot of the time we hide too much and then you try to just show the best things about it, but that's not reality.”

Kyle, for all his self-described distance from the sport, makes an animated case for why the horse’s place in the world deserves much more screen time. He traces it back to their own upbringing in western Canada, along the old Cowboy Trail.

“The horse was the real key component to that,” he says, of his province’s development. “We wouldn’t have anything without horses. And you know, my grandfather knew that.”

Of course, equestrian sport is under increased scrutiny at the moment when it comes to its social licence to operate, and Ben is conscious of that pressure without letting it make him cagey. His instinct runs the other way – show more, not less, on the theory that the reality holds up better than people assume.

He stresses how he was keen to show how the horses in Faultless have their “diets dialled in”, their “exercise programmes dialled in”, their “mental wellbeing dialled in” – they’re full-time athletes with full-time support staff, not animals wheeled out on competition weekends.

But none of which means the series flinches from risk. Spruce Meadows has form here. The venue used to run a YouTube series called Thrills and Spills, which showed the sport’s worst falls alongside its biggest wins, and Ben says that same instinct carried over into Faultless. Martin Fuchs’ serious fall at Spruce Meadows, mid-Grand Slam bid, makes the final cut.

“You can’t write that. You can’t script any of that. But you also see that now he’s back and he’s winning again.”

Getting riders to hand over their worst days, as well as their best, took more than a good pitch – it took Ben’s own standing in the sport.

“There was a lot of social capital on the line – a lot of relationships that mean a lot to us,” he says. “I think the confidence from the riders came from the longstanding relationship that our family has had with the sport.”

Both brothers insist nothing was staged for effect.

“We were not telling people, go over and talk to this person. We were not manufacturing storylines,” Kyle says. “We took the footage that we had and that footage created the storylines that we followed naturally.”

Riders were mic’d from a distance rather than crowded by a crew, and some, Ben adds, “forgot they had a mic on.”

Neither brother sounds like someone planning to stop at one season. Ben flags Richard Vogel’s live bid to become only the second rider ever to complete the Rolex Grand Slam – after Scott Brash – as unfinished business the series is well placed to follow. But Kyle doesn't dress up the economics.

“We’re not making money out of this,” he says. “It was a large investment. But we think that in time, it will be a good investment – not just for us personally, but for the sport in general. If it can broaden the audience base, it really lifts everybody up.”

Whether Faultless genuinely does for showjumping what Drive to Survive did for Formula One is still an open question. But the brothers have put themselves at the front of the queue for reimagining what equestrian media could look like.

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Wondering what prize money is on offer at Burghley Horse Trials? The Defender Burghley Horse Trials is one of the top events of the year with a suitably impressive prize pot, and therefore attracts the best event riders from across the world.

This year, the winner will take home £120,000, which is an increase of £5,000 from 2025 and just £5,000 less than the prize money allocated to the Badminton winner. The prize money for first place hit the six-figure mark in 2022.

There is additional prize money allocated to some of Burghley’s special prize winners – for example, last year £1,000 was awarded to the breeder of the highest-placed British-bred horse.

The total prize pot for the competition in 2026 is £388,000.

Burghley Horse Trials prize money in 2026

Below are the proposed prizes for the top finishers in the five-star competition. The exact prize money, however, depends on the number of horses that start – this year there are 55 confirmed entries in Burghley’s drawn order.

Burghley Young Event Horse prize money

The two Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse classes will be worth a total of £8,000 for 2026, with a first prize of £1,500 for the five-year-old champion and £1,250 for the four-year-old champion. Prizes go down to tenth place.

The prize pot also includes a £100 breeder's prize and £100 for the highest placed mare.

• To stay up to date with the latest equestrian news in the run-up to Burghley Horse Trials, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

The legendary Steve Guerdat and Dynamix De Belheme have been crowned individual 2026 world showjumping champions in fabulous style.

The Swiss team was not on the podium on Friday, although they did secure Olympic qualification by finishing fifth. But Steve and the fantastic 13-year-old mare – European champions three years ago and the reigning Olympic silver medallists – were faultless all week, and topped it off with two foot-perfect rounds today.

They were in the silver-medal position going into the first round, and CHC Horses SA & La Giraffa SA’s superstar mare had her ears pricked throughout, to stay on their 0.86 score.

When leaders Daniel Deusser and Otello De Guldenboom had an early fence, Steve went into the second round with a fence in hand – but he didn’t need it. This second course was such a tough one – only the three medallists jumped it clear – but like the absolute pros they are, Steve and Dynamix flew it in perfect style.

“I don’t have the words,” an emotional Steve said straight afterwards. “I’m just coming down now. I’d like to be with my team now because they deserve this medal as much as I do, and my horse and all the team around me.

“Most of them made the trip today to come here; my dad is watching at home, so for everybody, I’m really proud.”

2026 world showjumping champions join elite group

Steve joins an elite group to have won the world, European and Olympic individual titles, not to mention the World Cup Final.

“All the titles I wanted when I was a kid, and I was very nervous all week,” he said. “Normally my championships get better in [anxiety] once I get into it, but this week it kept getting worse.

“World Championships come every four years, and it’s not every four years you have a horse like Dynamix. It’s not every World Championship that you’re in a situation where you can win a medal, and maybe the gold, which I was dreaming of. I kept very nervous about what might be my last chance to get it.

“I never wanted to finish my career before having won Aachen; there’s no day in my life I don’t think about Aachen, and to win the world title, the one I was missing, in Aachen – I don’t think it gets any better than that.”

Steve, who has been blessed by so many fabulous horses, has long cited this mare as one of the best, and this title just confirms his view.

“I’m somewhere now I never dreamed of,” he said. “I have a lot of pride obviously for my horse, first, but all the team around, my family; it takes so many people to bring you here. I’m the one on podium, but I wish I could take a few other people up there with me and share it with them.”

Super silver for Belgium

Young Belgian rider Thibeau Spits, 25, added to the team silver he helped secure for his country with an individual of the same colour, riding Impress-K van't Kattenheye Z. The pair, who were on the team that won European gold last year, jumped two fabulous rounds today to finish on 5.6 penalties.

Thibeau has achieved such heights so early, but “it’s not getting much better than this!” he said.

“I never dreamed of it, I’ll probably never have a horse in such good shape and as talented as he is,” he said. “After last year, I dreamed a lot of things, after the second day here to have a rail, I was a bit devastated.

“It was a fault that didn’t have to happen but after that I changed my mind. I went feeling I trust him on his talent and today, after the team medal on Friday, I could enter without pressure, just try to enjoy today, so this medal is just unbelievable.

“He gave me so much trust, day by day just riding on the flat, he started to feel better. I felt he was ready for it, and he gave me a lot of confidence coming in to today.”

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Ben Maher and Point Break had a heartbreaking stop in the first round of today’s individual final at the showjumping World Championships.

Having done so much to secure the team bronze medal on Friday night (21 August), Ben and the star stallion owned by Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright were in the bronze-medal preposition individually this morning, having not touched a fence all week.

They were absolutely flying this afternoon, the little stallion looking on top form, but somehow Point Break stopped at the wavy planks. They cleared it on the second attempt, and everything else, but the stop and time-faults put them down to 17th place, on 11.01 penalties.

“It was just a small mistake, not good enough at this level,” Ben said.

“He was jumping well, made a big effort in the triple combination, and just away from the gate, the triple bar was big for him.

“He jumped it well but I had to react fast to correct where I landed on the water, which was good riding. But then I probably paid for it afterwards.”

Ben Maher on his final World Championships round

Ben said the 12-year-old stallion got a bit unsettled, Ben tried to settle him but he took his eye to the right, just before that plank.

“That’s what I felt, and I just looked at the video and it was just enough to distract him, and he took his eye off the jump for a very, very split second, and didn’t pick up,” Ben said.

“So I’m disappointed, but overall he jumped well, and I just expected more from today.”

Germany’s Sophie Hinners, who had helped secure team gold for Germany having jumped clear every day, had her first fence of the week with Iron Dames Singclair in the first round today; it was the very last rail that fell. She was in seventh place going into the final round, then two rails and a time-fault dropped them down the order.

“It was a bit unlucky in the end,” Sophie said. “He jumped unbelievable again. I think the difficult parts he jumped so easily; the first round it was a pity on the last, but the second round he started great, had an unlucky rail at the beginning.

“Then I was a bit far off on the oxer but the second part of the course he jumped unbelievable to the end. So I’m really, really proud of him.

“Of course, a double clear would have been nicer today, but still, I think to finish in the top 10 in his first championships, my first World Championships, I think we can be really proud of that. Of course, the [team] gold medal was absolutely the most amazing. So I think we can go home with a very good feeling and be very proud.”

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It was not to be for superstars Scott Brash and Hello Mango in today’s individual final at the showjumping World Championships.

The British combination had been in the lead individually going into Friday night’s team final, but the very first fence – a Lindt oxer that had fallen more than any other jump that day – fell for them. Scott rode beautifully and the mare owned by Lady Pauline Harris and Lady Pauline Kirkham flew to jump the rest of the round clear and secure team bronze for Britain – but the four faults meant they went into today’s individual final in 10th place.

In the first round, Scott showed some superb horsemanship to get through the triple combination but as Mango went a bit high over the wall, the six strides to the Longines oxer wasn’t quite there and they clipped it. Their score of 8.8 was enough to take them into the second round in 12th place.

This meant they were first to go, and the second-round track appeared to be a great deal tougher; only the eventual medallists jumped clear.

Scott Brash unseated at World Championships

Scott and Mango started strong, the mare looking full of jumping, until she caught the back rail of the first element of the triple combination. She then paddled through the second and Scott was unseated, falling to the ground under the fence as she jumped the last element.

Scott got back to his feet and he and Mango walked out of the arena. He then rode her briefly to cool her down in the warm-up arena – and was one of the first to congratulate team-mate Harry Charles on his and Freda’s fantastic bronze.

It was an individual final of incredible drama; of those top 25 combinations the medallists – champions Steve Guerdat and Dynamix De Belheme of Switzerland Belgium’s Thibeau Spits and Impress-K van't Kattenheye Z and Harry Charles and LT Holst Freda – were the only combinations to put two clears on the board.

Piergiorgia Bucci and Hantano for Italy, Colombians Roberto Teran Tafur and Dez’ Ooktoff and home rider Daniel Deusser with Otello De Guldenboom, who had been second, third and fourth individually going into the second round this afternoon, had a fence down each – the very last for both Daniel and Piergiorgio.

Daniel, who had been in second place going into today but had one down in each round, said a better result than this is needed to win a medal.

“Maybe [Otello De Guldenboom was] tired, maybe it was concentration, maybe it was a bit a lack of energy,” he said. “It’s difficult to analyse right now; but he did a lot of good things also in between.”

Roberto added: “I’m very happy because I had a great week.

“I’m a little sad because I am not on the podium, of course. But I had a fantastic week. I enjoyed every minute, and you have to be grateful to be here at this level. And fifth place is a dream for me.

“I’m crazy happy with [my horse]; he’s one of a kind for me. He has done everything for me. He doesn’t owe me anything, and he gave me his heart out there in the ring.”

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Harry Charles and LT Holst Freda have pulled off the story of the showjumping World Championships, rising from 59th place on Thursday evening – to winning an individual bronze medal this afternoon.

This combination, who have only been together for three months, went into today’s individual final in 23rd place but jumped clear in the first round, then repeated the feat, one of only three combinations to remain fault-free in both.

They finished on 7.17 penalties, behind champions Steve Guerdat and Dynamix De Belheme of Switzerland and Belgium’s Thibeau Spits and Impress-K van't Kattenheye Z.

“It’s been a rollercoaster of a week,” said an emotional Harry. “Freda has been incredible these whole championships and grown into it.

“To start off, I thought I blew it the first day, knew I blew it the second day! I managed to pull a clear out on Friday and honestly wondered if it was the right thing to even jump today.”

Harry said that even though he and Freda started in 23rd place today, “you never know what could happen”. And he was right; he and the fabulous 12-year-old mare who was initially bought for his wife Eve Jobs to ride but with whom Harry struck up an instant rapport, were absolutely flying. The second-round track proved very, very tough; Harry and Freda’s was the first clear and for a while the only one.

Harry Charles on the World Championships courses

“She felt so fresh, and in the first course she ate it,” Harry said. “A few had fences but it was still a massive long shot going into the second round; I thought just let her do her thing.

“I knew maybe there wouldn’t be many clears in the second round; it was enormous, and she just ate it again. I can’t believe the feeling I got, and I can’t believe the horse I have.”

After the first round today, Harry said he would have been delighted if that had been the end of the championship for him; he went in under no pressure, just wanting to jump clear.

“I’m just so pleased with her,” he said. “I’m actually happy with myself today as well; I thought I gave her a pretty good ride, and as big as it was, she made it feel very easy.”

Harry said that in May, he had no plans to be at these World Championships and was “probably going to watch it on an iPad”. But then Freda came along.

“She showed up, and she’s a dream horse really,” he said. “She’s so intelligent, doesn’t really get fazed by much. This is still quite a new level for her; she did the World Cup Finals, the biggest atmosphere and courses she’s jumped, but this is again another level up., and it’s amazing how well she handles it. She just gets on with it and is so calm about everything. She’s really a dream to ride.”

Harry said Ewen Mackintosh, Freda’s New Zealand breeder, is in Aachen and came to see her this morning.

“He’s a really nice guy and was really proud of her,” he said. “Freda’s story is incredible... everyone in New Zealand has done an amazing job creating an absolute superstar of a horse, and the nature of her as well is even more special than the talent.”

How far the British team has come

Harry said the British aim for Aachen was winning a medal, and that perhaps there was slight disappointment not to have done even better than they did. In Herning four years ago, Olympic qualification was the main aim and the medal was a huge bonus.

“Which is I think as a team is a great place to be,” he said. “In Herning, we couldn’t believe we got a medal, so I really think it goes to show how far this team has come. We’re of course very happy to get a bronze medal, but we wanted more, and that’s not a bad thing, I don’t think.

“And when we go to LA, we’re going to very much be in the minds of reclaiming our title.”

After his second round, Harry looked back on the week, praising the team performance to win bronze, but adding that he never thought an individual medal would be on the cards.

“It’s something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid,” he said. “In the youth [ranks] we did championships, and I felt maybe it was something I lacked as a rider; I hadn’t really competed properly in championships. And I really thought I blew it, to be honest.

“But I have an incredible horse. That really is all it comes down to. She got this bronze, and I was just lucky to be sat on her. To all her team, everyone, even in New Zealand, who’s given me so much support, she really deserves a medal. I’m so happy to have given it to her.”

The luck was not with the other British contenders today; Ben Maher and Point Break had an unexpected stop at the wavy planks in the first round, which put them out of contention for the second. Scott Brash and Hello Mango had a rail in the first, then Scott was unseated in the second round. Both Scott and Hello Mango walked away.

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Sophie Wells scored 76.76% to finish just off the podium in the grade V freestyle at the World Para Dressage Championships in Aachen.

It rounded off a week of contrasts for Sophie – an emotional grade V gold on Thursday, a tougher team test on Saturday, and now a fourth-place freestyle finish, agonisingly close to a second medal – just 0.68 percentage points shy of bronze.

Gold went to Lena Malmström and Fabulous Fidelie for Sweden on 79.68%, with Regine Mispelkamp and Highlander Delight’s taking silver for Germany on 78.19% and Britney de Jong and Caramba NOP bronze for the Netherlands on 77.44%.

“It was a bit of a mixed bag”

Sophie entered the arena, gesturing to the sound technicians to turn the music up – a remix of covers by Croatian cellist HAUSER, including Waka Waka, Sway and La Isla Bonita.

“It was so much quieter than the sound check, but a few people had said that earlier in the order, so I was a bit prepared for it,” Sophie explained. “It’s the sort of music that needs to be a little bit louder anyway.”

It was a technical floorplan, and Sophie could count herself unlucky not to have picked up more marks from the judges – the watching crowd had her on 77.93%.

“The extended canter was good – I think that’s a really nice, bold thing she can do,” Sophie said. “But overall it was a bit of a mixed bag – she was fresh coming out, so I didn’t quite know what I was going to get in there. It was nice that she was feeling energetic on day three though, because I didn’t expect that.

