Tributes have been paid to one of the United States’ greatest event horses, Ballynoe Castle RM, following his death aged 21.

On 23 April, Buck Davidson announced that “Reggie” had died peacefully in his field at Buck’s farm in Ocala, Florida.

The Ramiro B gelding, owned by Carl and Cassandra Segal, was imported from Ireland in 2006 for Buck. Together they worked their way up to the top of the sport competing in almost 100 events, including Kentucky, Badminton and Burghley horse trials, as well as representing the US at the 2010 World Equestrian Games. Reggie has been top of the United States Eventing Association’s (USEA) High Point Historical Horse Leaderboard for the last six years, and was USEA horse of the year in 2011.

Buck, who was competing at Kentucky last weekend with two rides when he found out Reggie had died, told H&H the gelding had been in “great health” and was ridden by his long-term groom Kathleen Blauth the week before.

“He looked fantastic,” he said. “He was in a big field in Ocala with his friend My Boy Bobby, and he just lay down and went to sleep.

“I still remember when we got him, I was at an event in Georgia and Kathleen called me to say he had arrived and he was ‘so cute’, and from that day they were inseparable. She rode him down the aisle on her wedding day, her kids rode him, he was her best friend. The things Kathleen did for him, and me, made the story what it was.”

Buck described Reggie as an “amazing animal” who “never let me down”.

“He did well on the playing field, but he was also a people’s horse that helped the sport. I still see truck drivers who had shipped him to various places around the world that remember him. He was one of a kind,” he said.

“We had some great days at Kentucky, Burghley and Badminton – he always had the situation sussed out and operated accordingly. I’ve never had a horse that was smarter or tried harder.”

Buck and Reggie’s final event together was the 2016 USEA American Eventing Championships where they were fourth, and Kathleen went on to enjoy success with Reggie at training level events. He was officially retired at a ceremony at the 2017 Kentucky Three-Day Event, where Kathleen and Reggie performed the five-star dressage test as a test rider.

Article continued below…

Oliver Townend wins Kentucky on Ballaghmor Class: ‘It wasn’t the way I believed he’d do it, but we got there in the end’ *H&H Plus*

‘Truly one in a million’: Olympic eventer dies aged 34 after ‘idyllic’ retirement

“He had the most idyllic life any horse could ever wish for and will leave a massive hole in the

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“When Kentucky Horse Park said they wanted to hold his retirement and to get to see Kathleen do the test ride was amazing. He was magic that day, as he was every day,” said Buck.

“He’s just been a staple, he brought everybody happiness. If you rode with me and needed another horse to practise on, Reggie was always the one; Alexandra Knowles, Holly Jacks, Hawley Bennett – whoever was getting ready for Kentucky would practise their five-star test on Reggie.

“He was huge in my personal life, professional life, and will be missed. I can’t ever see that there will ever be another Reggie, what he’s done and the friendships that have developed and lasted because of him.”

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Brazilian showjumper Rodrigo Pessoa has received the 2010 Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Diploma for a “generous act of fair play” at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) last October.

The award was presented by the International Committee for Fair Play (CIFP) at the Beau-Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne yesterday evening (Thursday, 27 January).

But Mr Pessoa was not able to attend the ceremony as he is competing in Florida.

His award came after Mr Pessoa was one of the final four fighting for the individual gold at WEG.

The other challengers were Eric Lamaze of Canada, Belgium’s Philippe Lejeune, and the young Saudi rider Abdullah Sharbatly for whom competition at this level was a first.

Mr Sharbatly was riding Mr Pessoa’s horse Rebozza and asked the more experienced Brazilian for some guidance.

An FEI spokesman said: “Pessoa explained at length how to ride the horse, pointed out the most difficult fences, and gave his opponent advice on how to tackle the course.”

Mr Sharbatly went on to secure the silver medal, while Mr Pessoa finished in fourth.

His generous gesture was acknowledged by loud applause from the spectators in Kentucky.

Mr Pessoa is one of three 2010 Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Diploma recipients, the other two being Bulgarian judo player Yoana Damyanova and triathlete Raquel Mafra Rocha of Portugal.

Football player Amin Motavassel Zadeh from Iran, decathlete Darius Draudvila from Lithuania and Chinese wrestler Gao Feng were awarded the 2010 Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Trophy.

The FEI was also nominated for the 2010 Willi Daume World Fair Play Trophy for the promotion of fair play.

The FEI nomination was for the federation’s inclusion of Para-Equestrian Dressage as one of its disciplines.

The AIPS citation stated, “FEI is the only international federation which includes a special event for the disabled athlete in its World Championship Programme, one which is also of world class and where medals are presented.”

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Visitors to Olympia tonight (16 December) can cheer on the British Equestrian Team 2010 medal winners.

Olympia’s Thursday night audience will show their support for Team GB’s medal winners in eventing, dressage, vaulting and para-equestrian dressage from the Alltech World Equestrian Games (WEG).

Joining them will also be Team GB’s young riders including the European Eventing Pony Team, European Eventing Young Rider Team, and the European Showjumping Children on Horses Team.

Will Connell, World Class performance director said: “It has been a phenomenal year for our equestrian stars.

“Not only did Team GB manage 19 medals at WEG in Kentucky, but our young riders have also enjoyed great success in Europe.

“We should all be extremely proud of their achievements and there’s no better place than Olympia for everyone to celebrate their success.”

The medal parade will take place around 8:10pm on Thursday evening.

The full list of riders in the British Equestrian Team 2010 Medal Winners’ Parade are:

EVENTING

World eventing team: Tina Cook, William Fox-Pitt, Mary King, Nicola Wilson, Yogi Breisner (chef d’equip)

European eventing young rider team: Laura Collett, Emily Llewellyn, Tom McEwen, Emily Parker, Alex Colquhoun (chef d’equip)

European eventing pony team: Sophie Beaty, Alfie Bradstock, Sam Ecroyd, Grace Walker, Ginnie Keen (chef d’equip)

European eventing junior individual: Tim Rogers, Gill Watson

DRESSAGE

World dressage team: Laura Bechtolsheimer, Fiona Bigwood, Maria Eilberg, Carl Hester, Richard Waygood (chef d’equip)

World Para-Equestrian dressage individual/individual freestyle: Ricky Balshaw, Sophie Christiansen, Anne Dunham, Lee Pearson, Jo Pitt, Emma Sheardown, Sophie Wells, David Hunter (chef d’equipe)

SHOWJUMPING

European showjumping children on horses team: Millie Allen, Christie Pritchard, Katie Robertson, Jake Saywell, Corinne Bracken (chef d’equip)

Youth Olympic Games European showjumping team: Carian Scudamore

VAULTING

World vaulting individual female/open European vaulting Pas de Deux: Joanne Eccles, Hannah Eccles, John Eccles, Lucy Bell (chef d’equip)

For more information, go to www.olympiahorseshow.com

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Team GB fans will have a chance to applaud our triumphant World Equestrian Games (WEG) medallists next month, during a parade at Olympia, The London International Horse Show.

Just after 8pm on Thursday, 16 December, the eventing, dressage, para-equestrian dressage and vaulting teams and individuals who brought home 19 WEG medals between them will parade in the arena.

Team GB leader Will Connell said: “It’s been a phenomenal year for our equestrian stars — not only the senior teams.”

Joining the WEG medallists will be Team GB’s young riders, who have also enjoyed great success in Europe this year.

Dressage rider Laura Bechtolsheimer, who made history this autumn with her individual silver medals in the kür and special, said she is looking forward to the teams getting together again.

“It is always a great atmosphere at Olympia and it will be great to parade in front of a home crowd — which is always enthusiastic there,” she said. “It’ll let us relive the moment.”

The full list of riders currently planning to take part in the parade are:

World eventing team: Tina Cook, William Fox-Pitt, Mary King, Nicola Wilson, Yogi Breisner (Chef d’Equipe)

European eventing young rider team: Laura Collett, Emily Llewellyn, Tom McEwen, Emily Parker, Alex Colquhoun (Chef)

European eventing pony team: Sophie Beaty, Alfie Bradstock, Sam Ecroyd, Grace Walker, Ginnie Keen (Chef)

European eventing junior individual: Tim Rogers, Gill Watson (Chef)

World dressage team: Fiona Bigwood, Maria Eilberg, Carl Hester, Richard Waygood (Chef)

World para-equestrian dressage individuals: Ricky Balshaw, Sophie Christiansen, Anne Dunham, Lee Pearson, Jo Pitt, Emma Sheardown, Sophie Wells, David Hunter (Chef)

European showjumping children on horses team: Millie Allen, Christie Pritchard, Katie Robertson, Jake Saywell, Corinne Bracken (Chef),

Youth Olympic games showjumping team: Carian Scudamore

World vaulting individual female/open european vaulting pas de deux: Joanne Eccles, Hannah Eccles, John Eccles, Lucy Bell (Chef)

For tickets to Olympia call the box office on 0871 230 5574 or visit www.olympiahorseshow.com. Don’t miss our exclusive reader offer for Olympia tickets – find out more

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Buy a Hiho Team GBR bracelet and you could be in with a chance of winning some exclusive memorabilia from Britain’s fantastic achievements at this year’s World Equestrian Games (WEG).

This summer, jewellery company Hiho has been selling silver and leather “Team GBR bracelets” to raise money to help send Britain’s equestrian teams to WEG, in Kentucky.

Although the World Equestrian Games finished last month, the bracelets are still on sale. And every day for 19 consecutive days starting on 22 November, one lucky person who buys a bracelet online will receive their jewellery in a special box signed by a WEG medal-winning rider.

Team gold and individual silver eventing medallist William Fox-Pitt is one rider to sign a box.

He said: “This is a great idea with Christmas just round the corner, and a nice way to celebrate the team’s successes.”

With 20% of all sales proceeds going to Team GBR, the project has been a great success, says British Equestrian Federation (BEF) spokesman Anna Greenway. Over £7,000 has been raised so far.

Anna explained: “The project with HiHo was so well received [by the public] that we have decided to make it a long term partnership that will provide extra support for the teams.

