European Showjumping Championships: tough start for Georgia Tame

Georgia Tame riding Z7 Ascot in the first team round of the European Showjumping Championships — Tame Georgia, GBR, Z7 Ascot European Championship Riesenbeck 2021 © Hippo Foto - Dirk Caremans 02/09/2021

(Image credit: Hippo Foto)

Great Britain’s pathfinder Georgia Tame produced a nine-fault round for the team on day two of the European Showjumping Championships at Riesenbeck, Germany, on Thursday (2 September).

The 23-year-old, who is competing at her first senior championship riding the 10-year-old Non Stop gelding Z7 Ascot, rode a lovely round over Frank Rothenberger’s testing 1.60m track. However their first faults came with a foot in the water jump and they picked up another four faults coming out of the double late on the course. The pair also picked up a time-fault.

Great Britain’s performance manager Di Lampard has brought a young and relatively inexperienced squad to contest these European Showjumping Championships and Georgia will have benefitted hugely from jumping under these tough conditions. The talented young rider has been based at Hickstead in West Sussex with trainer Shane Breen since 2015 and has developed into one of the country’s leading young talents. She has represented Great Britain on senior Nations Cups and is a very competitive individual rider, too.

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Jennifer is passionate at showjumping and her role as H&H’s showjumping editor has taken her around the world reporting from shows and interviewing riders, connections and those involved behind the scenes. Since joining H&H from BBC Sport in 2005, she has written on every subject across the equestrian sphere — from turnout rugs to stable management — and has interviewed gold medallists, world champions and winners galore. She also has first-hand experience of working in the equestrian industry as a riding instructor and yard manager.

Tough start for British pathfinder at European Showjumping Championships

The score for Georgia and Z7 Ascot, who is co-owned by Breen Equestrian and Team Z7 and was bred in Ireland by Marion Hughes, after two days of jumping is now 18.98.

Georgia said she had felt “more relaxed” going into the championship arena for the second time.

“He warmed up great, it felt really good. I thought the course would suit him, it was careful and he is really careful,” she said.

“I didn’t realise I was in the water and coming out of the double, I just held him a bit too much and he just chipped it behind — but he jumped unreal and I am so happy with him.

“He’s been like knocking on the door for a while and he deserves to be recognised for what he does.”

“It’s been amazing to be here, especially as the horse has only ever jumped one 4*, he’s never even seen a jump this big. At home we only jump him to 1.10m, so it’s a bit of a shock!” she said.

“The atmosphere is great and so is having such a supportive team, with everyone behind you. The whole team is young and we’re learning together, so it’s been a really great experience.”

Only the top 10 teams from the 15 nations who set out will continue to Friday’s medal decider. The individual competition concludes on Sunday (5 September) with two rounds to decide which combinations will claim the medals.

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