“Of course it’s disappointing – it’s four percent off my best. But equally, it wasn’t our best test either – there were mistakes; she dropped me in the two half-circles, and the simple changes weren’t the best she could do. It is what it is, and we just try to get home, regroup, and get better.”

Looking ahead, Sophie confirmed MSJ Gold Standard’s owner, Emma Blundell, plans to sell the 10-year-old mare after these championships, with Sophie’s focus already turning to the horses waiting in the wings for her at home.

“We’ll see what happens – the plan was always that she’d be sold after worlds,” Sophie said. “We’ve got other horses coming up too, like seven-year-old Ontario LC, who did his first international at Hartpury this year.”

Sophie also still has her Paralympic medallist LJT Egebjerggards Samoa, whose talent she rates highly for grand prix work, alongside her para career.

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Nicola Naylor and Humbeto L scored 76.5% in the grade IV freestyle at the World Para Dressage Championship in Aachen to finish fourth.

It capped a memorable World Championships debut for Nicola, who had already claimed individual grade IV bronze earlier in the week. Today’s freestyle was another brave ride from the pair – finishing on a medium trot into a halt before the judge at C – and a marked improvement on yesterday’s team test (22 August), where Humberto had a couple of costly spooks in the canter and walk.

“I thought after yesterday, it was great, because he was so much more with me, so much more settled, willing to listen,” Nicola said. “I took a breath too, and it just felt smoother – he felt like he was in a happier place too, which, given the crowds and the noise, is amazing. But he still kept some of that power. He’s full of beans – I think he could go on for another three days, the way he feels.”

The freestyle itself – set to music from the BBC television series Sherlock – was a deliberately demanding one. “It’s a very busy freestyle – we’ve crammed a huge amount in, literally movement after movement,” Nicola explained.

“We did that deliberately because he likes to be busy. The more he does, the happier he is. If it’s just endless canter along the long sides, he starts to get unsure of what he’s meant to be doing – give him something to do, and he’s really happy.”

Picking out the highlights, she added: “As always, the medium canters were great, and the half-passes too – actually, the whole canter tour flowed really smoothly. I think the timing with the music in the extended walk was a little late, but halfway through he really did extend and take it down, and the trot work was really nice too – I’m very pleased.”

Humberto was also remarkably consistent today, not dropping below an average of seven for any movement. “And that’s lovely,” Nicola said. “Especially after yesterday, when he was a bit all over the place.

“To get him back secure like that is a great note to finish on. He’s never heard crowds like that before, never heard that sort of clapping – so to have given him that experience, and for him to stay with me, I think it’s a great way to finish.”

Reflecting on the week as a whole, Nicola was clear it had been a positive one despite its ups and downs. “It’s been a long week, but it’s been fabulous. There’ve been highs and lows – not really lows, but less-high moments, shall we say – but I always enjoy the training.

“Every test is an experience, and you learn so much from each one. I’ve loved every moment of it, because it’s not often you get this atmosphere to actually ride in and see how your horse handles it.”

She couldn’t resist a fond aside about Humberto’s temperament away from the arena – a horse who, moments earlier, had seemed almost half-asleep during the stewards’ final checks.

“He’s extraordinary – like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,” she laughed. “He goes into the arena and he’s got so much power, he’s completely on it, test after test. But you take him out, and he goes to see the stewards, drops his head, half-shuts his eyes – like a donkey falling asleep. He just switches off. He’s like, ‘I’ve done that now, and that’s me, I'm finished.’ Then you pick him up next time and he’s full of power again.”

Further glory for Kate Shoemaker and Vianne

Kate Shoemaker and Vianne took the class comfortably for the USA on 83.31%, the 10-year-old grey mare the only one producing artistic marks into the 90s.

It capped a remarkable treble for Kate and Vianne – having already broken the grand prix A world record for the grade with 78.89% on Thursday for individual gold, then anchored the US record 236.135 team total on Saturday with the first 80%-plus score of the championships.

“None of this has sunk in whatsoever,” Kate said. “It feels like maybe I’ll wake up from a dream tomorrow. To be in Aachen, in this amazing arena, on hallowed ground, is an absolutely incredible experience. I’m just incredibly thankful to be here, and to have gold medals is beyond the icing on the cake.

“Once the team was finished, I just wanted to see if we could have a little bit more in the trot and not really hold back – and she stayed relaxed with me the whole time.

“I think we had our best extended trot of the entire competition. We added one on the last centre line just for fun – that wasn’t originally in there, but she felt so good, I thought why not?”

France’s Alexia Pittier and Sultan 768 held off Germany’s Helen Brandt and Vulkan Vegas IB for silver, 78.65% to 78.01%.

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Athene Lindebjerg’s grade I freestyle at the World Para Dressage Championships in Aachen was her last-ever competitive test – Mari Durward-Akhurst confirmed after a tougher-than-usual ride, scoring 67.85% for eighth place, that the 19-year-old mare is retiring.

Athene had two uncharacteristic spooks, in the corners between A and K and between M and C, before downing tools for a spell. Mari had said after the team test how hard it can be for her, with limited leg power, to get Athene going again once she slows – and she needed all of her experience to bring Athene back on track here.

Athene’s retirement brings the curtain down on one of British para dressage’s longest and most decorated careers. She won individual and team gold with Sophie Christiansen at both the 2015 Europeans in Deauville and the Rio Paralympics the following year, then a hat-trick of individual, freestyle and team golds with Julie Payne at the 2017 Europeans in Gothenburg.

After a break from competition that included having two foals, she returned to top-level sport under the care of South Bucks RDA volunteer Romilly Hart, who got her fit again at the request of co-owner Di Redfern.

Mari took on the ride in 2023 and went on to win individual freestyle bronze at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, two individual bronzes at last year’s Europeans in Ermelo and individual silver this week in Aachen, before this freestyle brought her competitive career to a close.

“She’s retiring now – the World Championships is her last competition, and we’d like to have gone out with a different sort of bang,” Mari said, with good humour at first. But as she began to talk about what the mare had meant to her, the emotion of the moment caught up with her.

“I think she’ll be remembered for life regardless. Honestly, everything she’s given me – she got me to my first Paralympics, my first individual medal... She’s just absolutely incredible, and I can’t thank her enough for it all. This has been amazing.

“She’s made my dreams come true, and I don’t think I’d be the athlete I am now without her and everything she’s taught me. I think that test is a sign she wants to retire – so it’s the perfect time, really. She can go and live out in the field and have a wonderful retirement. She doesn’t owe Great Britain anymore.”

The decision had been made a while ago. “We always knew this would be our last competition together, so it’s been an emotional week. I really wanted her to go out on the high of a gold, but she’s been at the highest level for 10 years – and that’s after coming back having had foals, too. She’s just incredible.

“The sport’s changed so much from when Sophie and Julie rode her – she has to go with a slightly longer contact, and her head moves a lot. We’ve tried really hard with it, but some judges just don’t like the head movement. To end with a silver this week, though – you can’t want much more than that, can you?”

Asked what came next for the mare, Mari added: “She’ll be treated like royalty by Romilly – which she already is.”

Gold went to the Marie Vonderheyden and Fan Tastico H of the USA, scoring a personal best 80.54%, with Italy’s Sara Morganti taking silver on Bond Girl 18 (78.77%) and Latvia’s Rihards Snikus completing the podium on Rise And Shine (75.42%) – the gelding making his championship debut at just six years old.

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Fiona Howard and Diamond Dunes (USA) topped the grade II freestyle on 81.87% on the last day of the World Para Dressage Championships in Aachen, but it was Britain’s Jemima Green who produced the story of the class – a huge personal best on Fantabulous, taking silver on 80.93% (up from 78.44%) off the back of a fourth-place finish in the team test two days earlier. Jemima later said she’d gone into the freestyle with no expectation of making the podium.

Germany’s Heidemarie Dresing completed the top three on Poesie 143 with 80.81%, the narrowest of margins – just 0.126 points – separating silver from bronze.

Jemima could barely process the result when it came in. “I just found out it’s a huge PB, which is so, so exciting,” she said, still looking a bit shocked.

“There were mistakes – I was going around thinking, ‘Come on, a little bit more’. He felt a little tired, but relaxed, which meant we didn’t get the spooks, but we did have a trip, and just a couple of transitions where he was a little behind me.

“I came out of the test not really knowing what to expect, so when they said, ‘I think you’ve got silver’ I was like, ‘Pardon?’ I just remember it feeling slightly off – but that clearly doesn’t mean anything, it’s so hard to get that into your brain.”

Picking through the test for its highlights, she singled out the free walk in particular. “It's all a bit of a blur though. My first medium trot wasn’t strong, so I immediately thought, ‘Right, I’ve got to make the next one better’ – and that one was.

“The free walk across the long diagonal – he really let go and stretched for me and he goes so well to our Beatles music with that, which is lovely. When he keeps his rhythm and his balance throughout, it really flows, and it feels soft. He looked relaxed today, but I got a bit more oomph out of him too.”

The result, she explained, was built on a small but significant change made the day before. “We had a slightly longer warm-up – four minutes longer – we’re very precise with him, and we made a saddle adjustment too. Yesterday, I’d felt the left-hand side [of the saddle] had dropped, so we put a shim in to balance it up.

“He’s really sensitive to those tiny adjustments; he won’t hold himself square if the saddle’s not quite right. I think those little tweaks, and the conversations we’ve had as a team, have brought this here today.”

She was quick to credit the wider team behind it. “Without any of them here, I wouldn’t have been able to do this. British Dressage and Agria are supporting us, and we couldn’t be here without UK Sport's full support either.

“There’s no way I could have done this without all the coaches, the trainers, the farriers – everybody. It really is a full team effort, and I so appreciate it, because it's made the difference on him from two days ago to today.”

Reflecting on the week as a whole as she goes home with two medals having also taken bronze in the individual on Wednesday, Jemima admitted it had taken its toll. “Overwhelming and exhausting – I’m not going to lie, I think mentally this has been one of the hardest shows for me. I don’t think I felt the pressure physically, but mentally I did.

“I came in today really prepared – I’ve been watching my music videos and visualising, because I haven’t always had the best luck with music, but it’s got stronger and stronger. I went to bed early last night and really thought about how I wanted to perform. It’s been an incredible experience – but exhausting.”

The grade II field was one of the strongest of the week, and Jemima admitted she hadn’t expected to be anywhere near the podium in it – despite already having an individual bronze to her name.

“It was a really strong field, some big names, so I thought, ‘I’ll probably be fourth again,’” she said. “I would’ve taken that; that’s my comfortable spot! I was expecting some massive scores – I didn’t think I’d necessarily be one of them, so this is truly incredible.”

Elsewhere on the final day, Rixt van der Horst of the Netherlands continued her imperious week, topping the grade III freestyle on Eisma’s Royal Fonq NOP with 83.12%. Denmark’s Tobias Thorning Joergensen took silver on Blue Hors Zackorado (79.94%), with Italy’s Francesca Salvadè completing the podium on Escari (79.59%) – the narrowest of margins, just 0.353 points, separating silver from bronze.

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Pre-competition favourites, the US have won a commanding team gold medal at the World Para Dressage Championships on a total of 236.135 – higher even than their record-breaking 235.567 total at the Paris Paralympics. Germany were second on 229.875, while the Netherlands finished third on 227.639.

Fiona Howard and the 13-year-old stallion Diamond Dunes led a stacked grade II field, posting an unassailable 79.3% to give the US a flying start to the team competition on day one (21 August) – a massive improvement from their 75% in the individual test.

“He felt great today, even from the first trot around the arena, and he really put his whole heart in there,” Fiona said. “I’m just so proud of him and so happy that we could do this for the team.”

With no LA 2028 Paralympic qualification required as hosts, she was clear the pressure hadn’t lifted: “As a team, we’re all competitive, but we also really want each other to succeed. We put so much work into this that we all want to fight for those medals.”

Germany’s Heidemarie Dresing – an individual gold medallist earlier in the week – took second on Poesie 143 with 77.73%, and Denmark’s Katrine Kristensen third on Goerklintgaards Quater with 76.17%. “It was so fluent, and he trusted me totally – his trot was even better than the first test,” Katrine said. “This is a good start to our team score, and now I can cheer my teammates on.”

The US claimed grade I too, Marie Vonderheyden and Fan Tastico H, living up to his name with a personal best of 76.38%. “I’m so happy and proud of him, but I love that I gave a good score for the team — it’s important to be there for your teammates and help each other,” Marie said.

Rixt van der Horst and Eisma’s Royal Fonq NOP topped grade III once again for the Netherlands, scoring 78.47%. “He was on fire today – a really nice, constant and harmonious test,” Rixt said. “There are a lot of nations with a chance of a medal, so I was feeling the responsibility with my score.”

Denmark’s Tobias Thorning Joergensen took second on Blue Hors Zackorado (77.07%) – competing alongside his mother, Line Thorning Joergensen, in grade IV. “It‘s amazing to share a competition like this with my mum – she’s probably my biggest partner in all of this,” he said.

The hosts take silver

Grade V opened day two, with Germany’s Regine Mispelkamp adding 75.74% to the team effort on Highlander Delight’s – Germany looking to secure the runner-up spot behind a US side that already looked out in front after day one.

Britney de Jong and Caramba 74.61% locked in the Netherlands’ total on 227.639. That left grade IV, and two German riders still to come who could leapfrog the Dutch. Either Helen Brandt (Vulkan Vegas IB) or Anna-Lena Niehues (Vive l'Amour) needed at least 74.17% to get Germany’s total above the Netherlands’.

Helen went first but fell short, scoring 73.3% – leaving it to Anna-Lena Niehues, whose Vive l’Amour produced a standout test, her paces shining throughout. Despite a mistake in the medium walk, she scored 76.41%, securing silver for Germany.

“It's great for the team,” Anna-Lena said. “The canter work was very good, the simple changes too. It’s always important to be good – but for the team it's more important.”

The highest score of the championships

Kate Shoemaker on her exceptional mare Vianne needed to score better than 71.96% to guarantee gold – which, having scored a new world record 78.89% to win gold in the individual test earlier in the week, seemed a sure bet.

But a little bit of jeapordy was injected into the situation when, as she was entering the arena, the rider before her, Spain’s Carla Onrubia Roman, fell from her horse Valerio.

"She came off, right where we needed to pass each other,” Kate said. “I’d never had the experience of a loose horse next to me. Vianne looked over there, as if to say ‘Are you both okay?’ and Michel [Assouline, the US chef d'equipe] said, ‘Quick, get in the arena’ and I was like ‘Yes sir!’

“I was so proud of Vianne in that moment — she just went into the ring and got on with it. It meant a lot that she had that much confidence in me, with all that excitement going on, to still put in a really good test.”

They scored 80.46% – the highest score of the championships so far, and just shy of Vianne’s own grand prix B world record of 80.72%.

The 10-year-old mare combines exceptional expression with harmony, flowing from one movement to the next, apparently unbothered by any of it. Even after the final halt, amid the applause, she stopped to scratch her face on her leg for a good few seconds before leaving the arena – utterly unfazed by the occasion.

“I’m just flabbergasted – it’s incredible,” Michel added. “Paris was already historic for us, and to come here and set a record team score on the biggest stage in the world for equestrian sport – it’s just incredible. I’m so honoured to be with them, and very proud to be surrounded by such incredible athletes. It takes a village to get the best finish possible.”

Looking ahead, he was already thinking about the road to LA 2028. “I’m still very confident we have a system in place that works,” he said. “We’ve worked hard on putting a strategy together with strong foundations, so I have a solid roadmap.

“It’s going to be an important Games for us because it’s a home Games – but that brings its own pressure too, because the team at home will expect even more. Horses aren’t machines – but I have full confidence it’ll be okay, and that we can show the world it can be done outside of Europe too.”

Final team results

As hosts, the US had already secured their Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic team quota regardless of result – so it was the next seven placed nations who claimed Paralympic tickets in Aachen: Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain, Italy, France and Sweden.