“Any money raised is used to help the teams train and compete — including the non-Olympic teams who get no government funding.”

She added that new products are planned for the range, and that Somerset-based Hiho is “passionate about helping the sport”.

Bracelet prices start at £12 for a uni-sex leather bracelet, and £40 for a ladies silver bracelet.

• For full terms and conditions, and to place an order, visit www.hihosilver.co.uk

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Every dope test taken at the World Equestrian Games came back negative, the FEI confirmed last week.

No equine blood and urine samples taken from horses at the event in Kentucky (25 September-10 October) have come back as positive for banned substances.

“This is a great success for everyone involved in equestrian sport and is the best possible endorsement of the FEI’s clean sport campaign”, said FEI president Princess Haya.

“It also proves the value of the FEI’s educational programme, as athletes and their supporters now know to how to make a clear distinction between the use of routine, legitimate medication and deliberate doping to affect a horse’s performance.

“Everyone has a role to play in maintaining this clean record going forward.”

A total of 82 horses — almost 11% of the 752 horses competing at WEG — were tested. This includes all individual medal winners, one member of each medal winning team as well as random samples.

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The countries that qualified to compete at the 2012 Olympic Games thanks to their performances at the World Equestrian Games (25 September-10 October) have been announced by the FEI.

As hosts of the London Games, Team GB automatically qualifies for the three Olympic disciplines — dressage, showjumping and eventing.

Also qualified for dressage are The Netherlands, Germany and the USA.

In Eventing, Canada, New Zeland, the USA, Germany and Belgium are now qualified.

And Germany, France, Belgium, Brazil and Canada will compete in the showjumping competition.

The FEI has also announced the three nations that have qualified for the London 2012 Paralympic Games following their medal winning performances in Kentucky.

Eleven team slots are available for the London 2012 Paralympic Dressage events, with three nations qualifying from WEG.

The three teams that have now earned their tickets to London are Great Britain, Germany and Denmark.

If Great Britain had not qualified in Kentucky, as host nation for London 2012 they would have automatically taken one of the eight further places available, leaving just seven slots to be filled.

However, with Great Britain successfully qualifying last weekend, there are still another eight vacancies to be filled.

The list of other qualifying events will be published before 1 January 2011.

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Britain has topped the final medal table at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

British athletes won an extraordinary nine gold medals, seven silvers and three bronzes — 19 in total. Germany finishes second with 14 medals, five of them gold.

Sophie Wells was the final British athlete to add to the tally today, adding paradressage grade IV freestyle gold to her individual gold earlier in the week.

Australia made a late climb up the table today with Boyd Exell’s driving success, while the Netherlands strengthened its position with team gold and the USA added a team vaulting top spot to its two reining golds from the start of the Games.

H&H’s WEG microsite

Final reports from WEG in H&H out next week, 14 October issue.

FINAL WEG MEDAL TABLE

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British-based Australian driver Boyd Exell won his first world title today at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, rounding off his pillar-to-post victory with just 3.52 time-faults in the cones phase.

“When I walked the course I thought it was good for us,” he said. “Like the cross-country it was a touch easy so it was a good course to be in the lead on.”

Dutch driver Ijsbrand Chardon — whose carriage was vandalised before the marathon — took the silver, while America’s Tucker Johnson celebrated his retirement with his first individual medal, a bronze.

“I had a momentary lapse of concentration after I’d had the ball down at 17, but to be able to hold everything together and get the bronze as I come to the end of my career means everything to me,” he said.

The Netherlands confirmed their team gold, with the USA taking silver, but Sweden, having been third overnight, suffered a severe disappointment when Tomas Eriksson was eliminated for an error of course. As Sweden only had two team members — a driving team consists of two or three competitors, with two scores to count — they dropped completely out of the team standings.

Germany came through to take the bronze, led by Christoph Sandmann, fourth individually.

The cones phase was marred by problems with the timing equipment, which led to a delay of around an hour during the competition.

WEG driving results

Read more about the damage to Ijsbrand’s carriage, the delays during the cones and the rest of the driving competition in H&H out next week, 14 October.

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The home side came back from a poor performance in their first freestyle to clinch the vaulting team gold medal at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

The team lay third after Friday’s round, but scored the highest mark in today’s second freestyle round (8.779) — to take the top spot overall.

“Our freestyle theme is Romeo and Juliet,” said vaulter Rosalind Ross. “We hope to embody the essence of the play and show some of the characters, with myself as Juliet and Devon [Maitozo] as Romeo.”

Devon is the foundation of their team — the 35-year-old has been vaulting internationally for 20 years and also found their horse, Palatine. In addition he put together the music for the freestyle, using Prokofiev’s ballet and composing additions to bring the story to a modern audience.

Devon explained how the team (pictured) turned their fortunes around after Friday.

“We changed our focus,” he said. “The day before yesterday we were concentrating on details and it got a little overwhelming. Today we went into the arena feeling calm and grounded and were able to access the training we’ve put in over the past year together.

Lunger Carolyn Bland also contributed to the improved performance by changing Palatine’s warm-up to erase some tension he showed on Friday.

Germany took the team silver, with Austria in bronze.

The British team pulled a great freestyle performance out of the bag today to score 7.772 for seventh in this round and eighth overall.

“I’m thrilled to bits with them — there are some really good young girls in this group and we’ll be aiming for a medal in 2014,” said lunger Julie Newell.

WEG vaulting results

Full report on the vaulting from WEG — including Joanne Eccles’ gold medal — in H&H out next week, 14 October.

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So, the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games journey is almost over. Today’s our last day at the Kentucky Horse Park — concluding press conference, driving cones and team vaulting for me.

I’m not ready to go home. Yes, I’m looking forward to seeing friends and family, having more sleep and, come Saturday, a day off. But this has been an amazing experience and if my stamina could stand it, I could definitely go on. The incredible variety of sports means it would take a long time to get bored.

Someone worked out that our accreditations, letting us into every session of every sport, are worth about $3,000 (approx £2,000). No wonder they state they won’t replace them if you lose them “under any circumstances”. So what we’ve had isn’t quite a “money can’t buy experience” but almost — and I guess you can’t buy the backstage access to interview riders and so on.

During the second round of the team showjumping, when Mario Deslauriers jumped out of order and then had two down, I was wondering why he jumped late and why the horse wasn’t on the form of the day before. Then I realised I could go and ask Mario these questions and get the answers. What a privilege.

As we are the lucky ones who’ve been here, I hope we’ve lived up to the responsibility of conveying what WEG 2010 was like to those back home. I hope you’ve enjoyed our work — don’t forget to buy the magazine next week for the final reports (showjumping, paradressage, vaulting and driving) — and thank you for reading. On that note, it’s goodbye from me, with just a few final thoughts below.

Horses I most want to take home: showjumpers HBC Tamino (Marc Houtzager) and Chianto (John Pearce).

Most exciting: end of the team showjumping, eventing cross-country day, vaulting team freestyles.

I learnt: better appreciation of different types of equestrianism and lots of things about how they work, are scored and so on.

Useful skill acquired: setting up laptop and locking it to a desk in about 30sec flat.

Most embarrassing moment: getting confused in a press conference and asking someone how it felt to go last for their team. Turned out they hadn’t…

It’s silly, but I love: the fact the media village loos have fake marble on the walls and an automatic hand tissue dispenser.

Written: three magazine reports (plus two to write tonight), two news stories (plus one to write tonight, 15 blogs, 36 web stories (plus two to go).

Words written: 27,937 so far (approximately, I did word counts on the documents without accounting for late changes to website stories etc…), so topping 30,000 once finished tonight.

Disciplines seen: 7

Disciplines reported on: 4.5 and a little bit (endurance, eventing, vaulting and driving in full, team showjumping, plus one reining qualifying competition).

Best thing eaten/drunk: it’s a toss up, but I think it has to be the shared fish platter in Bonefish.

Worst thing eaten/drunk: tasting bourbon — I had to, we’re in Kentucky, but sorry, it’s just not for me.

Weirdest thing eaten/drunk: sweet potato stuffed with caramel and marshmallows alongside a steak.

Worst diet for a day: doughnut, nachos with plastic cheese, pizza, kettle corn. In my defence, I did wash it down with water…

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Belgium’s Philippe Le Jeune didn’t knock a single fence down on any of the four horses he rode in Kentucky tonight en route to becoming World Champion. The top four riders from last night’s individual qualifier each had to ride a slightly simplified but still challenging track on their own and each other’s horses.

Philippe had a fence in hand as he jumped the last round of the night riding Canadian Eric Lamaze’s Olympic champion Hickstead, who was the only horse not to take a single pole in the class either.

Philippe said: “I had a lot of fun riding the three other horses tonight. I wasn’t going to try and ride like Eric or Philippe, and just rode like I always do.”

The Kindom Of Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Al Sharbatly surprised many by making it into the final four for this competition; he surprised even more by ending up with the silver medal at this his first World Games.

Ironically, the only faults Abdullah incurred were those riding his own mare Selfana Di Campalto.

Olympic champion Eric Lamaze had four faults on Abdullah’s mare and four faults plus one time fault on Rodrigo Passoa’s ride HH Rebozo to finish with the bronze medal. He praised his own ride Hickstead, saying: “I think we already knew that Hickstead is the best horse in the world and tonight these guys got to see that for themselves.”

Rodrigo was the last to ride champion Philippe’s stallion Vigo D’Arsouilles and had two down which, added to the four faults on his own horse in the first round, put him out of medal contention.

For full report and pictures don’t miss Horse & Hound 14 October issue

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Lee Pearson and Joanne Eccles’s gold medals today mean that Britain still heads the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games medal table, with eight golds.

Germany is now second, after taking two paradressage golds today, with the Netherlands third.

Britain has one more chance to add another gold tomorrow, the final day of the games, in the paradressage grade IV freestyle. Britain’s Sophie Wells took the gold in that division earlier in the week.

The vaulting team medals are also decided tomorrow, but the British team is eighth at present so unlikely to collect a medal — Germany is the current leader in this contest. The team and individual driving competitions will also be concluded tomorrow, but there are no British competitors. Australian Boyd Exell leads individually overnight, with the Dutch team at the head of affairs.

