The final horse inspection at the young rider European eventing championships in Millstreet, Ireland today (23 July) was filled with drama as one horse was not accepted by the ground jury.
Irish team rider Susie Berry, who was in individual silver medal position after the cross-country with Morswood (pictured at the first horse inspection on Wednesday), was eliminated upon reinspection after being held.
Susie, who is based in England with Piggy French, enjoyed a great cross-country round yesterday to rise two places after the dressage, but her nine year old did not look quite right behind as he was trotted up.
There was long deliberation between the vet and ground jury consisting of James Rooney (IRL), Dr. Katrin Eichinger-Kniely (AUT) and Gerd Kust (GER), but they eventually decided not to let the combination continue any further in the competition.
This is also a huge blow to the Irish team, who were in fourth after the cross-country. They have now slipped to last place in 10th behind Spain, as the team now only has two competitors (Cathal Daniels and Nessa Briody) after Tessa Harley’s horse, Catsky was withdrawn before the cross-country with an injury.
Britain’s Alex Kennedy now goes into the final showjumping phase in individual silver medal position with Lissangle Cavaletto B. She is some 5.3 penalties behind the leader, German rider HannahKnüppel, a combination that had two fences down on the final day at last year’s young rider European championships in Montelibretti, Italy.
Britain sit comfortably in team bronze, with a 37.2 penalty buffer over Sweden in fourth. The Netherlands are 14.4 penalties ahead of Britain, with the leading German team just 2.2 penalties in front.
All British junior horses were accepted and Bubby Upton will hope to take individual glory at lunchtime, with the team less than two fences behind current leaders, Germany.
Find out how Britain's junior eventers have finished
The showjumping begins at 11am.
Keep up-to-date with all the action from the championships at horseandhound.co.uk, plus don’t miss the full report in Horse & Hound magazine, out on 27 July.
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Former web features editor, point-to-point editor and digital racing editor
Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
