Fiona Bigwood’s Rio Olympic medallist horse Atterupgaards Orthilia has been sold to the Danish international grand prix rider Agnete Kirk Thinggaard, and the horse has already moved abroad.

After winning team silver at the Rio Olympic Games, Fiona credited the bouncy Gribaldi x Donnerschlag mare — now 12 — for her return to riding after a career-threatening accident in which she fell from a horse in April 2014. She now competes in an eye patch to help mitigate the double vision caused by the accident.

Together Fiona and ‘Tillie’ were on the British team at the 2015 European Championships in Aachen (Germany), as well as in Rio. They helped secure team silver on both occasions.

“It was a very hard decision but Tillie is in the prime of her competition career and I want the best for her,” said Fiona. “My home commitments mean I can only do around four top level shows a year and she deserves to have her full potential realised.

“She’s the most talented, generous and clever horse I’ve ever ridden, but I know she’ll have the best home and chance of success with Agnete. We waved her off yesterday on her journey to her new home in Denmark.”

Fiona and her husband Anders Dahl have recently located to a new base near Haywards Heath in West Sussex — with a guide price of £6m — which needs major renovation and will take up much of Fiona’s time.

However she has no plans to retire any time soon.

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“I love training and competing, so my career is far from over. I have some exciting youngsters at home and am currently looking for another so I’m not ready to hang my boots up just yet!” she added.

“My priority is my family and home so while I won’t be out competing at the big internationals for a while, I’ll still be busy at home working on producing a future Olympic champion for Britain.”

Fiona has recently bought a new horse, the rising six-year-old Oldenburg gelding Daytona Platinum (Dante Weltino x Charon), who finished sixth at the 2016 bundeschampionat in Germany.

On Tillie’s sale, British Dressage’s chief executive Jason Brautigam said: “I’m sure everyone in the dressage community will be sad to see Tillie go and break this magic partnership. She’s hugely talented and still has great potential for the future, so this is a big loss to Team GBR.

“On behalf of British Dressage, we would like to thank both Fiona and Tillie for their significant contribution to the two team silver medals in 2015 and at last year’s Olympics.

“While this combination will be much missed, Fiona’s stable of exciting youngsters will hopefully mean that she’s back as part of our medal-winning teams in the near future.”

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Britain’s Nick Skelton and Big Star won gold in the individual showjumping competition at the Rio Olympics today.

They were first to jump in the six-strong medals jump-off and set a blistering pace with a clear round that none of his rivals — a Who’s Who of showjumping talent — could catch.

Fifty-eight-year-old Nick is at his seventh Games, making his debut in 1988. He has missed only one Olympics, Sydney 2000, after he broke his neck.

Big Star was on the team that clinched gold in London 2012 but was denied an individual medal in Greenwich.

The 13-year-old stallion by Quick Star x Nimmerdor (owned by Gary and Beverley Widdowson and Oliver Robertson) has since returned from a career-threatening injury.

“I’m so pleased with him today — we’ve done a lot of work with him, bringing him back slowly,” said Nick. “We’ve nursed him and nursed him and nursed him and he’s come good for me.”

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In our Olympics pull-out special issue, we asked: Could they add the individual title this

time around? Now we know the answer.

The individual contest went down to the wire, with six horses jumping double clears, forcing the jump-off for medals.

Sweden’s Peder Fredricson took the silver on All In, with bronze going to Canada’s Eric Lamaze and Fine Lady 5. Only Peder and Nick jumped clear in the jump-off, and Eric won his medal by being faster than Switzerland’s London 2012 champions Steve Guerdat and Nino Des Buissonnets, who also had four faults.

The other pairs in the jump-off were the USA’s Kent Farrington (Voyeur) and Qatar’s Sheikh Ali Al Thani (First Devision). They both had two fences down.

Britain’s other rider still in the competition today, Ben Maher, had faults with Tic Tac during the second round as well as the first and did not make it through to the final jump-off.

Full 20-page report from the Olympic showjumping in Rio in the issue of H&H published Thursday, 25 August, including full analysis of every round of the competition and expert comment from Geoff Billington and William Funnell.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now

France added yet another team gold to their tally today, winning the team showjumping competition at the Rio Olympics after their eventing victory last week. The USA took silver, with Germany narrowly claiming the bronze after a jump-off with Canada.

France started the day in fifth with one time-fault on their scorecard after yesterday’s first round, but Philllippe Rozier (Rahotep De Toscane), Kevin Staut (Reveur De Hurtebise) and Roger Yves Bost (Sydney Une Prince) all left all the coloured poles intact today. A single time-fault each for Phillippe and Roger didn’t matter and they secured the gold on three faults without final ride Penelope Leprovost (Flora De Mariposa) having to jump.

“I’m so proud of him today, he did an amazing job,” said Kevin. “He’s 15 but feels as young as ever.”