MEDAL TABLE AT END OF SATURDAY, 9 OCTOBER

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Ijsbrand Chardon overcame adversity to triumph in the marathon phase of the driving at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games today.

The police are investigating after Ijsbrand’s carriage was vandalised last night — the seat cushions were slashed and there was also interference with the oil.

Fellow competitor Boyd Exell offered to lend Ijsbrand his carriage, as they use the same make, but Ijsbrand was able to get his into order, albeit with a delayed start time. The chef d’equipes all agreed that Ijsbrand could start at 2.10pm as the final driver of the day, rather than at his scheduled time of 1.20pm.

The Dutch driver then managed to record the fastest time in three of the eight obstacles, leaving him less than two points behind Australia’s Boyd Exell, who finished third on the marathon to keep top spot.

“It was a little like indoor driving,” said Boyd of tackling Richard Nicoll’s open, flowing course. “While going fast, you had to keep the carriage tight to the obstacles — going wide loses you time. My horses were machines, they just did it on their own.”

America’s Tucker Johnson has moved up from fourth equal overnight to take third, while team-mate Chester Weber suffered disappointment today when his right wheeler stepped into the right leader’s trace at obstacle seven, and he had to put a groom down, which is penalised as well as taking time. He dropped from second equal after dressage to 19th.

In the team standings, the Netherlands has pulled away from America while Sweden is in third.

WEG driving results

Log back on tomorrow for a final update on the driving at WEG, full report in H&H next week, out 14 October.

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Britain’s Joanne Eccles won the individual gold medal in the female individual vaulting competition at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games today.

Joanne received the second highest score in today’s final freestyle round with her Candle in the Wind routine, which was enough for her to secure the top spot having led after yesterday’s technical test (left).

“I’m a little stunned — I was pleased with my performance today, but the other girls are so strong,” she said after learning she had won. “It’s going to take a while to sink in.”

Joanne was lunged on WH Bentley by her father John, who also received a gold medal. This is Britain’s first ever WEG medal in vaulting.

Germans Antje Hill and Simone Wiegele took the silver and bronze medals.

After personal bests in the three earlier rounds, Britain’s other individual female, Lucy Phillips, finished her WEG journey with some disappointment after being unable to pull off her dismount. She finished 13th.

In the male final, Britain’s Ross Foreman finished on a high with the sixth best score in the freestyle round, which raised him to eighth place overall.

Switzerland’s Patric Looser’s spaceman routine kept him in the top spot overall in the male contest, even though France’s Nicolas Andreani actually received the best mark for today’s freestyle. Nicolas finished in the bronze position, behind the 2006 WEG champion, Germany’s Kai Vorberg.

Patric has been based with Kai for five years and said: “This is a strange feeling because Kai is my teacher, but I’m really satisfied with my performance.”

The vaulting team contest concludes tomorrow.

WEG vaulting results

Log back on tomorrow for a report on the final vaulting team round, full report in H&H next week, out 14 October.

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By scoring victory in the paradressage grade Ib freestyle today, Lee Pearson has become one of the two most decorated athletes at the games alongside the Netherlands’ dressage sensation Edward Gal.

Starting the week by helping Great Britain to team gold, Lee picked up the individual honours on Thursday and completed the hat-trick this afternoon.

Lee told H&H: “I’m pleased with my score but I have done better. He warmed up well but in the arena he could have been more helpful. Maybe I’m more critical than the judges.”

Lee needs to watch out though as Denmark’s 16-year-old superstar Stinna Tange Kaastrup was not far behind on her New Forest pony Labbenhus Snoevs. Stinna added freestyle silver to the individual bronze that helped her team onto the podium on Thursday.

Britain’s Ricky Balshaw didn’t have a chance to defend his position after winning silver in the individual. His ride Academy Award went lame during his freestyle and Ricky had to retire.

However Jo Pitt bettered her scores during the week riding Estralita to take bronze in the grade II freestyle.

Jo said: “He’s just got better and better all week and was easy to ride today. I’ve been working so hard for this and to get a mid-70% score at this level, well I’m very satisfied.”

For full report and results don’t mis H&H October 14 issue

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Last night’s showjumping individual qualifier was very exciting stuff. Sweden’s bad luck continued – Rolf-Goran Bengtsson was looking a dead cert to make the final four on Ninja La Silla till he rubbed a pole in the final round. This did however allow the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah Al Sharbatly to creep up the leader board and into tonights final, which is writer’s gold.

Abdullah is only 28. His enthusiasm for being in the final four with living legends like Rodrigo Pessoa even surpassed mine at being in Kentucky for H&H and getting to interview legends like Rodrigo Pessoa. And that’s saying something.

Abdullah has only had his mare, Seldana Di Campalto, for six weeks. He only brought her here to try and qualify for London 2012. Somehow, he’s found himself in the final. I say “somehow”, it’s taken more than Lady Luck in tune to score five clear rounds up to this point – even Rodrigo has had one fence down this week. What a coup if he made the medals tonight, where each of the top four has to jump each others’ horses… Can’t. Wait.

Robert Smith, who was reserve for the British team until Tina Fletcher’s Hallo Sailor was withdrawn with injury, ended up being best of the Brits with Talan. So that’s a quandary. We’re all geniuses with hindsight, but it’s not like they didn’t have form…

Robert didn’t contest the last round; he was out of contention for the last four and felt the horse had done enough. Having walked the course last night (yes, I did feel like a complete imposter), I was blown away by quite how enormous the fences are. To me, they look unjumpable – Robert says I should have seen Athens… Either way, they’re not something you’d jump for the fun of it – you’d certainly need to pay me, and prize-money was off the cards so it would seem sensible to save your horse.

Robert is off to Oslo next week with Talan and then on to more World Cup shows all over the shot. It’s a grueling program for the riders as much as the horses, I don’t know how they cope being away from home so often and for so long. Standing in that many queues for passport control is enough to make anyone crave cottage pie and Countryfile.

I for one am just about ready to go home. Kentucky has been an incredible experience – one I may never have the opportunity to repeat and one I’ll never forget. There’s so much I’ll miss, not least the permanent buzz of being at a championship competition, which is like valium for us equine enthusiasts.

Despite being a dressage aficionado for the past five years, being here has woken me up to the excitement and skill of every equestrian sport. Which is pretty tidy timing as on my return home I’m leaving my much loved dressage editor’s job at H&H and trotting 100yards across the office to be deputy editor at our monthly sister title Horse. This has been one hell of a swansong. Thank you very much, boss.

Oh dear, FEI TV commentator John Kyle has already told me off for using “pissing” rain and sparrow’s “fart” in my blog copy, and now I’ve gone and written “hell”. Bugger.

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I’ve been feeling neglectful of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games driving, having not seen much of the dressage phase. I intended to go and watch the Boyd Exell and Tucker Johnson — rumoured and indeed proved to be the best of yesterday’s runners — but their times clashed exactly with the Brits in the vaulting. Without a pair of wings, superhero vision or time travel, it wasn’t going to happen.

So, my kind boyfriend rigged up FEI TV on his computer last night in bed — it’s a romantic trip, this — so I could watch Thursday’s highlights show. On the plus side, this let me see day one’s joint-leaders Ijsbrand Chardon and Chester Weber’s tests in full and I now have a much better understanding of what’s involved, and why Chester said at the press conference he had a problem in the rein-back (the left wheeler wasn’t keen and stood up).

On the down side, I then dreamed I was driving — one small pony luckily, not a four-in-hand — through a house, trying to avoid china and photo frames. As Sarah Jenkins says, bear with us, we’ve been away from our shrinks too long.

I nearly had to blog again last night after I’d posted my effort earlier in the day. The team freestyles in the vaulting were so impressive I’ve run out of superlatives. Think of three people on a horse, perhaps with one person sitting backwards on the wither, supporting someone standing up, who is holding a little kid (the flyer) above their head, twirling them around with the ease of a cheerleader’s baton. Or perhaps that standing person isn’t being supported, if you really want to impress.

Just think for a minute about how brave you’d have to be to either be the person holding up the flyer, or to be the flyer. We’re probably talking about being 13ft up in the air (6ft of horse, 6ft of another person, plus a foot of their arms) on the back of a moving live animal.

This was really brought home to me when the South African team horse, Prize, became upset just as the lunger sent him out onto his circle. He tried to pull away, meaning the lunger had to dig in and hold him, reel him in and start again. He settled, thank goodness, but it takes some guts to stand up on that horse after seeing that.

I asked the British team if it wasn’t scary and they said maybe the first time you try something, but once you know how to do it, you’re just concentrating on what you are doing. And that the team spirit is amazing: “It’s brilliant all being able to hug each other when you come out, rather than just being on your own.”

Today, after the driving marathon, it’s back to individual vaulting. Yesterday, Joanne Eccles exchanged a high five with her father and lunger John after her technical test — she knew she’d nailed it to go back into the lead. Can she stay there today? Let’s hope so. I want to add another British gold to the medal table.

Log back on later for updates on vaulting and driving; full reports in H&H next week, 14 October.

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Four showjumpers from four different nations will fight it out tomorrow night in Kentucky for World Equestrian Games gold, silver and bronze. One is going to be very disappointed.

Philippe Le Jeune (BEL), Eric Lamaze (CAN), Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) and Abdullah Al Sharbatly (KSA), made up the top four in tonight’s two round qualifier, from which any faults were added to those accrued during the team competition. Tomorrow at 8:30pm (1:30am BST) these four will ride their own and each other’s horses round a shortened course to decide the World Champion.

Lamaze, Al Sharbatly and Le Jeune all posted double clears this evening, whereas Pessoa, who was in the lead coming into tonight’s competition after four clear rounds, had four faults over the first course on HH Rebozo.

Lamaze said he most looked forward to riding HH Rebozo tomorrow, just as Pessoa said he fancied jumping Lamaze’s ride Hickstead.

“He’s been such a successful horse with Eric and he looks a lot of fun,” said Pessoa.

Al Sharbatly, a newcomer to World Championship level, is the only rider whose horse has posted five clear rounds here.