1. United States – 236.135
   Fiona Howard (Diamond Dunes) 79.3% · Marie Vonderheyden (Fan Tastico H) 76.38% · Rebecca Hart (Floratina) 73.533 (discard) · Kate Shoemaker (Vianne) 80.46%
   
2. Germany – 229.875
   Heidemarie Dresing (Poesie 143) 77.73% · Regine Mispelkamp (Highlander Delight’s) 75.74% · Helen Brandt (Vulkan Vegas IB) 73.3% (discard) · Anna-Lena Niehues (Vive l’Amour) 76.41%
   
3. Netherlands – 227.639
   Annemarieke Kobel (Doo Schufro) 73.71% (discard) · Tessa Baaijens-Van De Vrie (Happy Grace) 74.57% · Rixt van der Horst (Eisma’s Royal Fonq NOP) 78.47% · Britney de Jong (Caramba N.O.P.) 74.61%
   
4. Denmark – 225.867
   Katrine Kristensen (Goerklintgaards Quater) 76.17% · Sandra Lynge Eriksen (Inzurgenzy Firfod) 72.63% · Tobias Thorning Joergensen (Blue Hors Zackorado) 77.07% · Line Thorning Jorgensen (Suarez) 70.41% (discard)
   
5. Great Britain – 222.379
   Jemima Green (Fantabulous) 74.03% · Mari Durward-Akhurst (Athene Lindebjerg) 74.58% · Sophie Wells (MSJ Gold Standard) 73.76% · Nicola Naylor (Humberto L) 70.16% (discard)
   
6. Italy – 220.808
   Massimiliano Chiantore (Fashion Girl) 71.46% · Sara Morganti (Bond Girl 18) 74.08% · Francesca Salvadé (Escari) 75.27% · Federica Sileoni (Leonardo) 67.67% (discard)
   
7. France – 219.818
   Vincent Brunet (Drazic) 65.46% (discard) · Chiara Zenati (Zeus de Malleret IFCE) 71.47% · Vladimir Vinchon (Pegase Mayenne) 75.22% · Alexia Pittier (Sultan 768) 73.14%
   
8. Sweden – 219.106
   Renee Claesson-Ribring (Zapp VS) 70.6% (discard) · Pam Svane (Raja) 72.7% · Lena Malmström (Fabulous Fidelie) 73.97% · Lotta Wallin (Questionmark) 72.43%
   
9. Norway – 211.878
   Jens Lasse Dokkan (Dockland V) 69.71% · Ine Nyhuus (Aagaardens Lia) 70.93% · Mira Antonsen Hjelle (Atterupgaards Dora) 71.24% · Christina Marcussen (Zorro Hoejris) 69.61% (discard)
   
10. Belgium – 207.883
    Emma Vercammen (Odin) 69.4% · Barbara Minnei (Freiherr von Nymphenburg) 69.67% · Francesca Vanhoeck (Fastlane vant' Beekhof) 64% (discard) · Kevin van Ham (Eros van Ons Heem) 68.82%
    
11. Austria – 206.828
    Julia Sciancalepore (Heinrich IV) 70.96% · Pepo Puch (Royale Choice) 70.17% · Thomas Haller (Haller's Hermine) 65.57% (discard) · Julia Mitterhuemer (Showgirl) 65.7%
    
12. Canada – 205.622
    Roberta Sheffield (Nardando) 67.1% · Jody Schloss (El Colorado) 71.92% · Eleonore Elstone (Szecrecy HP) 66.61% · Laura Hall (Istrano) 64.65% (discard)
    
13. Singapore – 204.292
    Gemma Rose Jen Foo (Mona Lisa) 68.92% · Laurentia Tan (Hickstead) 72.88% · Hui'en Hilary Su (Gambler) 62.5%
    
14. Brazil – 203.891
    Flamarion Pereira Da Silva (Don Furitello) 63.23% (discard) · Cleberson Leopoldino Antunes Palhano (Fronterizzo Da El Comandante) 66.08% · Sergio Froes Ribeiro De Oliva (Novidade VD) 71.33% · Rodolpho Riskalla (Franziskaner 13) 66.47%
    
15. Spain – 203.070
    Felix Gomez González (Merlin) 68.23% · Maria Del Carmen Lopez Garcia (Bribon de Ymas) 62.17% (discard) · Iker Beitia Astondoa (Belizzo) 66.351 · Carla Onrubia Roman (Valerio) 68.49%
    
16. Ireland – 201.811
    Jessica McKenna (D.C.I Cerruti) 66.7% · Katie Reilly (Keystone Dawn Chorus) 69.73% · Rosemary Jean Gaffney (Norabel) 65.38%
    
17. Czech Republic – 199.083
    Marcela Lochovska (Viola) 65% · Anastasja Vistalova (Don Athello 3) 68.54% · Vladimir Votrel (Ruby Beatle) 65.54%
    
18. Poland – 193.990
    Mariusz Woszczek (Zachwyt - Nad Wigrami) 63.37% · Agata Weigt (Discovery 64) 65.97% · Dominika Paczek (Quentino) 62.24% (discard) · Maciej Bigaj (Be My Love) 64.65%
    
19. Japan – 193.933
    Soshi Yoshigoe (Vior) 66.43% · Sho Imaba (Dallas) 66.5% · Junichiro Okawa (RH’s Totally Joker) eliminated · Toshifumi Jo (Elmero) 61%
    
20. Hong Kong – 186.567
    Lok Yee Louie Lam (Jockey Club Felaini S) 63.07% · Fleur Schrader (Jockey Club Todays Special) 59.23% · Tin Chi Timothy Tsang (Jockey Club Cethegus M) 64.27%

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Britain has finished fifth at the 2026 World Para Dressage Championships on a team total of 222.379 – missing out on the podium, but comfortably inside the top seven that secures qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics.

The USA won gold on 236.135, Germany took silver on 229.875, the Netherlands bronze on 227.639, and Denmark fourth on 225.867 – just 3.488 points clear of Britain.

The Brits went into grade IV and V on the final day of the team competition (Saturday 22 August), looking to build on a first day that left them a little off the pace for a spot on the podium.

Paralympic qualification was always the goal for the team, but their individual tests had been so strong earlier in the week that hopes were high heading into the team competition.

In a reminder of how strong the individual week has been for the team: had this week’s individual scores (grand prix A) been counted instead of today’s team scores (grand prix B), Britain would have won team silver – narrowly ahead of the Netherlands, comfortably clear of Denmark.

Mari Durward-Akhurst opened Britain’s team campaign yesterday in grade I, finishing runner-up to the USA’s Marie Vonderheyden on 74.58%. Jemima Green and Fantabulous added 74.03% for fourth in grade II, as Fiona Howard’s Diamond Dunes stormed from fourth in her own individual test to top the grand prix B outright on 79.3%. Rixt van der Horst extended her unbeaten run in grade III for the Netherlands.

None of the day-one totals were final – every team still had riders to come in grades IV and V. But a gap was already beginning to open up: Britain sat 13th overnight with only Mari and Jemima’s scores in and two riders still to come. The USA (229.208), Denmark (225.867) and the Netherlands (226.742) each had three of their four riders in already, while Germany, with three riders still to go, had just Heidemarie Dresing’s 77.73% on the board.

In the grade V, Sophie Wells backed up her individual gold with fourth in the team test on MSJ Gold Standard, scoring 73.76% – a drop of 1.19 percentage points from her individual test – behind Germany’s Regine Mispelkamp (75.77%) and the Netherlands’ Britney de Jong (74.61%).

Gold Standard looked a little harder work than two days earlier – still very accurate and relaxed, but a little behind Sophie’s aids at times and not as settled in the contact.

“I thought the feeling she gave me today was better than anything I've felt from her – even better than the individual test,” Sophie said.

“She warmed up really well, nice and energetic, and felt a little lighter, a bit more up for it. It’s a little frustrating going in there and coming out with a score lower than two days ago, but that’s dressage, that’s sport – my biggest goal coming here was for her to be a happy horse in the arena, and I feel like she was.”

Asked where she felt the marks had been lost, she added: “The halts probably weren’t as good. I felt the simple changes were actually better, the downward transitions were better, and I felt like she was a little more uphill in the trot – I don’t know, to be honest. I’ll go and watch the video, read the sheets, take the comments, and we’ll try again [in the freestyle].

“At the end of the day, I’m walking away with a happy pony, and I enjoyed the feeling I got today, so I’m pleased.”

“Nothing to lose”

Grade V’s completion locked in the Netherlands’ total on 227.639 – a real number for the chasing pack now to beat. The USA looked out in front regardless of what was still to come, needing Kate Shoemaker to better just 71.96% in grade IV to top that Dutch mark – a modest ask given her individual gold this week came on 78.89%.

Britain, by contrast, looked out of the running for the podium: Nicola would have needed a score well clear of her personal best – 79.02% – to get her team above the Dutch total.

With Germany still having two riders to go in grade IV, Denmark was the only other realistic target. That meant clearing 77.25%, assuming Denmark landed on their likely floor of 225.867 – the probable outcome, since last-to-go Line Thorning Jørgensen’s individual score of 70.08% was the lowest of the Danish team. It was a tall order: 3.39 points above Nicola’s own individual bronze-medal score of 73.86%.

But full credit to Nicola and Humberto L – they went for it. The pair came in with real purpose, at times almost looking like they’d take off in the canter, but Humberto had a touch too much energy for his own good, throwing in a couple of big spooks. They scored 70.16%, finishing as Britain’s discard for the day.

“We just went for a little bit more expression, a little bit more power today,” Nicola said, “and he got a bit more noise-sensitive and a bit more reactive – he was reacting to everything, so there were a few mistakes here and there where I had to nurse him through it. Some tests are just like that.”

She knew the risk going in: “There were some really lovely moments – I think he really came up in both canters, because we had that extra power. But it can just boil over slightly too much, and that was the risk.

“In some respects we had nothing to lose. He’s a horse I’d like to move up a couple of percent if I can, but he’s not used to being asked for that much more in the arena. I think he got quite excited about it – but it’s great to have an occasion where you can try that.

“It did feel like he was going to take off at times in the canter – that’s why I kept telling myself to dig deep with my seat and just sit tight. But I didn’t want to stop riding the test the way I was, because then what's the point? He did feel up for it – it was just that he was in overdrive with adrenaline.”

It was Nicola’s first World Championships, and despite not getting the team medal she didn’t take the moment lightly. “It’s been wonderful – we’ve had all four of us get medals on the first day, which was a really uplifting moment for everybody,” she said.

“We’ve all worked so hard to get here. It’s an honour wearing the flag – there’s a lot of competition at home, and I’ve been a reserve for many years, so I know what that’s like. When you finally get picked, it’s a dream come true, and it’s all the better because we’re such a strong group of riders.”

“Onwards and upwards”

Performance manager Georgina Sharples was left with mixed emotions reflecting on the two days of team competition.

“I’m thrilled that we have qualified,” she said. “Coming here to qualify for LA 2028 was the primary aim, and we’ve achieved that. But I’m disappointed with the final results. We’ve got some fabulous combinations, and I know what they’re capable of – we showed some of that over the previous two days.

“I think we were the only nation that medalled with all four riders individually in their grade, so we very much came here with an expectation that we'd medal as a team too.

“We’ve got some cracking horses, and they delivered some super work, but we also had some incredibly expensive spooks. You can’t get away with that at this level. It’s incredibly close, and ultimately that’s cost us a podium finish.

“I’m disappointed for the riders, for the team, because we know what we’re capable of. It wasn’t our day for this competition – but we’ve got the freestyle tomorrow (23 August). Onwards and upwards.”

Looking ahead to LA, Georgina was keen to stress the positives.

“We’ve had two days where people have done exceptionally well – a world champion, a silver, two bronzes. Our riders are all very much on an upward trajectory. We're still assessing horsepower – we've got horses at home that are potentially LA combinations, but there aren’t many opportunities to get that experience.

“You need competitions like this, where the pressure is high, and you’ve got the rest of the world there, to give those riders that exposure. I think we’ll take a huge amount of positives from here and build on it.”

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Ben Maher is in third going into tomorrow’s showjumping World Championships individual final, with a great chance to add to Britain’s medal haul.

Ben and the 12-year-old bay stallion Point Break, owned by Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright, have not hit a rail in three rounds of jumping so far, leading Britain to bronze in last night’s team final.

They sit on 1.01 penalties, behind the joint-leaders Steve Guerdat and Daniel Deusser, who each have 0.86 of a penalty on their card.

Asked how he’ll prepare today late last night after the team medal ceremony, which took place in pouring rain, Ben said: “Rest. Go and get a shower, warm up this evening.

“For me, Point Break’s been great. He did a lot of work the past few days so he’ll hack around, then we’ll let the horses have a nice off day and prepare for Sunday.”

Ben was individual Olympic champion at the Tokyo Olympics on Explosion W and has twice won European individual silver. The Hertfordshire rider has finished fourth individually at three of his past four championships and he seeks his first world individual medal. Last night’s bronze was his 11th senior championship medal in all.

Germany’s Daniel Deusser, who secured team gold for the home side last night, said his plan for Otello De Guldenboom is similar to Ben’s: “It’s already late tonight, so the grooms and also the horses will rest a little bit. Maybe also the riders tomorrow morning.

“We have a second veterinary inspection in the late afternoon tomorrow. I think we’re going to ride them a little bit before that, walk them a little bit, and then we go into Sunday.”

The joint-leader Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat commented on how his Paris 2024 individual silver medallist Dyanamix De Belheme jumped yesterday after his clear round: “I’m kind of happy, but not completely happy.

“The way the triple combination happened wasn't planned. I wanted to come in slow, but that was maybe a little too slow, and she responded too well to what I wanted, so I ended up being very far off part b and even further to c, so she had to make a huge effort coming out.

“She really helped me today, so I’m very proud of her and I hope I can make it up to her on Sunday.”

Steve has been Olympic and European champion (in 2023 on the same mare he rides here in Aachen, Dynamix De Belheme), while Daniel is looking for his first individual championship medal, of any colour.

Britain’s Scott Brash is in 10th with Hello Mango after having the first fence down yesterday, so he still has a shot at an individual medal but will be relying on others making mistakes to move on to the podium.

Eight-time championship medallist Scott has not yet won an individual gold.

The top 25 start tomorrow, so Britain’s Harry Charles and LT Holst Freda will also have a chance to add to their Aachen experience, although being realistic, in 23rd place they are unlikely to win a medal.

After the first round tomorrow, the top 12 go through to the final medal decider.

Who has qualified for the individual final at the showjumping World Championships?

• Steve Guerdat and Dynamix De Belheme (SUI)
• Daniel Deusser and Otello De Belheme (GER)
• Ben Maher and Point Break (GBR)
• Marcus Ehning and Coolio 42 (GER)
• Sophie Hinners and Iron Dames Singclair (GER)
• Abdel Said and Wathnan Quaker Brimbelles Z (BEL)
• Piergiorgio Bucci and Hantano (ITA)
• Roberto Teran Tafur and Dez'Ooktoff (COL)
• Armando Trapote and Tornado VS (ESP)
• Scott Brash and Hello Mango (GBR)
• Omar Abdul Aziz Al Marzooqi and Enjoy De La Mure (UAE)
• Laura Kraut and Baloutinue (USA)
• Giulia Martinengo Marquet and Delta Del'Isle (ITA)
• Richard Vogel and United Touch S (GER)
• Thibeau Spits and Impress-K Van't Kattenheye Z (BEL)
• Nina Mallevaey and Dynastie De Beaufour (FRA)
• Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Cruz (IRL)
• Johan-Sebastian Gulliksen and Equine America Harwich VDL (NOR)
• Stephan De Freitas Barcha and Cheveaux Primavera Imperio Egipcio (BRA)
• Caroline Rehoff Pedersen and Polonis L (DEN)
• McLain Ward and High Star Hero (USA)
• Eugenio Garza Perez and Contago (MEX)
• Harry Charles and LT Holst Freda (GBR)
• Carlos Hank Guerreiro and H5 Shaq Attack (MEX)
• Ibrahim Hani Bisharat and Lesther (JOR)

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Last weekend was quite unusual. The British open championship ran at Hartpury and a few hundred miles away, in Aachen, the world’s leading horses and riders did battle for the quadrennial eventing World Championship crown.

Having run all our national championships for so many years at Gatcombe, they always have a special place in my heart. For my daughter Zara to win her first national title in the open on the 17-year-old Class Affair was particularly nostalgic after he has let her down frequently at five-star.