The USA were down to three riders today as Beezie Madden’s Cortes ‘C’ sustained a tendon injury yesterday, but Kent Farrington (Voyeur) had just one time-fault, McClain Ward (Azur) jumped clear and Lucy Davis (Barron) had four faults. This left them on five faults with second place.

“I saw a lot of horses struggle to jump the treble clear and we knew every rail down would count today, so I really set him up for that,” said Kent. “I wanted to secure that before I took risks on the time.”

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The Netherlands and Brazil started the day in equal first with the USA and Germany, but faults dropped them out of the reckoning. Canada came up the rankings to end up in a jump-off with Germany for the bronze medal, with both teams sitting on eight faults.

All four riders can come forward in an Olympic jump-off, but in the event Germany secured the medal after their first three riders, Christian Ahlmann (Taloubet Z), Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (Fibonacci) and Daniel Deusser (First Class), jumped clear. Ludger Beerbaum (Casello) did not need to come forward.

Canada’s Yann Candele (First Choice 15) and Amy Millar (Heros) both had a fence down, so although Tiffany Foster (Triple X III) went clear, Germany had the medal in the bag.

Full 20-page report from the Olympic showjumping in Rio in the issue of H&H published Thursday, 25 August, including full analysis of every round of the competition and expert comment from Geoff Billington and William Funnell.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now

Charlotte Dujardin successfully defended her Olympic individual title in Rio today, clinching the gold with a massive 93.857% on Valegro.

The rider was in tears as she left the arena and broke down again talking to journalists afterwards.

“I just knew he couldn’t have done any more,” she said. “I felt like he’d done his very best and I’m very emotional, particularly because I think he’s going to be retired. I don’t want you to write this because we haven’t said when, but it’s on the cards to retire him, so we’ll go home and make a plan.”

Charlotte said it felt like the 14-year-old knew she was emotional today.

“I feel like he really looked after me and helped me,” she said.

Germany’s riders took both the other medals, with silver for Isabell Werth and Weihegold OLD on 89.071%. Krstina Broring-Sprehe claimed individual bronze with Desperados FRH on a score of 87.142%.

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Britain had two other riders in the freestyle, Carl Hester and Fiona Bigwood.

Carl was delighted with his performance on Nip Tuck, who scored 82.553% for seventh.

“It felt beautiful and I felt my mark matched my test, which is nice and not always the case,” he said. “I came out and thought, ‘What more could he have done?’ He’s improved each day.”

Fiona broke into canter twice in her test with Orthilia, in the first trot half-pass and on the final centreline, ending up with a score of 76.018%. She explained that with temperatures hitting the 30s today, her preparation had not been ideal.

“It was a tough warm-up today — we went in the air-conditioned indoor, but there’s no atmosphere in there, so then you come out and they are suddenly exposed to the atmosphere,” said Fiona. “But it’s too hot to warm up outside.”

Judy Reynolds, the first Irish rider to qualify for the Olympic freestyle, completed her Games with a score of 75.696% and 18th place on Vancouver K. She was a little disappointed to have a couple of mistakes in her test today, but delighted with her Olympic debut as a whole.

Full 20-page report on the dressage from Rio in H&H this week, out Thursday 18 August, including full analysis of how the medals were won and comment from Richard Davison and Peter Storr.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now

The German dressage team claimed team gold at the Olympic Games in Rio this afternoon, while inspired performances from the British riders nailed silver. The USA took bronze.

Charlotte Dujardin was last into the arena with the inimitable Valegro. They scored 82.983% despite an early break to canter in the half-pass.

It means that the gold and silver medal-winning nations from London 2012 have swapped places.

“It’s a very happy silver,” said team member Carl Hester, who rode a 76.485% test on Nip Tuck this afternoon. “It was really well fought by all of our team. To come back after London gold we knew was going to be very difficult to recreate, any medal would have made us very happy.

“The whole GB team has ridden beautifully and it’s quite a big margin from bronze.”

The German team once again dominated, delivering three scores over 81%. Neither the Brits not the German teams needed to count the score of their final rider to secure their respective medals.

Isabell Werth finished top individually, laying down an emphatic 83.711% on Weihegold OLD.

Britain’s third counting mark came from Fiona Bigwood on Orthilia, who scored 74.342%. Spencer Wilton also put in a strong test for 73.613% with Super Nova II.

Team GB has three pairs — Charlotte, Carl and Fiona — qualified for Monday’s freestyle where they will compete for the individual medals. Riders start on a clean slate for that competition so their scores from the team rounds do not count.

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Judy Reynolds has made history by becoming the first ever Irish rider to qualify for the individual freestyle final at an Olympic Games. She finished 17th today.

Judy was second to go into the arena in the grand prix special — a more difficult set test than the grand prix — on a drizzly day on her Jazz gelding Vancouver K, laying down 74.09%, a new personal best.

“It was the best special we’ve done, so I’m thrilled,” she said.

The Dutch had a difficult time of it, finishing in fourth. They did not bring a reserve rider and Adelinde Cornelissen elected to retire with Parzival part-way through the grand prix as he was suffering from a fever after being bitten by an insect. 