He said: “I bought this horse for the next Olympics, my target here was just to qualify for 2012. But of course nobody comes to a World championship not wanting to win and we will see what happens tomorrow. I have a lot of respect for these three top riders and I think tomorrow will be a great competition.”

Robert Smith, the only British rider to finish in the top 30 of the team competition to reach the individual, had three fences down with his own and the Cornish’s Talan in the first round and opted not to contest the second.

“He’s done enough,” Robert told Horse & Hound. “We weren’t going to make the top four so there was no point jumping the final round, but I’m really pleased with how he’s gone throughout the games, he’s proved he’s a great horse.”

For more analysis from Robert Smith and the top four don’t miss Horse & Hound 14 October issue

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Emma Runge of the British vaulting team described the group as “ecstatic” after their freestyle today at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The team finished eighth in this round, retaining eighth place overall once the marks from Wednesday’s compulsory round were taken into account.

“It couldn’t have gone any better,” she said after their Latin/Salsa dance freestyle, which was performed in turquoise costumes and included music from Moulin Rouge and Zorro.

Plenty of people turned out for today’s team freestyle, and the crowd were enthusiastic about the incredible performances, in which up to three vaulters are on the horse at once.

“On the way in you hear people cheering, but once you’re up on the horse you just hear the music and think about what you are doing,” said Emma. “We’ve been to Aachen, which is great, but this is a whole different level. It’s daunting, but you know everyone is rooting for you.”

The team — consisting of Emma, Sarah Reid, Sara Shortland, Steph Hunter, Lydia Barham, Paige Brown and the youngest, 11-year-old Megan Bignell — have been working together for three years. Their horse is 17-year-old mare Go For Gold, lunged by Julie Newell.

“She’s been perfect — she’s enjoyed the atmosphere,” said Julie.

The American team, leaders after the compulsory test, suffered some disappointment today when they had to stop during their Romeo and Juliet themed-freestyle after a movement involving three vaulters came unstuck. Luckily, everyone appeared uninjured and they were able to complete their test. They finished third in the freestyle (8.102) and dropped to third overall.

The team from Germany came to the fore today, receiving 8.399 for their freestyle, which raised them from second after the compulsory round to the top spot. Austria scored 8.338 for the freestyle and lies second.

The 12 teams will all perform their freestyle again on Sunday, after which the team medals will be awarded.

WEG vaulting results

Log back on tomorrow to find out who wins the individual vaulting medals and on Sunday for the final team report. Full report on the vaulting at WEG in H&H next week, out 14 October.

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An all-British medal podium in the grade Ia paradressage freestyle today has strengthened Britain’s lead in the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games medal table.

Britain now has six golds — one for eventing and five for paradressage — while current runner-up the Netherlands has four.

Britain can confidently expect more golds in the other paradressage grades. Joanne Eccles also currently holds the lead in the female individual vaulting, which concludes tomorrow.

MEDAL TABLE AT END OF FRIDAY, 8 OCTOBER

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Boyd Exell has taken the lead at the end of the driving dressage at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The British-based Australian scored 30.08, putting him more than 5pen ahead of yesterday’s joint leaders, America’s Chester Weber and the Netherlands Ijsbrand Chardon.

“They are a relatively new team, being in their second season, but the big atmosphere suits them and me,” said Boyd. “This year the horses have been going on rails and I was a bit of a passenger in there. In places I was chuckling to myself because they were helping me so much.”

With Chester and Ijsbrand now second equal, there is also a tie for fourth place — and the Netherlands and America are equal first in the team competition, each boasting a competitor placed second and one placed fourth. With six judges, to have exact ties is a very unusual situation in driving competitions.

Today America’s Tucker Johnson equalled Dutch driver Theo Timmerman’s score of 40.19 from yesterday so they hold fourth place together.

“I was pleased for Chester yesterday and also impressed with Ijsbrand, who has a different style,” said Tucker. “I thought I’d be able to get a little closer to them, but I’m happy with the score I got and the performance.”

Tucker predicted that the open marathon course will lead to speedy times tomorrow: “I think we’re going to see some really fast driving — the hazards are challenging, but more open than we see sometimes. The challenge for me will be to drive fast without making a mistake.”

Boyd confirmed Isjbrand and Chester’s opinion that the most technical obstacle is the final one, number eight.

WEG driving results

Log back on tomorrow for an update on the marathon, full report on the driving from WEG in H&H next week, out 14 October.

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Emma Sheardown, one of Britain’s three grade Ia paradressage riders in Kentucky, improved on bronze in the individual for gold in the freestyle today.

Emma told H&H: “I’m just so happy. My horse was a little bit more free and forward today and the test felt amazing.”

Just behind Emma in silver was yesterday’s individual gold medallist Sophie Christiansen. Sophie, who like Emma has cerebreal palsy, said she felt “exhausted” today after three days of competition.

“[Rivaldo Of Berkeley has been amazing at this competition, we were both just a bit tired today,” said Sophie. “I’m so so happy for Emma, she did a better job today.”

Anne Dunham, a silver medallist yesterday, finished in bronze today to complete a British podium.

“I enjoy the music most of all and so does my horse,” said Anne. “This whole championship has been fantastic, I’m just so sad it’s coming to an end.”

Britain’s grade II and Ib riders compete tomorrow for freestyle medals.

Don’t miss Horse & Hound 14 October issue for full report and pictures from the World Equestrian Games

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Britain’s Joanne Eccles (pictured) tops the leader board in the female individual vaulting competition heading into the final tomorrow at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

Joanne received the best score — 8.435 — in today’s technical test to take back the lead after holding second overnight.

“I didn’t feel I performed at my best yesterday, so I went out there to enjoy the competition today,” said Joanne, who performed to Send in the Clowns and was dressed as a clown, in white with stripes of colour down her sides and big red, yellow and blue spots on her front.

Her graceful performance was only marred at the very end when she almost had to put a hand down as she dismounted from WH Bentley.

“Halfway through my shoe came off so it was half off, plus I was ahead of the music so I was waiting for the bell [which indicates time is almost up],” she explained. “I just didn’t bring my foot down quite quick enough, I think I was caught in the moment, but the score was still good.”

Germany’s Simone Wiegele, who led overnight, received only the 10th best mark today. She has slipped to third behind fellow German Antje Hill, who was the second highest-scorer in today’s technical test.

The individual vaulters perform in the freestyle final tomorrow, after which the medals are handed out, based on an average score across their four performances.

Joanne said: “The competitions been full of ups and downs and it could go any way. There are about seven girls who could come out on top, so my aim is to enjoy it and have a strong performance tomorrow.”

Britain’s second female vaulter through to this round, Lucy Phillips, was delighted after scoring another personal best, 7.463, having also surpassed herself in the compulsories and freestyle. She lies 13th.

“It’s a new theme and new music — I’ve only done it once in competition,” she said. “It’s the trailer from Avatar because I wanted to tell a story. I tried the theme tune, but it was a bit wishy-washy.”

Lucy revealed that she had got her turquoise outfit some two years ago for another theme, but the realised it fitted into this perfectly.

After the male technical test, Britain’s Ross Foreman lies 10th after scoring 6.608 today.

“I’m happy with the score — that’s only the third time I’ve done that technical test and it’s almost exactly the same score each time,” he said. “I came here to reach the top 10 and I’ve done that, I just need to stay there now. I’ve had a couple of slip-ups, but I can’t complain.”

Patric Looser retains the lead for Switzerland in this class, with German 2006 WEG champion Kai Vorberg second.

WEG vaulting results

Log back on later for an update on the team vaulting and tomorrow to find out who wins the individual medals. Full report in H&H next week, 14 October.

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One of my favourite things at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games is the fact each competition area has a “kiss and cry area”. It’s a brilliant name. This is somewhere your supporters stand while you are performing, so that the cameras can catch every gasp and back seat driver kick. Here at the vaulting, the vaulters themselves have to go there after their test, watch the next one, and then have their reaction recorded when their score is announced.

Britain’s Lucy Phillips was the best yesterday, giving a huge grin when she learnt she had scored over eight for the first time ever for her freestyle. She joins Joanne Eccles in the female individual technical test later this afternoon, Britain’s individual male Ross Foreman having just performed.

Talking of crying, I keep hearing about tears down at the paradressage yesterday. It seems riders, supporters, spectators, press and press officers were all joining in — and who can blame them when you hear the inspirational stories about what these riders go through. Sometimes daily life is a real challenge, and yet they don’t complain, but come back fighting time and again to compete on the world stage.

You hear great stories in the able-bodied sports too. Apparently the Australian showjumper Chris Chugg’s mount Vivant has made a comeback from a broken pelvis — something about his wife tying him to a tree outside her office so she could keep an eye on him while he recuperated? Oh yes, and Chris likes to do a pirouette to celebrate before leaving the arena when he jumps well.

The driving has started here at WEG too and it’s the marathon tomorrow after two days of dressage. It’s scheduled like a ridden three-day event so tomorrow is effectively cross-country day, when the drivers will take on a series of obstacles around the Kentucky Horse Park. There’s no such thing as a clear inside the time — drivers receive penalties for the time taken in each obstacle, so the aim is to be as fast as possible and “win” each obstacle.

One of the obstacles is in the same water as the Land Between The Lakes cross-country fence, but there’s been a whole re-styling there since last Saturday — the island with the jump back into the water has gone and there are lots of big posts in it for the “gates” the drivers have to negotiate (above left).

In an attempt to gain the whole American experience, we headed out for breakfast this morning at a Waffle House. I got a trifle confused by the many choices offered by the menu — I had to ask the waitress to explain all the different ways I could have my eggs, and then I thought I was getting my eggs with a waffle. But it turned out they came with toast and hash browns, and I got the waffle on another plate, ready to be covered in maple syrup. I ended up with rather more food than I expected (above right) — I didn’t find it a huge problem, but I don’t think I need any lunch either…

Reports on vaulting, paradressage and driving at WEG in H&H next week, out 14 October.