Typical dad, my initial thought was that there could not have been too many in it! But there were 41 finishers, 14 eliminations, eight retired and 10 withdrawals. Eric Winter must have given the course a significant upgrade from last year.

I was disappointed with fewer than 50 entries in the novice championship. We used to have 100-plus at Gatcombe, qualifying through regional finals, which have now gone. I remember trying to win this for years, but now people talk more of qualifying for the six- and seven-year-old World Championships at Le Lion d’Angers.

The intermediate championship provides a first glimpse of the possible superstars of tomorrow, so it was pleasing to see Tom Jackson and Kitty King, who had an especially good weekend, up at the sharp end.

I do wonder about the sense of running two- and three-star longs alongside the novice and intermediate championships. Would not many of the horses in those have been prime candidates for the championships? The British open and CCI4*-S were combined this year and perhaps that’s the way to go with the other classes.

Whatever way, making our national championships special flagship events again must be high on the British Eventing agenda.

Small margins determined the Aachen result

I’ve often been sceptical, even critical, about some of the dressage judging at major championships. I do think in Aachen the judges should be commended. Julia Krajewski rode a beautiful clean test to top the leaderboard.

It was strange to see Michael Jung and Ros Canter both fluff one of the flying changes on the diagonal and for them and Laura Collett to be within one mark of each other, just behind Julia.

Giuseppe della Chiesa had the riders’ attention with his World Championships cross-country course – all called it serious, some even five-star, but it did have a plethora of time-consuming alternatives.

Nobody admired the amount of turning and rollbacks that make the time so hard to get, but I fear this was largely dictated by the site, so will be repeated at next year’s Europeans in Avenches and the Olympics in Los Angeles – perhaps this was good practice!

Giuseppe had to be pleased with six inside the time and an additional 47 jumping clears, out of the 85 starters, but may be a little disappointed that 20 failed to get round.

There was huge pressure on the British team after Gemma Stevens and Flash Cooley came to a grinding halt at the coffin.

Credit to Tom McEwen for accepting a few time-penalties by going long at the last corner combination to ensure the team finish. Laura Collett looked amazing, though was lucky to survive a near-disastrous slip turning to the last water, London 52 having lost a shoe. It looked like another canter around the park for Lordships Graffalo, with Ros Canter.

To start thinking “gold” at this stage is the best way to annoy fate, but the Brits ended up with an 11.6-penalty advantage. In the individual, Michael Jung rolled one pole big time, but it didn’t drop. This was his fourth World Championship gold in four attempts, two individual and two team.

Michael is the outstanding rider of our times and was just 0.4 penalties ahead of Lordships Graffalo, the horse equivalent. This was a fair result as Ros made more of a mistake in the dressage. It’s difficult to believe such small margins would determine the result at an outstanding World Championship and create another piece of Aachen history.

● How would you boost entries in our national championships? Let us know your thoughts at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance to have your thoughts published in a future issue of Horse & Hound magazine

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Seven nations secured Olympic qualification in last night’s showjumping World Championships final in Aachen – and two missed out.

The teams who won a coveted ticket to Los Angeles were Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Ireland and France. The USA, who finished fourth, qualify for LA28 automatically as hosts.

Denmark and Sweden were the other two nations in last night’s final, but finished ninth and 10th so failed to take home a qualification.

“We’re very happy to get qualification and even more so to get the medal,” said British team member Harry Charles after Britain collected the bronze behind Germany and Belgium.

The Irish had a tough start to the night when Darragh Kenny had to withdraw Eddy Blue but eventually finished seventh.

Horse Sport Ireland senior jumping manager Jessica Kuerten said: “That hit us very hard but in true Irish style, everybody pulled together and gave it their absolute best shot to earn us the qualification.

“I think when we're very realistic we have to be delighted that we're going to Los Angeles.”

Steve Guerdat was disappointed in Switzerland’s sixth place: “I think it’s good that we got the qualification, but that’s not what we came for. A medal feels good. The qualification doesn’t feel anything.

“That’s the top of the sport. You see an unbelievable level of competition and I think that our horses all jumped really good and all the riders rode very well. Maybe there’s still a little bit of a lack of experience here and there, but we had some very good rounds. It’s not a bad result, but it’s just not good enough.”

Denmark and Sweden are now among the nations who must seek qualification at next year’s European Championships in Waregem, Belgium. The top three teams who have not already qualified will pick up a ticket to LA there.

Teams who secured showjumping Olympic qualification in Aachen

Germany
Belgium
Great Britain
Italy
Switzerland
Ireland
France

The USA are already qualified as hosts of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

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Germany secured gold in the showjumping World Championships team results this evening by a comfortable margin.

Daniel Deusser was the third rider in for the home side and had the opportunity to confirm their win if he went clear on Otello De Guldenboom. He duly delivered, giving Germany victory without needing anchorman Richard Vogel’s score.

Daniel said: “It’s not only tonight, this is a result of a long journey for this year, all looking forward to the World Championships here in Aachen. As Germans, it’s an unbelievable show – I can't describe it, it’s unique.”

Marcus Ehing led off for Germany with a clear on Coolio 42.

“My horse was amazing today – I didn’t stick to the numbers I want to do in the course between the jumps, but the way he’s listening is unbelievable and it’s incredible how he’s jumped the last three days,” he said.

He was followed by Sophie Hinners, who just had one time-fault on Iron Dames Singclair.

She said: “I think we enjoyed it a little bit too much in the arena. It was a little bit unnecessary to have a time-fault, but I’m incredibly proud of him.”

Sophie’s time-fault didn’t affect the team result, though pushed her down to fifth in the individual standings – she would be in the lead without it. Likewise, her compatriot Richard Vogel ended up having two time-faults on United Touch S, which will not help his bid for an individual medal. He is now in 14th place.

Scott Brash’s four-fault round secured a medal for Britain, but it was uncertain whether it would be bronze or silver until final Belgian rider, Abdel Saïd had jumped. His clear on Wathnan Quaker Brimbelles Z gave Belgium silver and confirmed Britain’s bronze.

Abdel was backed up today by Pieter Devos, who had four faults on home-bred Casual DV Z, and Thibeau Spits, who went clear on Impress-K Van’t Kattenheye Z.

Showjumping World Championships team results: US slide to fourth

The US were the big losers in today’s showjumping World Championship team results, starting the day in provisional silver and ending up fourth.

Their lead-off rider Laura Kraut had fence 10b down with Baloutinue – this double of triple bar to upright plank was very influential.

She was followed by Katie Dinan, who had a tricky ride through the treble at fence 5abc and then pulled Out Of The Blue SCF out of the open water at fence six and put her hand up to retire.

Lillie Keenan clattered through fence one with Fasther and then had a further four faults at the upright over a water tray at fence 13.

Lillie said: “The first fault was very uncharacteristic with my horse. The middle of the course, all the really hard parts, we did pretty well. It's hard for me to tell you exactly why I had the Liverpool – I do think my horse is so in touch with me and he probably knew that I was a little bit like deflated.

“Today was a harder day for us to be honest, because when we went in the [grass] warm-up, there’s no lights. I was trying to keep the footing the same for my horse because I think that that’s fair [so I warmed up in the grass arena rather than the indoor school], but he couldn't really see. So I had a refusal the first fence I went to, which obviously doesn't feel great.

“And then because we knew our score had to count for the team, I think I was maybe riding a little bit more defensive. And to jump clear rounds and win, you have to ride on the offensive and not the defensive.”

A clear from McLain Ward and High Star Hero was not enough to revive the US fortunes and bring them back into medal contention.

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Team Ireland have booked their ticket to the Los Angeles Olympics with one horse and rider down, in a rollercoaster of an evening at the showjumping World Championships.

The team of Bertram Allen (Qonquest de Rigo), Darragh Kenny (Eddy Blue), Cian O’Connor (Chatolinue PS) and Shane Sweetnam (James Kann Cruz) had qualified in 10th place for tonight’s (21 August) team final. Then this afternoon, it was announced that Darragh and Eddy would not compete.

“After careful assessment this afternoon, we have made the difficult decision to withdraw Eddy Blue,” Darragh said.

“Whilst he is well and happy in himself, I noticed he was not feeling 100% when I rode him this morning. Following discussion with our team vet Marcus Swail and the whole Irish team, we agreed that protecting his long-term health and soundness must always come first.

“He is a special horse, and his wellbeing has always been, and will always be, my first priority.”

Ireland a man down at showjumping World Championships

First to go for the team, Bertram Allen was under pressure as the withdrawal meant all scores had to count. He and Qonquest De Rigo were flying but the first element of the tricky double fell for a score of four. There was heartbreak for Cian as the very last fence fell; at that point Ireland was ninth, and out of the qualifying places.

But Denmark’s Caroline Rehoff Pedersen and Polonis L had a fence, then Wilma McMahon and Cicci BJN had 16 for Sweden, moving Ireland up again.

Giacamo Casadei and Marbella Du Chabli clocked up eight faults for Italy, and Ireland moved up further. Shane Sweetnam and James Kann Kruz also had the first element of the double, but Andreas Schou and Napoli vh Nederassenthof’s eight for Italy, and Julien Epaillard and Fringan De Vesquerie’s eight for France, secured Ireland seventh place.

“It was a bit of a mistake on my side for that combination; honestly, there was a clear round right there,” said Shane. “But he jumped great.

“I suppose the most important thing is, we’re qualified for the Olympics. Especially with three men today, we really had to pull it out, and everyone did. At least that’s a big bonus, and let’s see what happens on Sunday.”

Pressure on

Cian said he was delighted with Chatolinue’s performance on such a tricky course, especially under the floodlights.

“He felt fantastic,” he said. “The triple combination, he jumped it like a gymnast, and the water comes so quickly after but he felt super. I thought I was doing well after the triple bar-vertical double; that was difficult for me, and I took my time going around, squared up, and the last three jumps he jumped really well.

“When I was coming to the last, he was getting a bit strong, and I could have just held on to his front end a bit more. He had a bare rub on the front pole of the last, so a bit of an unlucky rail, but I’m very pleased how he jumped.”

Cian also cited the pressure of being a man down, adding that the main goal was a place at the Olympics.

“For a country like Ireland, so rich in riders and with so much talent, hopefully that’ll give people good motivation at home, to know team Ireland is qualified for LA,” he said.

“Fellas with a good eight- or nine-year-old can bring the horse along and aim for that. Current or new owners might get involved in the game and give back to some of these top Irish riders we have with investment to try to peak and medal at the Olympic Games with the right horsepower underneath us.”

Cian added that the Olympics are very special to him.

“They’re close to my heart personally, as the only Irish Olympic showjumping medallist,” he said. “And LA will probably be my last Games.”

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Britain has secured a fabulous team bronze at the showjumping World Championships, qualifying for the 2028 LA Olympics at the first opportunity.

Ben Maher (Point Break), Harry Charles (LT Holst Freda), Adrian Whiteway (Chacco Volo) and Scott Brash (Hello Mango) added just four faults between them tonight to take their deserved place on the podium, behind Germany – who won gold with a fence and a rider in hand – and silver medallists Belgium.

Ben and Charlotte Rossetter and Pamela Wright’s star stallion kicked things off with a clear round Ben described as “perfect”.

“He hasn’t jumped under lights too much but I knew his quality would come through with the different lighting this evening, and it was about keeping him brave and relaxed,” he said.

“He went in and he gave me the exact plan, the exact ride I had planned and visualised. When that happens, there’s not a lot to say really. It doesn’t happen very often but he was absolute perfection for me this evening. I’m very proud of him and my team. It’s a long long road to get these horses from a young horse all the way to this level.”

Britain’s bronze at the World Championships: how it unfolded

Second to go for the team, Harry Charles showed his superb horsemanship – and Freda her class – as they jumped a crucial clear, after less than four months together.

Harry said this was a very tough course, as expected for a championship final, and the floodlights played their part in the pressure.

“The atmosphere is amazing, and I’m very happy to get a clear, finally,” he said.

“She’s not knocked a jump all week, it’s been me, so I felt a lot of relief after the finish line; the feeling was again incredible. I left her a little bit fresh this morning, not knowing quite how she’d be on a third day of jumping, and she just came out; I had double handfuls the whole way round. I just sat quiet and said whoa to her, and she just ate it. I’m very happy to give her a proper ride, and we've kept the team in with a shout.”

Harry said after yesterday’s disappointment, “I had to get over myself, to be honest”.

“It was a pretty low day,” he said. “I’ve knocked jumps down plenty of times, but yesterday really sucked.

“You never know when you’re going to get a horse that good, if ever again, so you want to come here. This might be the only time in my life the championships are here in Aachen. I hope not, but it’s such a special place, and all year, I’ve just been dreaming of this championship.

“In May, I wasn’t even planning on coming, I didn’t have a horse, then Freda kind of showed up. The old saying is ‘I think it’s hope that kills you’. Maybe I got a bit ambitious with where I was in the partnership, but I think whatever happens today, we’re going to walk away, I think, with our heads held high. And I’ve got a very special horse for the next few years, and I’m just going to take really good care of her.”

Adrian Whiteway and Deborah Cox’s Chacco Blue did not have luck with them tonight; the first Lindt oxer, which fell more than any other fence tonight, hit the turf. Adrian rode beautifully through the combination but they knocked the first element of the double, and the second fell too. Adrian held it together to finish with three time-faults but this 15 had to be the drop score.

So the pressure was all on Scott’s shoulders again – but again the Lindt fence hit the turf. Perhaps by this late stage, and after some heavy rain, the going was not what it had been. But Scott rode superbly to jump clear the rest of the way, which meant a second successive world team bronze at least for Britain.

“It’s an absolute delight to be in Aachen, there’s no place like it,” chef d’equipe Di Lampard said. “To bring this team forward and be on the podium and with Olympic qualification – we’re very pleased. Congratulations, Germany and Belgium, it’s been great sport all week, and the organisation has been fantastic. So we’re very happy.”

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News broke on the morning of the team competition (Friday 21 August) at the 2026 World Para Dressage Championships in Aachen that judges had made an error two days earlier, allowing Ireland’s Clodagh Walsh and Chantal to complete their individual grade I test after the judge at C rang the bell for apparent lameness.

Clodagh correctly stopped but was then allowed to continue, following a discussion between the judges.

“Under normal circumstances, further to the judge at C ringing the bell, the athlete should have been eliminated,” an FEI statement read. “The FEI acknowledges that this decision was not in accordance with the rules.

“The FEI apologises for the understandable upset and confusion caused to Clodagh Walsh, who had acted in accordance with the rules at all times and who bears no fault for this regrettable situation; the FEI recognises the difficult circumstances in which she completed her test.”

Clodagh was not present for the grade I team test on Friday, suggesting the elimination has since been upheld – and therefore the Irish team has been reduced to three riders.

Oddly, though, her grand prix A score (61.83%) is still listed in the official results – a discrepancy that remains unexplained.

A scare for Japan’s Junichiro Okawa

The grade I team test brought further drama when Japan’s Junichiro Okawa, riding RH’s Totally Joker, fell during his test. He was attended to immediately by the emergency medical team and taken to hospital for further evaluation; his horse was unhurt and returned to the stables. Junichiro was later given the all-clear by doctors.

“I’m so sorry to have caused you all so much worry,” he said afterwards, in a statement translated by Hiroko Copley-Mackie of Team Japan Para.

“Thankfully, there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with the bone, and it seems I’ll be able to go home once the doctor has written up my medical certificate. I’m very relieved. I’m also incredibly grateful to everyone for being so concerned and for being so kind and helpful.”

The combination was eliminated from the grand prix B test as a result. With four riders in the Japanese team, all three remaining scores will have to count.

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Mari Durward-Akhurst backed up her opening-day silver with another strong test in the grand prix B (team test) on Friday, as Britain’s para dressage team began its World Para Dressage Championships campaign in Aachen.

Riding Athene Lindebjerg, she finished runner-up in grade I on 74.58% – a fraction up on her individual score of 74.54% earlier in the week – behind only the USA’s Marie Vonderheyden and Fan Tastico H, who topped the class on 76.38%, itself a shade down on Marie’s individual test 76.71%.

