Charlotte Dujardin was among the riders who fell victim to the tack check at Somerford Premier League (26-28 May). H&H reported in April that a number of combinations had been eliminated at Hartpury for having their horses’ bits on incorrectly. There were similar issues at Somerford; Charlotte was eliminated on Times Kismet on the first day, and Anne-Marie Cowan the next. “We started with a slight error on the first day, when the bit on Kismet’s bridle was unfortunately on the wrong way, with the arrow on the wrong side which caused a elimination for us,” Charlotte said. “Disappointing, but we are all human first and foremost, so together as a team, we looked forward to the following day.”
A rider who believes she was minutes from catastrophe when a horse came over the breast bar of her trailer wants to raise awareness – and prevent such a situation happening again. Jennie Thorn told H&H she had one horse in her two-horse trailer and was near the A40 dual carriageway when the pin holding the breast bar came out of position.
Legendary showjumper John Whitaker was the joint winner of the six-bar challenge at the CSIO Rome Piazza di Siena, clearing 1.95m on a horse he “borrows sometimes”. John and Paul Barker’s Green Grass, and Emilio Biocchi and Testa Carlo’s Flinton, were the only combinations to leave the fences up in the third round of Friday’s final class (26 May). The riders opted not to battle it out over a fourth round, which would have gone up to 2.05m, and instead agreed to share the win.
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