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People have mentioned that eventing editor Pippa Roome and I are opening up too much in our blogs. Humour us, we’ve been away from our shrinks for two whole weeks now and this is like therapy.

On top of which, yesterday was emotional; there’s no two ways about it. The paradressage team event reached a conclusion, featuring performances that humbled and motivated us all. But fear not, I’ll endeavour to keep my schmaltz under control.

Stinna Tange Kaastrup is a friendly, pretty, eloquent 16-year-old Dane. She is an accomplished rider and, despite only just being old enough to represent her country at a world games, yesterday she took the paradressage grade Ia bronze medal. What is more, her score was enough to put Denmark ahead of the Netherlands and on to the team medal podium, too. All this and Stinna actually has no legs.

There’s achievement, and then there’s achievement against the odds, and then there’s this kind of achievement, which appears impossible. Stinna was overwhelmed when her score came through, her compatriots applauded her and she cried, and her brother cried, and if you’d been there you’d have cried, too.

Everyone present was in awe of this teenager’s bravery, ambition and talent. But in addition, I got to thinking again how much other riders could learn from Stinna. What excuse has anyone got for nagging their horse with their aids, or not being able to get him infront of their leg? If riders with little or no strength can produce an accurate dressage test on a horse working forward into a soft contact in a correct outline, those without disability have no excuse for resorting to strength when they are not getting the response they’re after.

If you ever have a chance to go and watch a paradressage championships, I’d say take it. Not out of sympathy, I’m not a worthy sort; on the contrary, in an entirely self-interested way. There’s not a horseman who couldn’t learn something from these uber-talented riders to their benefit.

We’ve only got three days left here in Kentucky, which is looking stunning with its autumnal leaves under clear skies. The driving marathon tomorrow is going to be a picture. The sun is toasty, which might make their challenge harder, but is a huge relief to me as I’ve run out of clean warm clothes so am back in dresses. Here’s to making the most of it (ie turning a nice shade of lobster).

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Britain’s success in paradressage today means it now tops the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games medal table.

Britain now has five gold medals — one team and three individual in paradressage and one in eventing — to the Netherlands’ four.

MEDAL TABLE AT END OF THURSDAY, 7 OCTOBER

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Britain’s paradressage team remains unbeaten in international competition, taking gold at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.

Lee Pearson (Ib), Anne Dunham (Ia) and Sophie Christiansen (Ia) all scored over 70% to secure the team victory, Lee and Sophie taking individual gold in their grades in the process and Anne silver.

Team member Jo Pitt’s was eventually the drop score with Estralita, but had any of the other riders had disastrous rides Jo’s plus-66% score would still have been enough to secure team gold – such was the supremacy of the other riders.

Sophie was reduced to tears following the announcement of her 76.1% score.

“It’s the most amazing feeling, it’s such a relief,” she said. “I was incredibly nervous this morning; we’re under so much pressure as there’s huge expectation for Britain to keep on winning paradressage gold medals. I was exhausted and just so happy to have done well and to get that score for the team.”

Lee was hoping for more power today from Gentleman and improved his score by three per cent on the team test with 76.435%.

“I’m competitive,” he said, “I knew Anne and Sophie had already done enough to secure the team gold, but I still wanted to file the best score.”

With fellow Brit and good friend Ricky Balshaw snapping at his heals in the grade Ib, Lee couldn’t afford complacency.

Ricky pulled off a 72.870% mark riding Academy Award, which was good enough for the silver medal.

He said: “’Oscar’ went airborn in the warm-up right before my test, but in the arena he was fantastic. That was his first test here [having been held at the first trot-up they could not complete a warm-up test] so I couldn’t be happier with him.”

Sophie and Anne were joined on the podium in the grade Ia by teammate Emma Sheardown (Purdy’s Dream) in bronze, contesting her first World Games.

Emma rode a faultless test for 71.700% and said: “I’m really happy with my horse, he felt nice and fluent. I never thought that I would make it to a World Games, let alone on to the podium.”

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Britain’s Joanne Eccles (pictured) is in second after the freestyle round in the individual female vaulting at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

Joanne performed her freestyle to Elton John’s Candle In The Wind, dressed all in gold. She has used this programme about six times internationally this year.

“I missed out one of the really difficult movements today because when I stood up I wasn’t as stable as normal, maybe because it was my first time in this arena doing my freestyle,” she said.

Nevertheless, Joanne scored 8.39, the fourth best mark awarded in her class today and enough to leave her in silver position when combined with her leading score from yesterday’s compulsory round.

The top 15 vaulters after today go through to the next round. The final consists of a technical test tomorrow afternoon, plus a freestyle on Saturday, after which the medals are awarded.

Lucy Phillips also made the cut for Britain, finishing the round in 12th place after breaking the eight-barrier for the first time with her freestyle, performed to Evanescence’s Bring Me To Life.

“I think it was my mental focus [that helped me do a personal best] — I’ve been doing loads of psychology,” she said. “Before I went I felt a little bit nervous but I was thinking, ‘I want to do it’. I didn’t think of anything bad happening.

“I like this music because it lets me show the two sides of vaulting, I like to be graceful at the start then I can show my strength when the beat kicks in.”

Britain’s third female vaulter, Joanne’s sister Hannah Eccles, just missed out on qualifying for the next round after finishing 16th. She said her routine — performed for the first time to the theme tune from the film I, Robot — was a bit messy today.

Germany’s Simone Wiegele has taken the lead in the female contest, just 0.07 ahead of Joanne.

Ross Foreman through to male final

Britan’s male individual Ross Foreman was stunned to have moved up two places after slipping off his horse, Master Key, in his second move, a side stand.

“I made up a freestyle as I went along,” said Ross, who was dressed as the Joker from Batman. “I think the judges thought that was the plan — I kept smiling, so they were none the wiser.”

Ross now lies ninth so is qualified for the next round, while Switzerland’s Patric Looser has risen two places to head the male competition at this stage.

As well as the individual technical test, tomorrow’s vaulting programme also includes the second round of the team contest, the freestyle.

WEG vaulting results

Log back on tomorrow for more updates on the vaulting. Full report in H&H out 14 October.

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There were few surprises at the top of the leader board after the first day of dressage in the driving at Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The Dutch 2008 world champion Ijsbrand Chardon shares top spot with the silver medallist from that event, the USA’s Chester Weber (pictured), both having scored 35.97.

“My horses woke up in that stadium with the good crowd of spectators and I was happy with the way they moved in there,” said Chester, who is driving an experienced team of three 13-year-olds and a 10-year-old. “If I had a disappointment it was that a problem in the back probably cost me the necessary marks to be in the lead.”

Ijsbrand has a seven-year-old, Whooper, in his team alongside seasoned horses, and was also happy with his efforts, apart from a little mistake in the walk. He predicted that marathon day on Saturday will be influential and the drivers say the final obstacle is particularly tricky.

The Netherlands’ Theo Timmerman is third, having scored 40.19 with his young team — the oldest horse is nine. This means the Netherlands leads in the team standings, with the USA in second, but Chester today said that his team-mate Tucker Johnson, who will do his dressage tomorrow, has been performing a better test than him in practice so that bodes well for the home side.

The driving is the smallest competition at WEG with 25 individuals and seven teams competing. Only three teams are fielding a full three-driver team — the other teams consist of two drivers so will have no discard score. Britain did not send any drivers due to the cost and lack of funding.

The 2008 bronze medallist, British-based Australian Boyd Exell, is also expected to put in a good score tomorrow.

WEG driving results

Log back on for updates on the driving at WEG, full report in H&H out 14 October.

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Sophie Wells, a fellow reining fan as I mentioned yesterday, was down at the indoor arena at sparrow’s fart this morning to watch paradressage teammate Jo Pitt in the grade II individual test. Incidentally, where were all the other British supporters? There was a distinct lack of British Dressage/British Equestrian Federation presence, yet I know there’s a fair few of them here… If you want to share in the medal glory, share in the early mornings I say.

Anyway, Sophie’s got the cowboy boots now, and was wearing them fetchingly over her cow pyjamas, completing the look with her Stetson. She wasn’t keen for me to take her photo for this blog in said outfit, mind…

She is, however, someone who understands the importance of the media and publicity. Winnie Murphy, press officer for all the British riders, was of course watching Jo’s test. She has worked harder through longer hours than anyone I’ve seen here in any capacity. She then drove Sophie, still wearing the pyjama ensemble, up to the press office for an impromptu radio interview. Of course Sophie was sleepy, she was busy winning individual grade IV gold yesterday, and rightly celebrating into the small hours. She wasn’t expecting an interview request, either – but she happily got on with it. Star.

Less can be said for others in the sport. An interview might be the last thing an athlete feels like doing, particularly after a bad ride, match, whatever. But they are sportsmen, they’re in a competition.

Competition doesn’t mean having lots of money to spend getting yourself and your smart horse to a fabulous facility like Kentucky Horse Park to ride with the best in the world just so that you can tell your friends about it. Competition doesn’t exist without an audience beyond your personal fan club. And an audience beyond those sitting in the stands, too.

Sure, I’m a writer, I would say that, but it astounds me when riders refuse to talk to the press. The people who spend their hard earned cash coming to watch these events are the ones who create sponsors without whom there would be no event, let alone any prize money. They deserve to hear from their heroes. Likewise, the publications that provide them with a shop-window to create clients and gain personal sponsors deserve more than the reaction you’d expect from a spoilt toddler who just lost the egg and spoon race. Man up people and have something to say, ultimately it’s for your own benefit as well as the sports’.

Thank goodness for the managers who insist on this kind of professionalism, and for the riders smart enough to ignore the managers who don’t. Kudos to them – we certainly appreciate it, and your fans do, too.

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Sophie Wells’ paradressage gold yesterday means Britain retains third place in the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games medal table.

The Netherlands keeps top spot, adding a paradressage gold this morning in grade II to its tally. Germany’s gold in the paradressage grade III — which Britain did not have a rider in — plus its showjumping victory means it has risen from fifth to second behind the Netherlands, with the host nation dropping to fourth.

With more para medals being awarded later today, the medal table is likely to change again by tomorrow morning.