Jemima Green and Fantabulous, meanwhile, fell back slightly from their individual bronze, scoring 74.03% (against 75.24%) for fourth in grade II. It leaves Britain 13th after day one, sitting soley on Mari’s score – with Jemima's presently the lower of the two and set to be discarded. However, this is set against some teams who have multiple counting scores already.

Grade II produced the standout swing of the day elsewhere in the field. Fiona Howard and Paralympic gold medallist Diamond Dunes had finished fourth in Wednesday’s individual test on 75% after an uncharacteristic error; today, they responded with 79.3% to top the grand prix B outright.

Germany’s Heidemarie Dresing (77.73%, up from her individual gold-winning 75.48%) and Denmark’s Katrine Kristensen (76.17%, up from 75.31%) completed the podium places between them – both improving on their grand prix A scores.

Grade III also went, and Rixt van der Horst on Eisma’s Royal Fonq NOP shows no sign of letting up: the Dutch pair went even higher than their individual score two days ago, topping the class on 78.47% (up from 77.53%) to continue their unbeaten run at major championships. Denmark’s Tobias Thorning Joergensen (77.07%, up from 75.1%) and Italy’s Francesca Salvadè (75.27%, up from 74.77%) rounded out the placings behind her – both, like Rixt, improving on their individual-test marks.

With grades IV and V still to come for most nations, the team standings remain provisional – but on what's gone in so far, the USA (155.675), Denmark (153.234) and the Netherlands (153.034) look the most convincing of Britain’s rivals for a medal, each with two strong scores already on the board.

“A score that didn’t come easy”

Mari was last to go in the grade I. The score didn’t come easily, though – she felt Athene lacked the sharpness of her individual test two days earlier, even if the judges didn’t mark her down too much for it.

“It wasn't our best test,” Mari said. “She was hard work, but I managed to keep her going and get her to do what she wanted to do – she just didn’t have as much energy as the first day. I think it’s because she’s already been in there once; she was a bit like, ‘Oh, same thing again.’”

There were compensations, though – she felt the test flowed better in places. “I felt it was a smoother test compared to the first,” she said, picking out the halts again as a highlight, along with the stretch: “I can’t let go of my reins, so I have to try and hold my hands and push one arm as forward as I can, and she stretched nicely.”

Athene dropped behind her leg early on and never quite came fully back. "It's a hard one, because she felt really good in the warm-up, but then when she went in, she just dropped me a bit, and I don't have the leg power to get her to go more forward from behind," Mari said.

“I just try and use as much seat as I’ve got, and the whip for little taps and just keep going. It’s physically quite hard work. She’s not an easy ride. She makes it look easy, but she makes you work for every little bit.”

Mari, who watched none of her rivals’ tests beforehand, said the team was buoyed by Sophie Wells’ gold the day before. “We’re all on a high,” she said. “It’s always an honour to be on the team – I dreamed of it for so long, and to have done it successively for a number of years now is amazing.”

“Oh, where are we going?”

Jemima and Fantabulous were the first to go and their test was not without incident. Despite a fantastic start Fantabulous had a spook at E, jumping away from the boards.

“It was so quick – I was a bit like, ‘Oh, where are we going?’ He pulled the rein right out of my hand, so I’d completely lost it, and I just thought, okay, whistle, which is his cue to come back to me, and then straight back to it,” Jemima said.

“It’s just one of those moments you have to take. I needed to find my line and focus back on the test.”

Jemima did well to re-gather her reins and her composure to get back on track quickly, though she admitted the moment had cost her. "I feel a bit gutted, because it was going to be a stronger score," she said. “But I’m very pleased with what we’ve got – it’s still a strong score.”

Going first in the entire team competition added its own pressure. “I felt really good when I first woke up, and then I got here, and I really felt nervous – I had the shakes; it was a bit of an emotional moment,” Jemima admitted.

“Everything almost hit me at once, which I wasn’t prepared for. But we took some deep breaths, had some chats, and watching the others warm up helped me feel calmer.”

The walk on a long rein stood out for how she rode it straight after the spook. “I thought, ‘Oh God, please don't do anything' – but I was still confident enough to let the reins go and let him stretch. He could have held the tension, but he didn’t.”

Re-approaching the spot where the eight-year-old gelding had spooked, she worked hard to keep his concentration on her. “I was just playing with keeping him in a little left bend, so he wasn't looking to the outside – just trying to keep him with me, and that seemed to do the job,” she added.

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Ireland have made it into the team final at the showjumping World Championships by finishing 10th in the standings following the speed leg and today’s round – the top 10 teams go through to tomorrow evening’s team medal decider under floodlights.

The Irish quartet started today carrying a score of 7.69 and seventh place from yesterday’s opening speed competition.

Pathfinder Darragh Kenny chose the six rather than five-stride option to the final Mercedes-Benz white upright (fence 13) and Eddy Blue knocked it down.

He was followed by Bertram Allen, who also had four faults when Qonquest De Rigo took the back rail off the Longines oxer at fence one with his hind legs.

“It’s bit of a bummer – we just had the first fence down and I’m not sure why. He jumped fantastic after that. It’s a real shame and there are a lot of clears today so that four faults is going to be expensive, unfortunately,” said Bertram, adding that Ireland was not getting any “rub of the green” at this stage, adding: “But we’ve two great guys to come.”

Cian O’Connor revived hopes of Ireland making the World Championships team final with a clear on Chatolinue PS.

“He’s a strong heart and a very good character,” said Cian. “He’s always fighting with you, he’s very brave and he knows when it’s important and the more you encourage him and motivate him, the more he tries.

“I’ve only had him actually about 10 months, so we’re still a fairly young partnership.”

As the fourth line riders took to Aachen’s huge main arena, it became clear only a clear from anchorman Shane Sweetnam could keep Ireland above the cut for tomorrow night’s final. He and James Kann Cruz duly delivered and Ireland made the qualification zone to continue in the competition.

Shane said: “Halfway through the second round, it looked like maybe we weren’t even going to get the chance [to make it to the final round, even if Shane jumped clear] and then the way the poles fell [for other teams], it got us back into the running.

“We went from seventh down to 15th and then 15th back up to the top 10. So it was exciting that we were given that chance and thankfully we were able to deliver a clear round.”

Of the 13-year-old James Kann Cruz, Shane said: “He jumped amazing. From start to finish, he felt unbelievable. I don’t think he touched anything out there.”

Ireland sit on a score of 11.69 – just over two poles cover the 10 teams who will go forward to tomorrow night’s showdown, with leaders Germany on 3.48.

As well as medals, the chief prize on offer is Olympic qualification, given to the top seven teams excluding the USA, who automatically qualify for LA2028 as host nation.

World Showjumping Championships team standings

1. Germany 3.48
2. USA 4.85
=3. Belgium 7.69
=3. Italy 7.69
5. Great Britain 8.98
6. France 8.99
7. Sweden 9.64
8. Switzerland 10.49
9. Denmark 11.57
10. Ireland 11.69

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Great Britain secured its place in the team final during the showjumping World Championships second team qualifier today – but it was a mixed bag of emotions.

There was all to play for today as teams fought for a place in Friday night’s final, to which the top 10 go through. Great Britain was in overnight fifth after the first day, but the deal was far from done.

As per yesterday’s opening speed round, Ben Maher and the brilliant stallion Point Break were pathfinders for the Brits. The experienced pair made Frank Rothenberger’s track look relatively simple, and it was fault-less round, though Ben noted it “didn’t feel quite as smooth” as yesterday and he had to push a it more.

“That can happen in certain rounds. But it felt very good,” said Ben.

“He was making a lot of stride up early on, which is a good thing with him. They played a little bit with the distances in the course today and the hills, which affects him, a smaller striding horse, a bit more. So it’s my job to make sure that I give him the good ride to create what we need at the right time, and that's why perhaps it felt a little bit stronger riding today.

“But he jumped great. I don't think he touched a jump, and he felt very, very confident and forward, which is the biggest thing with him, ready for tomorrow I hope.”

Ben explained some of his stride choices, highlighting the upright at fence 2 and planks at fence 3.

“At two to three, I don’t get held up too much on really long distances, but he got there way easier than I thought. Then the next one was longer than I thought. This is what can happen with him,” he said.

Ben shared that he opted for seven strides from the double at 5ab to the oxer at fence 6, then a forward six strides to the upright over a water tray at fence 7, through the middle of the arena.

Gong into the triple combination fence 9abc Ben said the natural stride going down the hill was nine strides.

“But I just stayed out and did 10 strides to put him on his back end, and just help the scope and the balance,” he said, adding that as some had knocked the final vertical (fence 13), he added some power to his approach to the penultimate triple bar.

“It probably looked like I was riding the triple bar a little bit like the jump off fence, but that was on purpose. It was a bit of a free jump to create the rhythm, so I could sit up and trust his front end on the last. So it was a bit up and down what route we took with the plan, to be honest. But I guess it was the right plan.”

Harry Charles shares his disappointment

Harry Charles and 12-year-old mare LT Holst Freda were next out for the Brits. It was an overall lovely round from this new partnership, but the mare got a bit quick before fence 4, an oxer with a water tray, and they had it down.

Four-faults on paper is not a bad round in any sense, but in such a close competition where a place in the team final is on the line, Harry was naturally disappointed.

“It just wasn’t nearly good enough to be honest,” said Harry, following his round.

“The horse jumped amazing, I’ve just not been on it all week, so I’m really embarrassed and disappointed.”

Harry said the mistake followed from his jump over the planks at fence 3.

“She jumped a bit left on the plank. At any other show, your mind works quick and you adapt. You would put nine in, but I somehow was so stuck on the number, I chased on the eight,” he said.

“When you land that far away from the distance, it’s never going to be there. I wish I could tell you what went through my mind, but I just don’t know.”

Four-faults for Adrian Whiteway

Championship debutant Adrian Whiteway was next for the Brits with Chacco Volo. They too succumbed to four-faults, knocking the middle vertical of the treble combination, fence 9abc.

The 13-year-old gelding looked relaxed, not fazed by the atmosphere that grew throughout the day.

Adrian was very pleased with Chacco Volo.

“It was a really unfortunate one down, but he tried his absolute heart out for me,” said Adrian after his round.

“The combination was short, I knew that, I’ve been watching 110 horses all day. I was thinking: ‘I'm really going to need him to back up’.

“I jumped in and thought I jumped in well; I said ‘Whoa’ with my voice, my body, everything, but just ran out of room a little bit and he put a toe on it.”

Adrian had nothing but praise for his horse

“I’m very happy with him and how he’s jumping,” he said.

“He’s a legend. He just goes in there and eats it up. He takes everything in his stride, and just sort of helps me a bit and holds my hand.”

Great Britain secures place in showjumping World Championships team final

In the team competition the best three scores count, and with Harry and Adrian having four-faults each, this put the pressure on Scott Brash and Hello Mango. The Scotsman had to jump clear to secure Britain’s place in the final. Scott once again delivered under pressure in brilliant style to not only secure the team spot, but put himself into provisional individual gold.

Germany retained its provisional team gold thanks to fault-less performances from all four riders, while the USA moves into silver and Belgium is now in provisional bronze.

The medal-deciding team final takes place tomorrow evening at 5.50pm UK time (6.50pm German time).

In the individual standings Ben and Point Break are in equal fifth with Belgium’s Nicola Phillippaerts and Katanga v/h Dingeshof. Harry and LT Holst Freda are in 59th and Adrian and Chacco Volo are in 77th. Scores from tomorrow’s team final continue to tally up and the top 25 will move forward to Sunday’s individual final.

World Showjumping Championships team standings

1. Germany 3.48
2. USA 4.85
=3. Belgium 7.69
=3. Italy 7.69
5. Great Britain 8.98
6. France 8.99
7. Sweden 9.64
8. Switzerland 10.49
9. Denmark 11.57
10. Ireland 11.69

World Showjumping Championships individual standings

1. Scott Brash (GBR) and Hello Mango 0.80
2. Sophie Hinners (GER) and Iron Dames Singclair 0.84
=3. Steve Guerdat (SUI) and Dynamix De Belheme 0.86
=3. Daniel Duesser (GER) and Otello De Guldenboom 0.86
=5. Ben Maher (GBR) and Point Break 1.01
=5. Nicola Phillippaerts (BEL) and Katanga v/h Dingeshof 1.01
7. Laura Kraut (USA) and Baloutine 1.06
8. Giulia Martinengo Marquet (ITA) and Delta Del'isle 1.13
9. Lillie Keenan (USA) and Fasther 1.17
10. Marcus Ehning (GER) and Coolio 42 1.78

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Sophie Wells scored a personal best of 74.95% on MSJ Gold Standard to win grade V gold for Britain at the World Para Dressage Championships.

This win with “Gracie”, a 10-year-old mare owned by Emma Blundell, extends her extraordinary championship medal collection to a new horse within a year of taking on the ride, and Britain’s gold medal haul at these championships to four.

“I’m quite emotional – which is quite rare for me,” said Sophie after hearing she’d won gold, her voice cracking. “I’m over the moon. I think it's just really special – I lost my dad last year... and it's just very special. He would have been thrilled – he’d be down the pub telling everybody.”

Despite Sophie’s record medal haul over her 17-year-long decorated championship career – this was her 41st championship medal by our count – it was her first individual gold since the 2018 worlds in Tryon.

She admitted the battle back to the top has not always felt certain: “I’ve got that perfectionist personality and dressage obviously suits me for that reason,” she said.

“I love the horses, I love riding, I love training them. There’s something in me that loves competing. I didn’t know if I’d get back to the top again, to be honest – I was really dramatic about it. We’ve had a rubbish few years with horses and things happening in life. I get up every morning, and I want to be the best that I can be for my horses.”

If the occasion was massive for Sophie, Gold Standard – “cool as a cucumber” – seemed oblivious to it. Sophie laughed when asked whether the mare had exceeded expectations for a first championship.

“She’s in the stable and looks like she’s been to 20 of them,” she said. “She’s like, ‘What’s the big deal?’ I really don’t understand it, but it’s so nice to have a horse that's so accepting of a new environment.

“She’s a happy soul, which is a bonus in a place like this – it’s not exactly a quiet championship. I took her round the fountain roundabout yesterday, and there were hundreds of people taking pictures of her, and she was just like, ‘Sure, take a picture, but I’m just going to have a snack’.”

Sophie Wells on the World Championships experience

Although Gold Standard has taken her first championships in stride, Sophie admitted – despite her experience – she’s been struggling with nerves, and the waiting in particular.

"I do feel so old, with how many championships I've done, and I still got so nervous today – I was thinking ‘What the hell, it doesn’t get easier’,” she said. “I think it’s because you know what’s coming. I couldn’t go on social media last night, so I was in the gym for about three hours, just stretching and exhausting myself this morning, because I couldn’t do anything else.”

During the test, Gold Standard’s temperament proved to be exactly the asset Sophie needed. The mare was unfazed even when, just before her first medium trot, a massive cheer echoed across from Aachen’s main arena where Germany’s Sophie Hinners and Iron Dames Singclair had just gone clear for Germany in the showjumping.

“I think she’d be quite happy if the cheer was for us!” Sophie said. “She’s a really nice type of horse to have. I wasn’t particularly worried about the atmosphere coming here, which is a nice change – the past couple of horses I’ve had have been a bit more on edge, a bit more tense.

“Gracie is the opposite. I have to do less schooling and keep her fresh and willing – at home she hacks and jumps and does all of that, and she’s done none of that here. I’m just trying to keep it as fun and light-hearted as possible for her.

“I've literally schooled her twice – we’ve been here since Sunday, and it’s Thursday now. I put the jumping saddle on and had a bit of a canter session around the arena familiarisation, but the less you do with her, the better. She’s probably good for about half an hour of schooling – if you drill her, she just switches off. She doesn’t need to be drilled. She finds the work easy; it’s just about keeping her happy.”

On the test itself, Sophie picked out her halt and half-passes as highlights, along with a walk-to-canter transition she felt particularly pleased with: “I felt like in my second [canter] extension I was able to go for a bit more – I didn’t want to ramp it up too much today, because you don’t know if they’re going to get a bit tight going in there, and I didn’t want tight mistakes rather than exciting ones.

“But there weren't really any mistakes at all – my simple changes could have been smoother in the downward transition, but the upward ones were good." Asked whether there was more to come from the pair, she was unequivocal: “Oh, 100% – there's loads more in there for her.”

