‘I let him go’: galloping pathfinders prove the European Championship eventing track is jumpable

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European Eventing Championships cross-country: Jean Lou Bigot and Utrillo Du Halage
Jean Lou Bigot and Utrillo Du Halage at the 2021 European Championships.
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)

The pathfinders at the European Eventing Championships cross-country phase in Avenches, Switzerland, have shown that the track is jumpable, and the time achievable.

Although the first two riders incurred jumping penalties, Ireland’s Sam Watson came out next and jumped clear a few seconds over the time.

Martha Terry
Martha Terry
Features editor

Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.