MEDAL TABLE AT LUNCHTIME ON THURSDAY 7 OCTOBER

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There’s something about the evening contests under lights here at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games that makes my heart beat a little faster. After last week’s dressage freestyle, yesterday evening was the showjumping team final.

I was nipping up and down, watching each Brit and then going to the mixed zone to speak to them. Then I’d shoot back up into the stands to watch the final riders in each rotation — the top-placed ones — and the next Brit, then back to the mixed zone. Luckily, all this kept me warm — poor Sarah Jenkins, my colleague, was shivering in the stands keeping score for me while I was interviewing.

After I’d spoken to final Brit Michael Whitaker, the battle for the bronze and silver medals was incredibly close — Germany had the gold stitched up — so I didn’t want to miss a thing going back to the stands. So I stayed in the mixed zone for the final riders, watching on the television in a tiny tent.

But I didn’t feel like I was missing out on the tension at all. Shoulder to shoulder with journalists of every nationality, with a few riders alongside us and the television crews interviewing behind (right), the atmosphere was crackling, like, well… Rice Crispies? (snap, crackle and pop…).

Although as eventing editor I don’t think there’s much to beat the final moments of a three-day event for nerve-racking, I have to admit, this was just as exciting. I’ll definitely be badgering showjumping editor Jennifer Donald for some showjumping gigs next year.

With the showjumping team competition finished — I spent this morning writing my magazine report, fuelled by leftover macademia nut brownie, eaten with a straw, the only “cutlery” available in my hotel room — I’m relinquishing that discipline to Sarah for the individual contest. But I’ll definitely be watching on Saturday night when the top four riders all swap horses in the final — I wouldn’t miss that.

Meanwhile, it’s driving and vaulting for me today and tomorrow. Sadly, they’re over a mile apart at opposite ends of the park, so I’ve decided to prioritise watching vaulting today — with our Joanne Eccles leading the female individual and no Brits in the driving that seems only right — but I’ll be “nipping” back (can you “nip” a mile?) in the middle to catch the driving press conference.

The vaulting freestyles today are amazing to watch, combining dance, gym and horsesport, and with tremendous skill involved. Hannah Eccles — Joanne’s sister — just cartwheeled along WH Bentley’s back. As someone who was thrown out of gym class with no horse involved, I’m frankly gobsmacked.

Lastly, I have to mention that even the arena rakers in vaulting do it in sync. Do you think they auditioned their volunteers for that job?

Log back on through the week for more updates on the vaulting and driving. Full reports in H&H, out 14 October.

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Germany secured the showjumping team gold tonight at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, adding nothing to their team score with three clear rounds, while Britain’s riders had mixed fortunes.

Germany had led overnight, and when her first two riders, Janne-Friederike Meyer and Carsten-Otto Nagel, both went clear, they only needed either Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum or Marcus Ehning to be fault-free for victory. Meredith, in the third rider slot, secured the winning round on Checkmate.

“It’s a great honour to be the third member and be able to secure the gold without our last rider going and I’m very proud,” she said. “I’m pleased to have done it on Checkmate as he’s always been in Shutterfly’s shadow.”

After his two clears earlier in the week, Britain’s Robert Smith suffered the disappointment of two rails down on Talan, but he has made it through to the next round of the individual contest as he is 29th and the top 30 go through.

The next Brit into the Rolex Stadium, David McPherson, had fence four down, and then the first part of the tricky treble at five. With the young Chamberlain Z clearly wrong-footed, he pulled him out of the third element and when he also had the triple bar at seven down he retired — although the scoreboard showed him as eliminated, he didn’t look to have presented at fence eight.

Third Brit Scott Brash just had the last part of the treble down on Intertoy Z: “The combination’s a bit tight for him and I sat up a bit early, I just needed a bit more leg on coming off the ground. But the horse was brilliant and he’s come on a lot this week.”

Michael Whitaker rounded things off in fine style with just one time-fault on GIG Amai.

“He’s learnt every time he’s gone in and he tried very hard in there; he was perfect,” aid Michael. “This week’s brought my horse on no end and all in all the team’s done as well as we expected.”

Michael thought he had done enough to make the cut for the individual qualifier, but has just missed out in 33rd.

The Americans had a disastrous night after going into the evening in bronze position and ended up 10th, with Britain ahead of them in ninth.

Meanwhile France and Belgium climbed up through the order from fifth and eighth overnight to take the team silver and bronze medals.

The next round of the individual showjumping contest takes place on Friday night, when the top 30 riders fight for a place in Saturday night’s final, where the four leading riders swap horses and all jump a round on each other’s mounts.

Showjumping results from WEG

Full report on the showjumping from WEG in H&H out 14 October, more updates on the individual contest online later in the week.

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Britain’s Joanne Eccles (pictured) has taken the lead after the female individual compulsory test, the first round of the vaulting at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

Joanne, the reigning European champion, scored 8.157 — the only competitor in her class to score over eight. She was lunged by her father John on the family horse, WH Bentley.

“It was one of the best compulsories I’ve done this year,” she said. “There’ll be little things when I look back, but with the pressure, I’m happy. Compulsories are something I’ve been working on for a long time as it was my weakest part and I managed to show some of what I’ve been working.”

Joanne also commented that the footing in the Alltech Indoor Arena has improved since they practised on it earlier in the week: “The footing’s really settled and there’s more jump to it. The other day it was hard to jump out of but lovely to land in, now it’s harder it’s better for jumping out of — it’s good for us and for the horse.”

Joanne’s sister Hannah Eccles was also pleased after scoring 7.251, also on WH Bentley. She is in 16th place.

She said; “My score could have been slightly higher, but it’s good for me for compulsories, which are my weakest part — it can only get better now.”

Hannah commented on which movements she felt went well and which she could have improved: “The mount was better than I’ve done for a while, and the mill, but I’m annoyed because the stand is normally really good for me, but today I had a little wobble and the scissors could also have been a little higher.”

Britain’s third individual, Lucy Phillips, hoped to score over seven and achieved it with 7.58 on Pitucelli, lunged by Rebecca Morgan, for 13th at this stage.

“I think that was the best I’ve done in a while. The scissors felt really energetic and I’m really pleased with Pitu, my horse — it all came together in there,” she said.

Commenting on the high expectations of the British vaulters, Lucy said: “I think the pressure is good, it helps you get focused.”

Personal best for British male

Britain’s Ross Foreman scored a personal best for the compulsory test in the male individual competition. His mark of 7.041 puts him 11th at this stage, but Ross is confident he will move up the field in the freestyle tomorrow afternoon.

“I’m happy with how it went today — there were no slip-ups,” he said of his performance on Master Key, lunged by Rebecca Morgan. “I went to Aachen and that was a great WEG, but this is the best ever. There’s a massive crowd compared to the British national competitions, and it’s good to have been to Aachen and know the horse is safe with the cheers. I haven’t been bungled by nerves, but a little bit of adrenalin makes you better.”

Germany holds the one-two in the male class, with Gero Meyer leading and Kai Vorberg — individual gold medallist in Aachen four years ago — second.

The individual vaulters perform their freestyles tomorrow.

WEG vaulting results

WEG vaulting blog

Log back on through the week for more updates on the vaulting. Full report in H&H, out 14 October.

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Sophie Wells claimed Britain’s first paradressage medal at a World Equestrian Games, winning individual gold in today’s grade IV competition. Sophie pulled off an expressive, forward, fault-free test riding Dr Jackie Walker’s Pinocchio to an impressive 71.677% score.

She told H&H: “He was a bit difficult in the warm-up today so I was really quite pleased with my test. He can just hold himself a little bit when he gets worried and he came against me to start with in the canterwork but settled again quickly so that was great.”

Sophie is now looking forward to doubling her medal haul in Sunday’s freestyle.

“He can have a day off before then which is ideal as he’ll be fresh,” added Sophie. “I think the music will sound good in the covered arena. I’ve had to change my floorplan to incorporate the simple change they’ve introduced in the test requirements, but I know my music inside out so it should be fine.”

There are no Brits in this afternoon’s grade III competition, but Britain’s two other individual riders – Ricky Balshaw and Emma Sheardown – will compete tomorrow along with team members Lee Pearson, Anne Dunham, Sophie Christiansen and Jo Pitt. After all the team riders have performed their individual tests tomorrow we will know the final team standings. Britain led overnight, finishing just a few marks ahead of the Netherlands and Germany in third.

For full report, results and pictures, don’t miss H&H out 14 October

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One of the amazing things about attending the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games for Horse & Hound is the opportunity to watch some sports that I don’t normally see.

Eventing is my speciality, I follow the other Olympic disciplines and I’ve been driving and endurance editor at H&H for 18 months, but I have to admit, today is my very first time watch a vaulting competition live.

So many things about it are interesting and surprising. I knew that this morning was a team competition, but what I didn’t understand was how much team co-ordination is needed, even though the vaulters are performing compulsory movements individually today. The teams all entered in a formation, they ran in sync (above left), they lined up in height order with their arms in identical positions (below right).

A mobile platform

The horse is basically a cantering platform. It’s reasonably common for competitors to use a borrowed horse to save money — I’m currently watching South African Kegan Smith, who is performing on Smokin Joe, also being “ridden” by Canada’s Colin Schmidt.

The lunger is obviously a massive part of the team — keeping the horse going smoothly and rhythmically is crucial, not just so the vaulters can do their stuff, but also because two of the six judges are marking the horse.

The common link between the horses is that they are all pretty large — rather worryingly, it’s a long way to vault up, dismount at a canter, and, god forbid, fall — and they all have a nice flat back. A calm temperament seems pretty crucial too.

The Swedish horse this morning was spooky and kept going in towards the lunger from his prescribed 15m circle, and that made it very tricky for the vaulters. They were trying to time movements for the steadier parts of the circle, but they ran out of time and one person didn’t even get to complete all her movements. Imagine coming all this way for that to happen — no wonder there were tears.

I developed a soft spot for the Slovakians. When they finished they were all desperate to give their horse Vilam a pat — good on them, personally, I wouldn’t get too close to those enormous feet if I was wearing those little soft shoes. The flyer — the little one who later in the week will be up the top of a three-person formation — almost got squashed out and had to settle for patting his tummy.