European podium

Britney de Jong and Caramba NOP of the Netherlands took silver on 73.15%. Germany’s Regine Mispelkamp and Highlander Delight’s completed the podium in bronze on 72.97% – a margin of just 0.18 points separated silver from bronze.

Sophie’s gold completes a clean sweep of individual medals for the British team: Mari Durward-Akhurst (Athene Lindebjerg) won silver and Jemima Green (Fantabulous) and Nicola Naylor (Humberto L) took bronze in their respective grades. So all four British riders have now won individual medals at these championships.

For context, if team scoring were based on today’s individual results alone, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands would be separated by less than two points in the race for the podium behind the USA – though the actual team competition, starting tomorrow (21 August), will be decided by each grade’s dedicated grand prix B test, not today’s scores.

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Nicola Naylor scored 73.86% to win grade IV bronze for Britain at the 2026 World Para Dressage Championships – but not on the horse she was originally entered with. Her nine-year-old mare Moulin Rouge – known at home as Satine, after the character in the musical – was withdrawn in favour of her more experienced stablemate and European medallist Humberto L, who had been her direct reserve.

It was a late swap, and the original selection of Moulin Rouge over Humberto had been unexpected given Humberto’s higher average scores. Moulin Rouge appears to be the mare Nicola and the selectors have in mind for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics, and the plan had been to give her championship experience here – but it was decided Aachen came too soon, and the decision was made to opt for experience instead.

“It’s just not her moment,” said Nicola, who was competing at her first World Championships. “She is absolutely extraordinary – a horse that will be on fire, and the campaign for LA will start with her as soon as we get home. Humberto and Satine have been neck and neck all year, and he was my direct reserve, so we had another horse who could step in.”

She stressed that the decision was about protecting the mare’s development, not doubting her: “There are some strength issues we’re working on. I don’t like to push them when they’re not ready,” she said. “They need to be at their best health, their best strength, to come and do something like this. She had amazing scores all year, but I was careful at her last international at Hartpury – I didn’t push her there. I just thought she needs to get stronger and healthier in herself, and then she can take on something like this.”

Nicola Naylor on her World Championships test

Humberto competed in this same arena in April, so it wasn’t new to him, and it showed. He and Nicola produced a flowing round, the medium canter a highlight, averaging an eight from the panel.

“He loves that bit,” Nicola said. “You can feel he’s quite excited – he just goes, and he covers the ground. He’s got such a big, bouncy canter, and you can feel he’s really happy when he’s cantering. He’s like, ‘Come on, we’re doing the thing I like now.’”

It’s remarkable to see a visually impaired rider trust her horse enough to ride that forward, with as much impulsion as Nicola had in the canter. Their one blemish came at M – where the horses enter Aachen's stadium three – when Humberto spooked. "I felt like there was a real partnership there, and he really trusted me," Nicola said. "There was one moment where he was a little unsure, but other than that, he was superb."

Nicola is blind – in 2025 she became the first blind rider to compete in an able-bodied grand prix – and relies on her groom, Julie Riches, who calls out the arena letters as Nicola approaches them so she can orientate herself. It’s a reminder of how much of a team effort para sport is, in particular.

“Julie has taken on the role of calling the letters – and it’s another partnership,” explained Nicola, who trains with Sarah Millis. “Whenever we go to international competitions, she has a great relationship with Humberto because she’s with him almost 24/7 at the stables.”

On what the day meant for her partnership with Humberto: “I’m beyond proud, particularly with Humberto – he’s been my horse for six years, and it’s been a real relationship of love and work. To get him to come here and trust me enough to go into that arena... that is not the horse I had six years ago. He could not have done that six years ago. I didn't know what to expect today, but he held it together, and I am really proud of him.”

US golden run continues

Kate Shoemaker won gold with a new world record of 78.89%, riding perhaps the outstanding para dressage horse of the moment, the 10-year-old mare Vianne – her fifth world record across two grades, but not, as Kate was keen to stress, a gold medallist before today.

“Coming into [the Paris Paralympics], we were still really trying to figure each other out – she was eight, still trying to figure herself out, and one day one aid would do one thing, and the next day something else,” Kate said. “This year we really came into our own as a partnership. It just feels so easy – I can go in there, think about it, and the ride’s going to happen. That’s what it felt like today – she was completely one with me. By the time I’d finished trotting, I was already smiling. I was crying before the final halt. I was just so filled with joy.

“I wasn’t thinking about points or scores or medals – I was just thinking, how can I show this very special horse to the best of our ability today,” Kate added.

“She earned a world record in this arena in April, so we got to come in thinking, this is our arena – let’s go show them our absolute best.”

It’s the US team’s second individual para gold at the championships; Marie Vonderheyden and Fan Tastico H took grade I gold on the first day of competition (19 August) with 76.71%

Germany’s Anna-Lena Niehues won silver on Vive l’Amour, scoring 74.64%.

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Germany retain the lead at the top of the showjumping World Championships team results after the action today (Thursday, 20 August).

Frank Rothenberger’s course for today’s first “Nations Cup” round proved relatively easy and there were 49 clear rounds inside the time. This meant those who did have a rail down were quite harshly punished in terms of slips down the leaderboard.

But there were no concerns for the German team, who secured their top spot with a rider to spare. Marcus Ehning led with a clear on Coolio 42, Sophie Hinners followed and was also fault-free on Iron Dames Singclair and Daniel Deusser confirmed the German lead position when he punched in a third clear on Otello De Guldenboom.

“I didn’t want to keep all the pressure for Richie [Vogel], so I thought it would be nice if I could jump a clear round. The teams are very close together, so it was important that we go into the last round as a leading team tomorrow,” said Daniel, who shares fourth in the individual standings with Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat on his Paris 2024 individual silver medallist Dynamix De Belheme.

Talking about the stride patterns around the course, Daniel added: "I changed my decisions approximately 25 times today. I walked the course at 7.50am and to be honest, that time I walked it exactly like I rode it now.

“In between, I saw a lot of people do six after the green double [fence 5ab]. I thought the six looked easy, I could do the six as well. Then just before I got on the horse, I saw a couple go in seven. I said ‘Actually, I’d better ride it like I walked this morning, don’t be influenced by anyone else’, and luckily it worked out like that.”

Sophie Hinners holds second individually on Iron Dames Singclair, behind Britain’s Scott Brash and Hello Mango.

“Iron Dames Singclair is very special to me. I got him when he was at the end of his eight-year-old year. He’s 11 now and we stepped up together to this level,” said Sophie.

“When we got him, we did not really expect that he would be such a dream horse, that he could jump such big classes. When you see him, he’s quite small and then he just goes in and jumps a track like this.

“He always wants to do his best, and he is always fighting for me.”

Germany’s fourth combination, European champions Richard Vogel and United Touch S, also jumped clear so the squad looks in great shape ahead of tomorrow’s team final. Richard started the event as the favourite and now sits 23rd. He is less than a fence behind British leader Scott Brash but there are a lot of combinations between him and gold position.

Ireland’s Cian O’Connor said today the format for championships might need re-examining.

He said: “There was no point in going for a slow clear yesterday and we’d probably prefer a little bit more meat on the bone with these courses, a bit more of a scope test because you have some really good professionals just being unlucky and nicking a rail, and then you have a lot weaker pairs jumping the clear. We have to cater for everybody. But I think that probably needs looking at for future championships.”

USA and Belgium swap spots

The USA moved up from third after the speed leg to second following today’s class.

Again, they secured their spot before anchor rider McLain Ward had entered the arena, as Laura Kraut (Baloutinue), Katie Dinan (Out Of The Blue SCF) and Lillie Keenan (Fasther) all jumped clear.

Katie Dinan spoke about how she put a disappointing round yesterday behind her and came back with a clear.

Katie said: “Yesterday I knew what my mistake was and I really tried just to focus on today being a new day – my horse is in form, so I didn’t have to worry about that –and just making a plan when I walked the course and riding her like I know how, riding her the way that got us selected for the team. I was disappointed yesterday because that wasn’t the performance we had.

“But luckily, my three teammates were very good yesterday so I could come back today. My horse was so phenomenal and I knew after we jumped the first two jumps she was right there with me. I just needed to give her the guidance she deserves and I felt like we were both fighting for the clear round.”

Lillie said: “Jumping a speed round with Fasther, especially in the beginning of the week like yesterday, can be a little bit challenging because he likes to take over, and it’s not just Fasther’s belief that he knows a lot better than I do – he is absolutely firm in knowing that. So I have to be a bit creative and trust our partnership and trust him.

“Today he really reminded me how incredibly special he is in every single way – his personality, but also his ability. He does things that the laws of physics would say are impossible and I'm just really, really lucky to have him as my partner.”

Nicola Phillippaerts punched in a pathfinder clear for Belgium with Katanga Van Het Dingeshof, but Pieter Devos (Casual DV Z) had eight faults, then Thibeau Spits knocked the last with Impress-K Van’t Kattenheye Z. It came down to Abdel Saïd, competing in his first World Championships for Belgium after two representing Egypt, to keep his team in a podium spot.

“It’s hard with all this pressure and I was thinking ‘Okay, it has to stop with me, the pressure, not go on my horse.’ But I just felt him go one, two, three and then he just relaxed, and it was like okay, we’re going to bring it home,” said Abdel after his round with Wathnan Quaker Brimbelles Z.

Belgium now share third with Italy, who made a leap today from eighth after yesterday’s speed leg.

Giulia Martinengo Marquet on Delta Del’Isle, Emanuele Camilli with Chacareno PS and Piergiogio Bucco on Hantano all jumped fault-free rounds today to move Italy up the ranks.

World Championships team results on Thursday: qualifiers for Friday’s final

1. Germany (Marcus Ehning, Sophie Hinners, Daniel Deusser) 3.48
2. USA (Laura Kraut, Katie Dinan, Lillie Keenan, McLain Ward) 4.85
3eq. Belgium (Nicola Phillippaerts, Pieter Devos, Thibeau Spits, Abdel Saïd)
3eq. Italy (Giulia Martinengo Marquet, Emanuele Camilli, Giacomo Casadel, Piergiogio Bucco) 7.69
5. Great Britain (Ben Maher, Harry Charles, Adrian Whiteway, Scott Brash) 8.98
6. France (Nina Mallevaey, Olivier Perreau, Antoine Ermann, Julien Epaillard) 8.99
7. Sweden (Petronella Andresson, Henrik von Eckermann, Wilma McMahon, Peder Fredricson) 9.64
8. Switzerland (Steve Guerdat, Martin Fuchs, Gaëtan Joliat, Jason Smith) 10.49
9. Denmark (Zascha Nygaard, Laura Baaring Kjaergaard, Caroline Rehoff Pedersen, Andreas Schou) 11.57
10. Ireland (Darragh Kenny, Bertram Allen, Cian O’Connor, Shane Sweetnam) 11.69

Full results

World Championships team results on Thursday: individual standings

1. Scott Brash (GBR) on Hello Mango 0.8
2. Sophie Hinners (GER) on Iron Dames Singclair 0.84
3eq. Steve Guerdat (SUI) on Dynamix De Belheme 0.86
3eq. Daniel Deusser (GER) on Otello De Guldenboom 0.86
5. Ben Maher (GBR) on Point Break 1.01
6. Nicola Phillippaerts (BEL) on Katanga Van Het Dingeshof
7. Laura Kraut (USA) on Baloutinue 1.06
8. Giulia Martinengo Marquet (ITA) on Delta Del’Isle 1.13
9. Lillie Keenan (USA) on Fasther 1.17
10. Marcus Ehning (GER) on Coolio 42 1.78

Full results

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Ice cool Scott Brash delivered another epic clear for Great Britain in the showjumping World Championships second team and individual qualifier today – and the Scotsman now lies in provisional individual gold.

The second day of competition at the Aachen World Championships provided more highs and lows, as teams battled for a spot in the medal-deciding final tomorrow (Friday, 21 August). Only the top 10 countries return and places were far from secure for many.

Ben Maher and Point Break were once again British pathfinders and put the first clear on the board for their country. Harry Charles and LT Holst Freda were next, followed by Adrian Whiteway and Chacco Volo, both having four-faults apiece.

To secure a place in the team final anchor Scott and championship debutant Hello Mango needed to jump clear. The pair showed no sign of pressure as they navigated Frank Rothenberger’s track, and they came home with the goods.

“I’m just delighted with Mango, I thought she jumped incredible,” said Scott.

“In the warm-up she felt a little bit more tense today. There's just a bit more atmosphere going on, and she went quick yesterday, so maybe that's why. But when she went in the ring, she was absolutely fantastic.”

After yesterday’s opening round Scott was lying in provisional bronze, behind Harrie Smolders (NED) in silver and Frenchman Julien Epaillard in gold. However both riders had poles, paving the way for Scott. He now lies in provisional individual gold. Tomorrow’s final team round will count towards the individual final on Sunday.

“It’s amazing, but I’m under no illusions, there’s a long way to go,” said Scott.

“There’s a lot of jumping to go and big tests to come, so we’ll take each day as it comes. But I’m sure happy with Mango and looking forward to the rest of the week.”

Frank Rothenberger’s track today featured 1.65m verticals, a one-stride double (five 5ab), treble combination (fence 9abc), and a triple bar (fence 12). There were 49 clears inside the time from 135 starters.

Scott Brash on the showjumping World Championships second team qualifier course

“The course rode quite good, that’s why there were so many clears,” said Scott.

“But it was big, the verticals were at the top of the wings, there’s no holes left. The horses jump very good in this ring and I think it shows what standard we’ve got here.”

Scott might have shown no signs of pressure, but he acknowledges it was there.

“It’s always hard when there’s been quite a few clears. One mistake and you can be out, so the pressure comes on,” he said.

“You know what you’re in there to do; you’re in there to do your job and jump a clear round and thankfully we’ve done that.”

As one of the final riders to jump today, Scott had a long wait.

“I didn’t rush around too much this morning. I got Mango out earlier and stretched her legs. She’s been great,” he said.

“I watched some, went away and had some lunch and chilled out, then got geared up for this afternoon.”

Great Britain is in overnight fifth. The medal-deciding team final takes place tomorrow evening at 5.50pm UK time (6.50pm UK time). The top 60 individual riders will also jump, ahead of Sunday’s individual final.

World Showjumping Championships team standings

1. Germany 3.48
2. USA 4.85
=3. Belgium 7.69
=3. Italy 7.69
5. Great Britain 8.98
6. France 8.99
7. Sweden 9.64
8. Switzerland 10.49
9. Denmark 11.57
10. Ireland 11.69

World Showjumping Championships individual standings

1. Scott Brash (GBR) and Hello Mango 0.80
2. Sophie Hinners (GER) and Iron Dames Singclair 0.84
=3. Steve Guerdat (SUI) and Dynamix De Belheme 0.86
=3. Daniel Duesser (GER) and Otello De Guldenboom 0.86
=5. Ben Maher (GBR) and Point Break 1.01
=5. Nicola Phillippaerts (BEL) and Katanga v/h Dingeshof 1.01
7. Laura Kraut (USA) and Baloutine 1.06
8. Giulia Martinengo Marquet (ITA) and Delta Del'isle 1.13
9. Lillie Keenan (USA) and Fasther 1.17
10. Marcus Ehning (GER) and Coolio 42 1.78

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Writing this after the final medal ceremony at the dressage World Championships, I’m having a “did I just dream that?” moment. From the British point of view, could Aachen have gone any better? Well, yes – I suppose we could’ve won team gold, but all credit to the Germans, and the standard of the sport made the colour of the medal less significant.

Plus, we’ve secured Olympic qualification at the earliest opportunity, which means we can use next year’s Europeans to develop rising combinations. Talking of which, a shout-out to Fiona Bigwood for holding her nerve and riding Donna Bella sympathetically, even under the pressure of being on a championship team.

I had two roles in Aachen: part of the broadcast team for FEI TV and assisting Carl Hester with his warm-up. While the former requires neutrality and might appear to contrast with the latter in practice, it’s not an issue.

Having ridden in my fair share of championships, I couldn’t help but be lured-into the view from the saddle of every combination regardless of which nation they represented.

Across the three medal tests, there were highs, lows and unpredictability.