Team standings

1. Germany (81.936% average)

2. Great Britain (78.595% average)

3. USA (76.667% average)

Full 20-page report on the dressage from Rio in H&H next week, out Thursday 18 August, including full analysis of how the medals were won and comment from Richard Davison and Peter Storr.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now

Michael Jung delivered a faultless round at the Rio Olympics today to retain the individual gold medal he won four years ago at the London 2012 Olympics. The German’s round on Sam FBW was one of only two clears of the riders sitting in the top 10 going into the final deciding round of showjumping.

Astier Nicolas took the individual silver, a huge result for the young French rider. Piaf De Bneville came down heavily on the back bar of the oxer at fence three, but he could afford the four faults and still take home the medal.

Phillip Dutton moved up from fourth going into the decider to take the individual bronze for the USA on Mighty Nice, despite having the last part of the treble at fence four down.

“It was a disappointing day yesterday for our team — a lot of people worked hard to get us here and it’s pretty gutting, but we just had to get up and do our best today,” he said. “I was happy with fourth, I’m ecstatic to get bronze.”

Australia’s Chris Burton was in the individual bronze position before the last round, but he had the final two fences down on Santano II.

New Zealand’s Clarke Johnstone could have taken the individual bronze if he’d had a clear round on Balmoral Sensation but he had two fences down, leaving him sixth behind Sam Griffiths, who went clear on Paulank Brockagh for fourth, and Chris in fifth.

“I’ve just lost two medals,” said Clarke glumly afterwards, alluding also to New Zealand’s disastrous time in the team competition earlier.

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William Fox-Pitt in individual gold after first day of Rio Olympics eventing dressage

William Fox-Pitt was the only Brit to qualify for this final round and he delivered another secure clear round for 12th place with Chilli Morning.

Full 25-page report on the eventing from Rio 2016 in H&H next week — out Friday, 12 August. H&H is published on Friday instead of Thursday next week only to allow us to report the full eventing competition from the Olympics.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now

France won the team gold in the Rio Olympics eventing this morning, pulling up from third overnight.

Astier Nicolas (Piaf De B’Neville) and Thibaut Vallette (Qing Du Briot) both delivered clears. Mathieu Lemoine (Bart L) had the last two fences down, but with other nations also suffering problems, they won by 3.8 penalties.

“I’m really happy with my horse — he’s a great jumper and I would have been shocked if he’d had any penalties,” said Thibaut after jumping.

Germany moved up from fourth overnight to take team silver when Michael Jung and Sam FBW, Ingrid Klimke (Hale Bob OLD) and Sandra Auffarth (Opgun Louvo) all recorded clear rounds.

The Australians dropped to team bronze when Stuart Tinney and Pluto Mio had four fences down and individual leader Chris Burton racked up eight penalties with Santano II. Sam Griffiths went clear, which was instrumental in keeping the Aussies in the medals.

Michael is now leading going into the individual decider and poised to retain his crown from London 2012. Chris has dropped to third, while Astier Nicolas has moved up to sit in the individual silver position.

“Of course, I’m disappointed, but I just spoke to Sam and he said come and have a drink,” said Chris. “We’ll hydrate, make sure the horses are ok and re-focus for the individual competition.”

New Zealand were the big losers today when they sank from second to fourth. Clarke Johnstone’s clear with Balmoral Sensation was not enough to save them when Jonelle Price had two down with Faerie Dianimo and Mark Todd hit a disastrous four rails on Leonidas II.

“He’s never jumped like that before — he’s a funny, temperamental horse, but he’s been in big atmospheres before and never done that,” said Mark.

Classy clears for Britain’s quartet

Britain’s horses jumped brilliantly this morning and all left all the poles intact, with the team moving up from eighth to fifth.

Gemma Tattersall just had four time-faults on the Pebbles’ Syndicate’s Quicklook V.

“Thank god for that. She came out really well this morning and jumped a beautiful clear, so I’m really happy with her,” she said.

Kitty King had a great round with Jacqueline Owen, Diana Bown and Samantha Wilson’s Ceylor LAN.

“He jumped brilliantly and felt really fresh, which is a credit to our team in the stables — the grooms, vets and physios worked really hard on the horses last night,” she said.

Pippa Funnell said of her round on the late Carol Toliver’s Billy The Biz: “He’s a good boy and came out and jumped well today.”

William Fox-Pitt will progress to the individual round this afternoon in 18th place with Chris and Lisa Stone’s Chilli Morning.

“It’s all rather unimportant now, but the horses did jump well and it’s good to finish on a good note,” he said.

Continued below…

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Twenty-five will jump again at 2pm local time (6pm British time) for the individual medals — Pippa Funnell has just missed the cut by finishing 26th. Follow here.

Full 25-page report on the eventing from Rio 2016 in H&H next week — out Friday, 12 August. H&H is published on Friday instead of Thursday next week only to allow us to report the full eventing competition from the Olympics.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now