Being read the riot act

When I arrived this morning, the press officer politely read us the riot act about when we could move and where photographers can stand. It sounded a bit excessive, but actually it makes sense. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for disturbing that cantering horse while someone’s standing on their hands on its back.

One more thing I have to mention is the clothes. The vaulters basically wear lycra suits all over, in national colours, all very co-ordinated and streamlined. The girls have matching make-up — actually, I reckon the boys might too — and hair dos. The Swiss girls all had a white Swiss cross on their buns and a sort of red sparkly hairpiece.

I’d better go and concentrate — I’ve a few more hours of vaulting to watch, including British star Joanne Eccles, then this evening it’s back to showjumping (no sparkly hairpieces, you’re lucky if they wear hairnets). It’s the team final, and while Britain aren’t in the running for a medal, it’s great to have them competing in this last round. We’ll be in the stands cheering them on.

Log back on through the week for updates on the vaulting. Full report in H&H, out 14 October.

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Britain’s vaulting team were happy with their performance in the compulsory test this morning at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. They scored 5.909 to lie eighth out of 12 teams at this early stage.

“I’m thrilled to bits — they are a young team and have done very well,” said lunger Julie Newell. “It’s been a huge undertaking to raise the funds to get here. It’s very special to be here and after all the work, now it has to be fun.”

Emma Runge, 23, the oldest of the all-female British team of seven vaulters, said: “I think we were more hyped up than nervous. The arena is beautiful and the atmosphere amazing. There were no big dramas today — we were really neat, together and focused, so we couldn’t have hoped for more.”

The team — consisting of Emma, Sarah Reid, Sara Shortland, Steph Hunter, Lydia Barham, Paige Brown and the youngest, 11-year-old Megan Bignell — have been working together for three years. Their horse is 17-year-old mare Go For Gold, who arrived in Kentucky a week ago after her first flight.

“She’s managed really well, it hasn’t done her any harm,” said Julie.

Today each team member performed set movements individually on Go For Gold during a six-minute compulsory test. On Friday, six vaulters from each team take part in a four-minute freestyle test, with up to three vaulters on the horse at once.

The home nation, one of the favourites, hold the lead after scoring 7.207 — the only team to score over 7 — and they were clearly delighted with how their performance (pictured) went.

There was drama for the team from Argentina this morning when one of their vaulters fell during a dismount and had to be helped out of the arena injured. The team continued after a medical time-out.

And there were tears for the team from Sweden, whose horse Achim didn’t want to play the game today. He looked spooky and kept moving in on the 15m circle towards lunger Ronja Persson, making it tricky for the vaulters to perform their movements.

Log back on through the week for more updates on the vaulting. Full report in H&H, out 14 October.

TEAM RESULTS AFTER ROUND ONE

1. USA 7.207

2. Germany 6.996

3. Austria 6.99

4. Switzerland 6.88

5. France 6.594

6. Slovakia 6.532

7. Brazil 6.114

8. Great Britain 5.909

9. Australia 5.838

10. South Africa 5.324

11. Sweden 4.651

12. Argentina 4.635

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Britain has qualified for the team showjumping final at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games tomorrow evening by finishing in 10th place after the second leg of competition today.

British team first-timer Scott Brash (pictured) improved dramatically on his performance yesterday to just have four faults for a foot in the water with Intertoy Z today.

“I’m a lot happier today, he jumped excellently,” said Scott. “I’m a bit gutted about the water, I thought he’d jumped it, but he must have just touched on it. He’s not a great speed horse, so the course suited him better today and I rode him better than yesterday.”

Michael Whitaker ended up as Britain’s discard score today after having the planks after the water and the final oxer down on GIG Amai.

“I’m obviously disappointed, but I’m pretty pleased with the way he jumped,” he said. “I gave him a big kick at the water and after that he got keen and it all got a bit disorganised.”

Robert Smith, who went clear this morning on Talan with one time-fault, is in eighth position individually after two rounds, while David McPherson (Chamberlain Z) also contributed to the team score today with just four faults at the water.

Tomorrow’s competition will be over the same track as today’s, with some alterations to dimensions of fences. The water jump will also be replaced by another fence — potentially good news for Britain as Intertoy Z and Chamberlain Z both faulted there today.

Germany is leading the team contest after today’s competition, with Brazil in the silver position and the USA in bronze. But the scores are very close, with six teams within one fence down and Britain only six marks behind Germany.

“We’re sitting pretty here tonight as the one-two-three, but we could be five-six-seven tomorrow,” said Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa at the press conference.

Rodrigo (HH Rebozo) is second in the rolling individual standings to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Khaled Al Eid (Presley Boy).

There has been some confusion about the format for tomorrow’s competition, but a statement just released has clarified matters. In the evening, starting at 7.20pm (00.20am Thursday in Britain), the top 15 individual riders — either competing as individuals or whose teams are not in the top 10 — will jump first in reverse order. The top 10 teams then jump in reverse order, so Britain’s riders will be first to go in each rotation. The final team placings are decided after this. Only the top 10 teams are still in the running for team medals.

In the afternoon, starting at 1pm (6pm in Britain), all team members whose teams were placed below 10th, plus individuals who are not qualified for the evening, will jump. This session will take place in reverse order of individual classification.

Showjumping results from WEG

Log on tomorrow to find out where Britain’s showjumping team finishes, full report on the WEG showjumping in H&H out 14 October.

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Britain’s paradressage team riders all put in strong performances in today’s team tests to give them a solid chance of yet another gold medal. They lead with 214.641 overnight with the Netherlands second on 211.923 and Germany third with 209.889. Team GB is as yet unbeaten in championship para competition.

Lee Pearson, Anne Dunham, Sophie Christiansen and Jo Pitt were selected for the team yesterday. Their scores in today’s team tests will be added to their performances in the individual tests, which take place over the next two days, and then the team medals and first set of individual medals will be decided.

Lee, a nine-times Paralympic medallist and grade Ib rider, was best of the Brits riding Gentleman, scoring 73.818%. There are five grades of paradressage with Ia being for those riders with greatest disability and grade IV the least disabled.

Lee said: “Some of our team were disappointed with their marks today so I knew I needed a good score to keep us in with a chance of gold. I rode a safe test to get a safe, decent mark. Now as the competition goes on I’ll put a little more power in a hopefully be able to increase my scores.”

Jo Pitt was first to go for Britain riding Estralita in grade II. She said: “I was really pleased with my test apart from the one blip. The cameras started clicking and distracted my horse [causing Estralita to spook].”

Seasoned campaigner Anne Dunham, who started in international competition in 1996, had a fault-free round on Teddy Edwards in the grade Ia for 71.296%.

“He was really listening to me and very supple, and he seemed to enjoy it in there,” said Anne, who is back in competition following a heart operation last year.

Teammate Sophie contested the same grade and finished just behind Anne riding Rivaldo Of Berkeley. Sophie said: “I didn’t know how he’d cope in the arena with all the cameras and lots of people, but he was very good. I just had a little mistake [the horse jogged from walk] and think I will not ride in these spurs for the rest of the competition.”

Three additional British riders – Sophie Wells, Ricky Balshaw and Emma Sheardown – will join their teammates in competing over the next two days for individual medals.

For full report, pictures and results, don’t miss H&H 14 October issue

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Some days you luck in, some days you luck out. Today, it looks like I’ve lucked in. While my Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games reporting colleague Sarah Jenkins shivers at the paradressage — I’ve just lent her a fleece — I get to watch showjumping in blazing sunshine.

After yesterday’s exhaustion, I’ve got my second wind. And I’m loving showjumping today. I had the opportunity to walk the course and wow, those jumps are big. I evented to intermediate level and have walked my fair share of four-star cross-country tracks in the service of H&H, and I thought I knew about bravery and huge fences, but this is something different.

The other great thing is that the organisation here have made a serious effort with the presentation of their course. Each day, there’s a theme, with the jumps decorated accordingly. Today, it’s Kentucky racing. So fence six is the Tote Board and Winner’s Circle (above left) — “Here the Churchill board displays this year’s Kentucky Derby results” says the helpful explanatory sheet which comes on the reverse side of my course map.

It’s a good thing they’ve got 5,000 volunteers here, because it took a small army to reassemble the Tote Board (below right) when Kamal Bahamdan, from the Kingdon of Saudi Arabia team (KSA in short, took us a while to work that one out), and Cezanne 30 crashed it down.

There’s some confusion here in the press office. We thought only the top 10 teams jumped again tomorrow night, but the organisers have now announced another session of jumping tomorrow afternoon for the teams placed below 10th, so everyone gets to jump again — or at least, that’s the current plan, but don’t be surprised if it changes. With individuals thrown into the mix too, it’s tricky to keep up, and the poor press office staff are having a nightmare trying to get us the right information.

With luck, it won’t affect Britain too much, because if Scott Brash and Michael Whitaker can keep up the great efforts made by Robert Smith and David McPherson this morning, we’ll be jumping in the eventing.

In an effort to keep up my reputation as “the girl who mostly blogs about what she eats”, I took a picture of my pudding last night (left) in the gorgeous fish restaurant we ate in. It was, as you can see, rather large. I didn’t eat it all, even I have my limitations. But they kindly popped the leftovers in a box for me to take home. Note to Editor: don’t worry, I’m not exceeding my daily food expenses budget. Food is cheap here.

I’m off to find out the latest on the showjumping tomorrow, but while that kind of change would sometimes throw me, I’m taking it in my stride today. The sun’s shining, Britain’s doing well — and I’ve got half a macadamia nut brownie in the fridge for when I get back to the hotel.

Log on again for more updates on the showjumping at WEG, full report in H&H out 14 October.

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Britain lies seventh halfway through the second leg of the team showjumping competition at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The top 10 teams go through to tomorrow night’s final, so the pressure is on to retain that position this afternoon.

After his strong performance yesterday, Robert Smith (pictured) racked up another clear this morning with Talan, adding just one time-fault to his score.