In the team test, it was Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour and Mount St John Freestyle who delivered the standout harmonious performance. Sadly for Cathrine, that didn’t bring her an individual title – despite 11 individual medals, gold still eludes her.

A lack of immobility in Becky Moody and Jagerbomb’s first halt, followed by a break in the first extension, made for a difficult start. But Becky gave us all a lesson in damage limitation, clawing the scores back.

Despite outstanding movements elsewhere, Glamourdale’s first piaffe impacted his team score.

Carl used a shortened warm-up routine for Fame to take into account the impact of travel and heat. He rode a blinder and pulled off a great score. But all told, Germany beat us fair and square.

A canter that secures gold medals

For the special, Carl made use of the shade provided by the indoor school – roof only, so the breeze still got through. He removed Fame’s fly hood for extra coolness, with the breeze keeping the flies at bay.

The gold medal effectively came down to the canter tour and was, essentially, a flying-changes competition. Going into that phase of the test, the leading contenders were level-pegging. That suited Glamourdale: if he stayed error-free, the quality of his natural canter would be enough to counter any of his competitors’ gains over his piaffe achilles heel. And that’s how it played out.

Cathrine’s mistakes left her feeling she’d lost gold.

But as the kür would go on to show, even a fault-free canter tour from anyone else on the circuit can’t match Glamourdale’s extraordinary biomechanics in this gait.

The 40,000 spectators were invested – an “ooh” or a ripple of applause for every outstanding movement, and a whistle or two when they felt the judges had scored too low.

Becky and Cathrine both made difficult programmes look easy. Justin Verboomen had Zonik Plus close to last year’s form, though the contact issues are still a work in progress. Glamourdale was astonishing and on the final centre line, showed us that he can deliver a classical piaffe. The top five or six were all medal contenders.

Podium moments for owners and grooms

One new initiative from these championships must stay: bringing owners and grooms onto the podium and into the spotlight. Overdue and I fully support it. No medal is won without them.

As to the 91 starters in the team test, has dressage reached a point where the minimum eligibility requirement needs to be increased? In the interests of the judges and a consistent, level playing field, starter numbers need to be limited to what science tells us about cognition and concentration.

However, I was impressed with the stewarding, the veterinary supervision and the provisions for the heat.

I sat down with FEI vet director Dr Göran Åkerström to talk through the measures in place, including thermal cameras used to monitor horses during the warm-up. It’s a world away from where this all started – I was part of the first trial of heat-mitigation protocols in Atlanta in 1996 – 30 years on, it’s good to see the sport still taking it seriously.

● Where should be drawn on championship starter numbers? Let us know your thoughts at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance to have your thoughts published in a future issue of Horse & Hound magazine

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Jemima Green and Fantabulous produced a career-best round to take individual bronze in the grade II grand prix A individual test at the World Para Dressage Championships, scoring 75.24% – narrowly eclipsing the pair’s previous best of 75.23%, set at Aachen in April.

The result also came with a notable spread across the judging panel: E, C and M placed her in the low-to-mid 70s but the judge at B – Anne Prain (FRA) – marked her considerably higher at 80.35%, the top score of any competitor from that box.

“It wasn’t the easiest to ride – he almost felt too relaxed in there, which I wasn’t prepared for,” Jemima said. She was referring to their one real mistake – a walk-to-trot transition in which the eight-year-old gelding was slow to react.

“There was a slight moment of miscommunication – I think he just kind of was in his own little world, which we call ‘Fantaland’.

“After that, he was ‘Oh, I’m back with you, Mum’. It is a big place – he’s found the atmosphere over the last few days quite a lot, and he’s been sleeping quite a lot – but he’s still so young.”

On her reaction when the scores were read out, Jemima added: “I was very shocked, because I was actually walking up going, ‘Oh no, that was a disaster’. And then the [judge at B]’s mark came at the end, and I just couldn't hold in the shock. They said it was a personal best – that’s just incredible to get for our first worlds test.”

Jemima Green’s World Championships bronze edges out others

Jemima’s bronze came at the expense of one of the grade’s reliable performers. Fiona Howard and Diamond Dunes – a triple Paralympic gold medallist, and so often faultless in this class – were left to rue an error in the very same corner that had briefly caught out Fantabulous. The pair finished fourth on 75%, just 0.241 points shy of the podium.

“This has been a really hard 18 months for me and my health, and I’m just so proud of that horse because he has risen to everything I’ve thrown at him,” Fiona said. “We didn’t have our best ride out there today, but I really couldn’t fault this horse – he put his heart out there today. And I’m so proud of him because it has not been an easy 18 months for either of us.”

Gold went the way of Germany’s Heidemarie Dresing and Poesie 143, though not without alarm. A tractor sparked into life just outside the arena as the pair walked down the centre line, sending the 11-year-old mare reversing at speed – a heart-in-mouth moment for her support crew watching.

“I thought it was the end,” Heidemarie, 71, laughed afterwards. “But then I think I had better make the test, ride forward, and show people what my horse is able to do.”

That she did, keeping her composure and steering Poesie back to the task, and although they picked up an average of 1.8 from the judges for their entrance, the pair recovered well enough to top the board on 75.48%, with a nervous wait for the scores to follow.

Denmark’s Katrine Kristensen and Goerklintgaards Quater were next in and took silver on 75.31% with a less expressive but accurate test. Heidemarie’s scores took a while to come through, so it wasn't until both riders had finished that the picture became clear – hers read out first, then Katrine’s, confirming the Dane a fraction behind. In the end, barely half a point separated gold from fourth.

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Mari Durward-Akhurst and Athene Lindebjerg kicked off Britain’s World Para Dressage Championships, winning a silver medal in the grade I grand prix A individual test, scoring 74.54%.

Gold went to the USA’s Marie Vonderheyden and Fan Tastico H on 76.71% – a clear 2.167 points clear of the field – and Italy’s Sara Morganti and Bond Girl 18 took bronze on 74.46%, 0.08 points behind Mari.

Athene came into the arena with great purpose and kept her impulsion throughout the test, as distant roars from Aachen’s main arena – where the showjumping was under way – punctuated the air. It was only accuracy on the tighter movements, like the voltes, that prevented an even bigger mark.

“Everything we worked really hard on came off in the test, so I’m delighted,” Mari said. “Just at the right time, everything came together. She was hot out there. But when she saw the big screen [in a corner of the arena], she kept a lid on it and was really up for it.”

Athene Lindebjerg’s decorated career stretches back over a decade – Paralympic team gold with Sophie Christiansen at Rio 2016, three golds with Julie Payne at the 2017 Europeans and Paralympic and European bronzes with Mari. But despite the 19-year-old mare’s medal-laden history, this is her first World Championships appearance.

“I am emotional now,” Mari said. “She’s obviously 19 now, so we’re not sure what the future holds, and I’ve had so much pressure everywhere we’ve gone – we’ve had to deliver because somebody else already has, but this is our story, so this just makes it unique. I’m so pleased she’s now a World Championship horse as well.”

With the team test still to come, Mari was clear she had no intention of holding anything back today. “I definitely didn’t play safe – I went bold,” she said. “I worked really hard with the psychologist on going in and owning test A, because I find it harder than test B. The circles are much tighter; she’s one big-moving horse, and they’re hard to get around – whereas B’s got bigger 10-metre circles and they’re just a bit easier, it flows a bit better. We definitely went for it and hopefully in the team test (grand prix B), we’ll have a bit more to give.”

Mari’s silver took Britain’s 2026 World Championships medal tally to three gold, three silver and one bronze – seven medals in total – holding second place in the overall standings behind hosts Germany (12).

Golden birthday

For gold medallist, championship debutante Marie Vonderheyden, the win had extra significance – 19 August is her birthday, and she turned 36 the day she won her first World Championship title.

“It was very good – it’s my first medal,” she said, still visibly processing the result. “It’s kind of hard to find all the words I want to say, but [Fan Tastico H is] the champion.”

Marie took over the ride on Fan Tastico H – teammate Roxanne Trunnell’s Paris 2024 grade I silver-medal horse – in early 2025, so this is a partnership of around 18 months.

It marks a remarkable turnaround for the French-born American, who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in 2015 after a horse she was riding spooked. She was in a coma for two months and had to relearn how to walk and speak.

“I used to compete before and when I had my accident... I need to do it again and again and again,” she said. “I don’t know how I can tell you, but it doesn’t make me nervous, and I hope it will stay like this.”

This is predicted to be the first of a spate of medals for the US para dressage team – the dominant force in the sport at the moment.

Double European champion Rixt van der Horst (NED) took grade III gold in the individual test earlier in the day, riding Eisma’s Royal Fonq NOP to 77.53%
– comfortably clear of the field by 2.434 points. Denmark’s Tobias Thorning Joergensen took silver with Blue Hors Zackorado on 75.1% and Italy’s Francesca Salvadè completed the podium with Escari, 0.333 points further back on 74.77%.

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Ben Maher got Britain off to a solid start in the team and individual qualifier on the first day of the showjumping World Championships.

Ben and Point Break were first up for the team and the fifth of 145 starters to contest course-designer Frank Rothenberger’s tricky track.

Ben and the 12-year-old stallion started as they meant to go on, with a strong angle to the first fence, a big vertical. They got a little close to the first double, fence 3ab, and took a bold tight turn to the wavy planks at fence 4, but this paid off when they stopped the clock almost two seconds quicker than Germany’s Marcus Ehning and Coolio 42. Marcus had the unenviable task of being drawn first of the day.

Ben was thrilled with Point Break.

“For him that was a 10 out of 10. I don’t say that very often,” said Ben.

“We can always do things better, but it was very important for me this week to get a rolling start with him to put us in a good start for the team today, but also so he’s really confident for when the jumps get bigger and wider later on in the week.

“A key factor with him is that he’s relaxed, very still with his head and taking a great stride. That happened today, allowing me to put him exactly where I wanted to be.”

Ben is used to going out first on team occasions and delivering under pressure.

“I do always go out first for the team. I switched for Hickstead, just given it was a different team and I had more experience that time,” he explained.

“Sometimes at the championships we switch around a bit the first day, but Point Break is a bit of a unique horse in that I can only do what I can do. If I sit here watching 40 or 100 horses go, I start trying to do something I can’t to get ahead. He needs the slightly firmer ground, and my plan didn’t change.”

Ben likened Point Break’s athleticism to “a rubber ball”.

“That gives good and bad points to his jump; sometimes he can throw a very elastic jump and land further or shorter away and I still don't always know exactly where we end up,” said Ben.

“Today I was planning 10 strides to the wall (fence 7), and he was travelling so relaxed that I managed to do one less and take nine. That’s all Scott (Brash) kept telling me before we went in, have a plan, but have a plan B or C. Fortunately everything went to plan A.”

Ben said it was a nice first course for the horses.

“It’s difficult for course builders here with this many horses,” he said. “It’s very fair, not too big, but I’m sure it will get progressively difficult as the week goes on.”

Harry Charles: “Freda was amazing”

Harry Charles was next out for the Brits with the relatively new ride, LT Holst Freda. A clear looked to be on the horizon but a risk to the blue oxer at 12a where they turned a little tight, didn’t pay off and the poles fell. In this speed competition, knocked poles add four seconds to the clock, so they finished on a total of 75.83sec.

“I’m very happy, Freda was amazing,” said Harry, who has only been riding the mare for a few months.

“It’s a big atmosphere to step into, our partnership is not super experienced together, but she’s plenty experienced and I have a little bit too. It’s great to get that one out the way.”

Harry said the pole down was “completely my own fault”, having changed his plan before fence 11 that resulted in him taking a stride less as he travelled round to the oxer at 12a.

“I would have loved to be clear, so I'm a little bit disappointed in myself, but on the whole, I’m very happy,” he said.

“Everything was just coming so nice, and I decided my plan was to go six down that second-to-last line. But just before take off on the oxer (fence 11), I thought I'll do five, and she got the five easy. Then I just probably turned in a stride less than I should have.

“She just has so much scope. On a normal horse, you come around to that oxer (fence 12a) and your natural instinct is to put a bit of leg on, and I did, and just maybe rode her through the front rail a bit. She nicked it behind. I should have just sat quiet and let her do the work.”

Harry has had to get to know Freda quickly during their short time together.

“I've never had a horse get to know me, or me get to know one so well, so quickly, and have straight out of the box success. It’s a pretty new feeling,” said Harry.

“The aim was always to come here with Los Angeles qualification in mind, so just to be part of the team really was the main focus. Then I started to get to know how special she is, maybe we could do more than just qualify. We have three great riders also on the team here so expectations are high. She’s good enough, and so I have just got to keep going and jump a couple of clears now.”

Adrian Whiteway’s championships debut

Scott Brash was next for the Brits and shot into the lead with Hello Mango during the third session.

Then it was down to anchor combination Adrian Whiteway and Chacco Volo. The pair, making their championships debut, had a rather steady round, a time of 79.51sec. They had a pole down at fence 9a – the first part of the double over a water tray – to finish on 83.51sec.

Adrian said he was “very happy” with the 13-year-old Chacco Blue stallion.

“I was in a very fortunate position that the guys in front of me have all done amazing, so it took the pressure off me,” he said.

“He's not a fast horse, and we know that. He's more important for tomorrow (Thursday 20 August) and Friday. Today was just about putting in a good performance, showing him the ring, and keeping him happy, ready to go tomorrow.”

Adrian was another to blame his blip on himself.

“He has jumped lots of doubles of waters, but it looked pretty spooky to me. I thought ‘Oh’, and maybe I just put a little bit too much leg on and he just touched the front rail,” explained Adrian.

“It’s really unlucky, but hopefully it’ll set me up in good stead for tomorrow.”

Adrian is making championship debut here in Aachen, having been a key part of recent Nations Cup teams.

“There was a little mutter last year after competing here at the Nations Cup that if everything went well it could happen,” he said.

“It still felt a long way away, but he’s been consistent all year from double clear to double clear. It was a dream come true to get the call up.”

Adrian has had the ride on Chacco Volo since a four-year-old.

“We’ve done everything together, so that makes it a little bit more special. I know him inside out,” he said.

“He always tries for me. Touch wood, if I ride him well, he goes well – so the pressure is always on me, not him really. I don’t want to let him down.”

Each rider’s score from today is converted via a coefficient into points. Two rounds of team jumping then follow, with the top 10 teams from Thursday’s (19 August) competition progressing to Friday’s (21 August) medal-deciding final. The top 60 individual riders also compete.

At the end of the opening day, Great Britain is in fourth with a score of 4.98.

World Showjumping Championships: day one results

Top five team standings:

1. Germany 3.48
2. Belgium 3.69
3. USA 4.85
4. Great Britain 4.98
5. France 4.99

The top five individual standings:

1. Julien Epaillard (FRA) and Fringan De Vesquerie 0
2. Harrie Smolders (NED) and Mr Tac 0.68
3. Scott Brash (GBR) and Hello Mango 0.80
4. Sophie Hinners (GER) and Iron Dames Singclair 0.84
5. Steve Guerdat (SUI) and Dynamix De Belheme 0.86

Ben Maher and Point Break are currently eighth on 1.01. Harry Charles and LT Holst Freda are 44th on 3.17 and Adrian Whiteway and Chacco Volo are lying 87th on 6.46.

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Fast Frenchman Julien Epaillard leads the showjumping World Championships results after the speed leg in Aachen today.

Riding the 11-year-old chestnut Fringan De Vesquerie, Julien whisked round the course more than a second quicker than the next clear round to take the early advantage.

“I’m getting slower every day and younger riders are getting faster!” said the 49-year-old, who put his speed down to working on communication with his horses so they respond to his body movements.

Julien said this horse is relatively inexperienced and he is focusing very much on the team result first, with France sitting fifth at this stage.

“My horse has a lot of blood. He’s very focused on the surroundings, so it’s not always easy to have him focus on the fences and to use his energy with me,” he said.

“He has a lot of personality, but it’s why he’s a super horse – because he is very curious, looking for everything, and it’s really nice to work him every day. Every day is different.”

Julien said although his round was smooth, the stride patterns didn’t quite work out as he expected over Frank Rothenberger’s track.

He explained: “I planned to do nine to the wall at fence seven and eight after to the oxer, but the five strides to the oxer before the wall were very long. I had to put on a lot of pressure, so I felt my horse really open up. So after that I decided to change my plan and collect a little bit for the wall and for the oxer before the double of verticals.”