“I’d like to have not had the time-fault, but at the beginning he was quite careful so I had to give him a little bit of time, and then he got quite strong,” said Robert. “One minute I was kicking, the next I was pulling.”

Britain’s second rider David McPherson had four faults when Chamberlain Z landed in the water jump at fence seven, and was left kicking himself for a “dummy jockey error”.

“I’m as sick as a pig — my horse was jumping amazingly,” he said. “When I go to the water, he gets a bit quicker than I anticipate, so the last stride gets a bit compressed [leading to him landing short]. It’s his greenness showing, he’s not consistent in the length of his stride.”

America led overnight, but has slipped to fourth now, with Germany taking the lead. Mario Deslauriers, yesterday’s individual leader for the home nation, had eight faults today with four at the water and the last down. He jumped out of order due to Urico losing a shoe in the warm-up, but said this did not affect his performance.

“At the water he drifted left which made the stride a little off and made a real effort but must have just touched the tape,” he said. “The last fence was unlucky — he overjumped the front rail and got it behind.”

Britain’s Scott Brash is the second rider in after the lunch break, with Michael Whitaker later this afternoon.

Showjumping results from WEG

Log on again for more updates on the showjumping at WEG, full report in H&H out 14 October.

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The seven British para dressage horses all trotted up last night ahead of today’s competition.

But unfortunately Ricky Balshaw’s ride, Academy Award, has been held for re-inspection in the morning.

The remaining six all passed without trouble.

Chef d’equipe David Hunter has announced his team as:

Lee Pearson (Grade Ib) with Gentleman

Jo Pitt (Grade II) with Estralita

Sophie Christiansen (Grade Ia) with Rivaldo of Berkeley

Anne Dunham (Grade Ia) with Teddy

Competition gets underway tomorrow starting with Grade IV with Grade Ib ending the day as the first part of the team competition.

For full start times, log on to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games website.

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Three of the four British riders were disappointed today in the speed competition which opened the showjumping at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

This afternoon, championship debutant Scott Brash was first out for Britain with Intertoy Z, having three down to finish with an adjusted time of 89.02sec, including 12sec added for faults. He now lies 82nd out of 120 competitors.

“I’m very disappointed, to be honest,” he said. “The speed competition wouldn’t be his strong point, but I expected him to be spooky in there and he wasn’t, he was too forward. I expected him to back off and jump, but he didn’t. It’s a learning curve and I hope he’ll be better tomorrow.”

British anchorman Michael Whitaker was enjoying a brilliant round on GIG Amai until taking off too far from the parallell over the water tray at fence 12 and taking off the bar, and then going on to hit the second part of the double which followed.

“The first one was definitely my fault — I was too far off,” said Michael. “I really fired him at the one before and got away with it, so I went on the same one again, but didn’t get away with it. It was a bit too much of an ask for a younger horse. You can’t blame him, he was trying.”

Michael’s adjusted time of 82.28sec leaves him 43rd.

David McPherson also had two down this morning on Chamberlain Z, and now lies 56th.

The British team lies ninth, and although this is a training team of younger horses here for experience rather than medals, the riders were visibly disappointed with today’s performance.

The only happy British rider was Robert Smith, who produced a fast clear on Talan and finished 14th out of the 120 starters.

The home side dominated today, with lunchtime leader Marco Deslauriers holding top spot on Urico at the end of the day and McLain Ward slotting in just behind him on Sapphire. Hungary’s Sándor Szász is third on Moosbachhofs Goldwing. (Pictured are McLain, Mario and Sándor, left to right).

In the team standings, America leads, followed by Germany and then France.

All Britain’s riders will jump again in the team round tomorrow, after which the top 10 teams go through to the team final on Wednesday night.

Showjumping results from WEG

Log on again for more updates on the showjumping at WEG, full report in H&H out 14 October.

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“You look tired,” said my boyfriend’s mother, greeting me with a kiss in the media centre at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games this morning.

I feel tired, I have to say. Physically and mentally drained — the result of a full-on four days watching the eventing and staying up writing until gone 1am afterwards both the past two nights before an early start — and emotionally slightly blank.

I think I expended all my energy on willing those eventers on to their medals, and while normally I then see things through in the office putting the magazine pages to press, this time I’ve ceded control of that to the hard workers left at home (thanks everyone) and I’m still here at the event, which feels a bit odd.

I’ve been very proud to be British over the past week — first the dressage, then the eventing. And while silver in the dressage was top notch, that just wouldn’t have cut the mustard in the eventing. In Aachen four years ago, we were beaten into silver fair and square by a German team who were undoubtedly better on the day, with Zara Phillips’s individual gold bringing the real euphoria.

This time, we wanted the big prize, we wanted to get our hands on those four glittering team gold medals and we did it. In fact, I even got to literally put my hands on one when Tina Cook came to the media centre to sort out her column for next week’s H&H yesterday evening. Close up, a WEG gold medal is surprisingly large, they have the FEI logo on the front and are engraved with the event details on the back, if you wanted to know.

Working last night in that heady high that comes with writing when you are beyond exhaustion, I knew I was one of the lucky ones. It’s so much easier to report a fabulous triumph than to try to explain to those back home what went wrong. I pity the American journalists who had to file copy on why the home nation lost a medal in the showjumping, just as I pitied the riders themselves when they came to the mixed zone to speak to the press. Boyd Martin was particularly brave, putting a good spin on things by reminding us the team had gained their Olympic qualification, and thanking the supporters.

Anyway, in conclusion to the eventing, many congratulations go to the whole British squad — riders and back-up — and thank you, it was wonderful and I loved it.

Moving on, two good things have happened today. Firstly — and I know I’m getting a reputation for mostly blogging about what I eat, but it’s important to me — Rolex provided a lovely lunch for the accredited media today. Salmon, pasta and lettuce, topped off by a chocolate brownie. Brilliant.

Secondly, Robert Smith jumped a good clear in the speed competition to kick off Britain’s showjumping competition. We’ve got Scott Brash and Michael Whitaker to come this afternoon, so fingers crossed they can follow suit. It’s onwards and upwards at WEG — for riders and journalists alike.

Full report on the eventing from WEG in H&H out this Thursday, 7 October, full report on the showjumping at WEG in the issue out 14 October.

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Robert Smith got the British showjumping team off to a great start in the showjumping competition at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games with a fast clear round in this morning’s speed competition.

Robert lies fifth at the halfway stage of this first leg of the team contest, having ridden Talan to a confident clear to leave all the fences intact in 77.12sec.

Experienced competitor Robert was only brought into the team due to the injury to Tina Fletcher’s ride Hello Sailor, but he said: “I planned and prepared as if I was coming and always thought I was going to get there. Talan is coming off three weeks not doing much, so it’s good to get a good speed round into him.”

Britain’s second rider David McPherson had two fences down with Chamberlain Z, but still finished in a relatively quick time — with 8sec added for the faults, he finished on 83.95sec for 23rd at this stage out of 57.

David said: “I think I probably went a bit beyond what he’s used to doing on day one [in terms of speed], but they were such light miniscule rubs and I think this will set him up well for tomorrow. This is all about the team score — don’t write us off yet just because I’ve had a couple of rails.”

Mario Deslauriers is the current leader on 71.25sec riding Urico. The 1984 World Cup winner used to represent his home country of Canada, but swapped to ride for America this year, having lived in New York for many years, and the home crowd certainly appreciated his efforts this morning.

WEG results

Log on again for more updates on the showjumping at WEG, full report in H&H out 14 October.

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Britain’s team triumph in the eventing at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games has lifted it from fifth to third in the medal table.

Six nations have now claimed at least one gold, but Britain’s proliferation of silver medals — three in dressage and an individual eventing one for William Fox-Pitt — means it sits in the medal table above the other nations with one gold, the UAE, Germany and Spain.

MEDAL TABLE ON MONDAY 4 OCTOBER MORNING

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Britain won the team gold in the eventing at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games this afternoon, with William Fox-Pitt clinching the individual silver.

In a glorious finale, every British team member whose score needed to count — William Fox-Pitt (Cool Mountain), Mary King (Imperial Cavalier) and Nicola Wilson (Opposition Buzz) — showjumped clear. British individual Pippa Funnell was also faultless to finish fifth on the nine-year-old Redesigned.

This is Britain’s first world team gold since winning at The Hague 16 years ago and both horses and riders enjoyed their lap of honour.

The Americans, second overnight in the team standings, suffered great disappointment, with their final horse, Karen O’Connor’s Mandiba, stopping at the gate at fence seven. Her faults meant the home side dropped to fourth, with Canada moving up to take silver and New Zealand rising from fourth to bronze.

Germany’s Michael Jung jumped a faultless clear to secure the individual gold with nine penalties in hand on La Biosthetique-Sam FBW.

“I have no words for this moment,” he said afterwards.

After the withdrawal of Becky Holder, Germany’s Ingrid Klimke entered the arena in individual bronze, but she and FRH Butts Abraxxas had two fences down to lose their medal.

New Zealand’s Andrew Nicholson was the beneficiary of this, his clear on Nereo earning him the individual bronze.

WORLD EQUESTRIAN GAMES EVENTING RESULTS

FINAL TEAM PLACINGS

1.Great Britain 139.4

2.Canada 151.5

3.New Zealand 154.8

4.USA 160.3

5.Germany 200.7

6.Belgium 227.1

INDIVIDUAL FINAL PLACINGS

1.Michael Jung (La Biosthetique-Sam FBW), GER 33

2.William Fox-Pitt (Cool Mountain), GBR 42

3.Andrew Nicholson (Nereo), NZL 43.5

4.Karin Donckers (Gazelle De La Brasserie), 44.4

5.Pippa Funnell (Redesigned), GBR 45.5

6.Mary King (Imperial Cavalier), GBR 46.2

OTHER BRITISH PLACINGS

15.Nicola Wilson (Opposition Buzz), GBR 51.2

16.Piggy French (Jakata), GBR 51.4

29.Tina Cook (Miners Frolic), GBR 68.3

WEG results

Full report on the eventing from WEG in H&H, out 7 October, including comment from British team member Tina Cook.

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