Today’s track was the easiest we can expect to see this week on the jumping side and there were more than 50 clear rounds from a whopping start list of 145. Jumping penalties were converted to seconds to give the results.

As the leader, Julien now sits on zero, with the difference between his time and that of each rider behind him halved to give each rider a score to carry forward into tomorrow’s competition.

Harrie Smolders holds second, on Mr. Tac, and is best-placed of the Dutch team in sixth.

“Mr. Tac did exactly what we were thinking according to the plan – we had three solid rounds for the team by the time I went in, so I could take a bit more risk,” he said.

“Mr Tac was also here in May, to practise, but now he was more confident in the ring. He stayed more on the track and had a very solid, smooth round.”

Harrie added that the Dutch are in a rebuilding phase and have struggled with horsepower this year. Their first aim is to qualify for Friday night’s team final, by being in the top 10 teams, and their second to gain an Olympic ticket, on offer to the top seven teams here excluding the USA, who qualify automatically as hosts.

Britain’s Scott Brash sits third individually and leads the British team to the fourth position at this early stage.

World Championships speed leg results: Germany lead

Germany lead the team standings, with Sophie Hinners fourth individually on Iron Dames Singclair.

“We know that his stride is not the biggest, so we really used our route and turns to do the right thing without over rushing him,” said Sophie.

“He was also so focused. I know sometimes the left turns can be a little bit more difficult and the last line went to the left away from the in gate. I saw some horses slipping there already and he stayed so calm and focused – I was so happy how he did that today. So I was really proud of him.”

Belgium hold second, led by Nicola Philippaerts in eighth on Katanga Van Het Dingeshof.

The USA currently sit in bronze position as a team, their effort spearheaded by pathfinder Laura Kraut on Paris 2024 team silver medallist Baloutinue in 11th.

“I’m just thrilled. I think it was hard to go sixth – I’d wanted to go early, but not that early,” she said. ”My horse was just brilliant. He just answered every question perfectly. He knew why he was in there.

“I couldn't have asked more of him and I’m really excited that I get to enjoy the rest of the day now,” added Laura, who swapped in her Olympic medallist when intended ride Bisquetta suffered a “tiny injury”.

“She’s 12 years old and has a lot of front of her. This is going to be a difficult week and I thought I’m better to conserve and take care of her 100%. I’m one of the luckiest people in the world because I don’t think many people have a back-up that’s as strong as Baloutinue. So it was an easy decision to look after her and bring him in.”

Faults for big names

A number of big names had fences down today, putting them on the back foot as they move forward through this championship.

Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam sits 26th on James Kann Cruz, who had down the oxer into the blue double at fence 12. His time would have put him in second without the rolled pole. Shane had to contend with riding at the end of the day when it was raining heavily.

“Conditions obviously were a little bit harder, but I was in around the time I wanted to be. It was just a cheap rail coming home cost us a little bit, but he jumped really well,” he said.

“I tried to stay tight in the turn back to that double, so maybe he didn’t get a good view. But that’s the thing with speed classes and it was a very slight touch – but touched the wrong way.”

The Irish team share seventh with Italy, counting scores from Bertram Allen (18th on Qonquest De Rigo), Shane (26th) and Darragh Kenny (50th on Eddy Blue).

Germany’s European champion and title favourite Richard Vogel had the upright at fence 11 down with United Touch S.

He explained: “I am quite disappointed with myself. I should have done five strides from that oxer to the vertical and I added up on six. I was just way too deep on that vertical and I gave my horse no chance to clear it. So it was quite disappointing from my side, but nevertheless, he jumped incredibly.”

While Steve Guerdat sits fifth for Switzerland on Dynamix De Belheme, his compatriot Martin Fuchs and Conner Jei took the back rail off the oxer into the white, green and red double at fence 3a.

“I probably went a little bit too much out and gave him too much space there [so he was too far from the fence], and he didn't really understand what I was asking from him,” said Martin.

“After that, I had to ride quite forward and then he was fantastic in the second half of the course – really in front of me, really pulling and going and playing with me.

“It’s always difficult the first day. So my tactic was to to have a nice, fluent, quick round, which obviously I changed after the big mistake I had at 3a. Then I just tried to play it more safe and didn’t leave out strides.

“Obviously, I would have wished for a better start, but there are many days to come and it’s not a catastrophic result.”

Switzerland hold 13th at this stage.

All teams and individuals jump again tomorrow (Thursday), with the top 10 teams and the top 60 individuals progressing to Friday’s team final.

World Championships speed leg results

Individual

1. Julien Epaillard (FRA) on Fringan De Vesquerie 0
2. Harrie Smolders (NED) on Mr. Tac 0.68
3. Scott Brash (GBR) on Hello Mango 0.8
4. Sophie Hinners (GER) on Iron Dames Singclair 0.84
5=. Steve Guerdat (SUI) on Dynamix De Belheme 0.86
5=. Daniel Deusser (GER) on Otello De Guldenboom 0.86
7. Mark Bluman (ISR) on Landon De Nyze 0.95
8. Ben Maher (GBR) on Point Break 1.01

Full results

Team

1. Germany (Marcus Ehning, Sophie Hinners, Daniel Deusser, Richard Vogel) 3.48
2. Belgium (Abdel Saïd, Pieter Devos, Nicola Phillippaerts, Thibeau Spits) 3.69
3. USA (Laura Kraut, McLain Ward, Lillie Keenan, Katie Dinan) 4.85
4. Great Britain (Ben Maher, Harry Charles, Scott Brash, Adrian Whiteway) 4.98
5. France (Nina Mallevaey, Olivier Perreau, Antoine Ermann, Julien Epaillard) 4.99
6. Netherlands (Michael Greeve, Bas Moerings, Willem Greve, Harrie Smolders) 5.08
7=. Italy (Emanuele Camilli, Giacomo Casadei, Giulia Martinengo Marquet, Piergiorgio Bucci) 7.69
7=. Ireland (Darragh Kenny, Bertram Allen, Cian O’Connor, Shane Sweetnam) 7.69

Full results

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Scott Brash got his showjumping World Championships campaign off to an incredible start in the team and individual qualifier, finishing third on the opening day.

The first competition is a speed round; knocked poles add four seconds to the clock. Faults are not given for refusals, but time mounts up as combinations re-present after a stop.

Scott was the third Brit to tackle Frank Rothenberger’s 13-fence track and he soared straight to the top of the leaderboard with Hello Mango during the third session of the day.

The Scotsman’s clear round looked effortless with the talented 11-year-old grey mare, who is making her championship debut at the Aachen World Championships. Mango was looking for the fences the whole way round and they stopped the clock on 72.19sec, nine hundredths of a second faster than Germany’s Sophie Hinners and Iron Dames Singclair, who had taken an early lead.

Scott said he was “delighted” following his round.

“Mango’s been fantastic, she jumped phenomenal and answered every question. I’m super happy to get a round under our belt,” he said.

It’s a tricky balance of getting a quick round on the first day, but not taking too much risk – a task Scott nailed perfectly.

“You’ve still got to ride the plan that you think is suitable for your horse. You can’t do something that your horse is not capable of, you’ve got to just stay focused on that round, not get too caught up in what everyone else is doing,” he said.

“But we've been working Mango towards this championship for a long time, and I’ve always thought she’s a championship horse, so it was always going to be trying to put in a quick round on day one. It’s nice to get it done and be up amongst the leaders.”

Scott has rated Mango since he started riding her four years ago.

“When I sat on her as a seven-year-old I thought she had the ingredients to be a championship horse. We’ve taken our time and produced her slowly,” he said.

“I think she has all the attributes to win anything. Maybe a year or two ago she wouldn’t have been able to do this quick round and still stay calm, she's a sharp mare, but now she has the experience.

“She’s just developed into a really cool horse. I can go quick and stay in control and do what I need to do to give her the best possible chance of jumping clear. So that’s a great feeling. She’s super smart; she has everything that I think you need to win a championship.”

Scott is under no illusion that there is still plenty to do over the week.

“Obviously it’s just good to get day one done and feel that she’s in great shape and jumping well. There’s a lot of jumping to go,” he said.

“There’ll be a lot of difficult questions to be answered along the week, but it’s nice to be up amongst the first few, and we’ve got a chance after day one. That’s all you can ask for. I’ll just keep trying to make the right plan for her, and I’m sure she’ll keep jumping at her best.”

As the fourth final session concluded this afternoon Scott and Mango finished the day in third place. Harrie Smolders and Mr Tac sat second on 71.96sec, and the flying Frenchman Julien Epaillard and Fringan De Vesquerie led on 70.60sec.

Each rider’s score from today is converted via a coefficient into points. Two rounds of team jumping then follow, with the top 10 teams from Thursday’s (19 August) competition progressing to Friday’s (21 August) medal-deciding final. The top 60 individual riders also compete.

Sunday’s (23 August) individual final consists of two rounds, the first for the 25 best placed horses and riders after the first three legs of competition, with the top 12 then qualifying for the medal-deciding round two.

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Brazilian showjumper Yuri Mansur has withdrawn from this week’s World Showjumping Championships in Aachen after a dispute with the management team which, he said, “crossed every line regarding ethics, respect, and sportsmanship”.

The 47-year-old Netherlands-based rider and his 19-year-old gelding QH Alfons Santo Antonio were due to travel to the championships as part of Brazil’s five-man squad for the championships, which started today (19 August).

But on Sunday (16 August) the double Olympian discovered that he had been replaced as one of the four riders selected to compete.

“With the right conversation, the right explanation, I would not have liked that decision, but I would accept it,” Yuri told H&H. “The problem was that nobody told me.”

Yuri claims that on Saturday, he was told, unofficially, he had been selected as one of the four team riders set to jump in Aachen. But, in a meeting that night, the management team brought in a new combination that wasn’t included in the nation’s list of definite entries submitted on 27 July.

“In that moment, they broke the rules that they had created for everybody and changed something that had already been decided,” said Yuri, who says that he only found out by chance after “calling the trainer about something else”. “For me, that was the most disrespectful act someone did in all my career.”

According to Yuri, this incident was the culmination of a series of ongoing problems with the Brazilian management team, leading him to make the “difficult” decision to withdraw from the showjumping World Championships and no longer be available to represent Brazil in Nations Cup competitions.

“That was the last step in a process that has been really hard for me over the past 10 years - what happened on Sunday crossed all those limits,” Yuri told H&H. “I fought to do what I love and to represent my country because if there’s something that really honours me, it is to be Brazilian and to represent my country. But when, every time, you have to go against the things you believe in, the things you value, and see so many things that could - and should - be better, it is not easy.”

Yuri Mansur’s World Championships statement

In Yuri’s full statement posted on social media on 16 August, he claimed he has had “deplorable treatment” from the Brazilian management team, including being “blackmailed and mistreated”.

The statement reads: “After more than a decade since arriving in Europe and after a long period of my life dedicated to personal growth and to honoring and representing my country I faced the worst episode of this journey today. Not that these years have been easy, far from it. I’ve had to contend with so much incompetence, a lack of capable leadership, power struggles among the athletes themselves, a total lack of commitment to what truly matters, and an absence of unity or a winning mentality. Every year, the process and the result are the same: fighting, insults, deliberate lack of communication, a lack of honest rules and procedures, favoritism, and no results…”

The statement continues: “Of course, some of us have achieved remarkable and incredible results over the years, but as a team... it’s always the same story: “almost there”.

“I received the most deplorable treatment from this management team, the worst I have ever witnessed. I was blackmailed and mistreated. Yet, I pressed on and gave my all for this country.

“But the events of this Sunday, August 16, 2026, crossed every line regarding ethics, respect, and sportsmanship. That is why, with great sadness, I am announcing a difficult decision. As of today, I will no longer represent Brazil in championships or Nations Cups.

To all the athletes heading to the World Championship to represent Brazil, I sincerely wish you the best of luck. I’ll be rooting for you!

“As for this management team, I feel nothing but pity.”

Brazilian federation responds

In a statement aimed at “clarifying the circumstances surrounding the final team selection”, the Brazilian federation (CBH) said the final decision was made after the training camp and assessment of the combinations.

The statement said seven riders were initially named from whom the five-man Aachen squad would be named, in the standard practice the federation said was known to all parties from the start.

“The final team composition remained subject to the outcome of the training camp in Aachen from 11 to 16 August 2026, during which the rider-and-horse combinations were monitored and assessed by the technical staff,” the statement said.

“Until the final decision was made, any of the five combinations participating in the training camp could have been nominated to compete. Accordingly, no rider had been guaranteed a place on the competing team, nor had the reserve position been determined in advance.”

The statement said the final decision was made by international coach Franke Sloothaak and his team, “based exclusively on technical criteria and with the objective of identifying the team they considered best suited to represent Brazil at the World Championships”.

“The decision was particularly difficult given the high and closely matched technical standard of the riders involved,” it added.

“Following the communication of the proposed team composition, Yuri Mansur decided to leave the training centre. The CBH respects the athlete’s decision. As a result of his departure, it became necessary to call upon one of the riders previously identified as an alternate, and Pedro Muylaert was subsequently included in the Brazilian squad.

“The CBH emphasises that the athlete communicated his decision before the definitive nomination of the riders, a process formalised only after the official training session and team familiarisation in Aachen. Had Yuri Mansur chosen to remain, he would have continued as a member of the Brazilian delegation.

“Technical decisions are an inherent part of every sporting season, just as an athlete’s decision to pursue a different path is entirely legitimate. The CBH regrets the outcome, thanks Yuri Mansur for his successful career and contributions to the Brazilian team, and wishes him every success in this new stage of his career.

”The CBH, its technical staff and the entire delegation are now fully focused on Aachen and on the work currently under way. With confident athletes, a committed team and the strong support of Brazilian fans, the delegation looks forward to achieving excellent results for Brazil in the coming days of competition.”

The five combinations in Aachen representing Brazil are Stephan De Freitas Barcha (Chevaux Primavera Imperio Egipcio), Luciana Diniz (Vertigo Du Desert), Pedro Junqueira Muylaert (Gemme Villers), Marlon Modolo Zanotelli (Dorette OLD) and Rodrigo Pessoa (Major Tom).

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Harry Meade will be the first and last rider to compete at Defender Burghley Horse Trials (3-6 September) – and somewhere in between.

The draw has been made for the CCI5* and Harry, who has come third here for the past three years, will be eyeing a shot at his first title. He will go first with Superstition, 27th with Et Hop De Matz and last with Cavalier Crystal, last year’s podium finisher. He will be the 55th horse but wear number 56 as no Burghley rider is ever asked to carry the “unlucky” number 13.

Second to go will be US rider Caroline Pamukcu, making her Burghley debut with HSH Tolan King. Caroline is also number 53 with HSH Blake, whom she entered on Monday (17 August) as a re-route after the pair parted ways early on the cross-country at the World Championships.

Tim Price is drawn at number three with Global Quest and 55 with Falco. It will be interesting to see whether the 17-year-old starts, after he and Tim finished 21st individually at the worlds last week. Tim came sixth here last year with Vitali but this would be a first Burghley for both these horses.

2026 Burghley draw: medallists and rising stars

Two of Britain’s world team gold medallists are in the draw; individual bronze medallist Laura Collett will be number 47 with Bling, who finished 14th at Badminton this year, and Gemma Stevens brings her 2021 Bicton CCI5* winner Chilli Knight.

Tom Jackson, who came second here in 2022 with Capels Hollow Drift, is drawn sixth with Hawk Eye, who came 31st at Badminton this year. He is also number 52 with the up-and-coming 10-year-old United 36, who finished fourth at Badminton 2026, his first five-star.

Sarah Bullimore and home-bred Corimiro, who came fifth at Pau last year and 10th at Badminton 2026, are the favourites according to equestrian data analysis company EquiRatings. They start as number 34.

Caroline Powell, Burghley champion in 2010 with Lenamore, is drawn as number 24 with High Time, with whom she finished eighth here last year.

See the full draw.

Don’t miss our exclusive Burghley cross-country course-walk with Tina Cook in next week’s magazine (27 August) and full form guide in the 4 September edition.

To stay up to date with the latest equestrian news in the run-up to and throughout Burghley, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website