Pony European Championships 2015

2015 FEI EUROPEAN PONY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Day 3 Report

First part of Dressage Individual Competition

(Click on heading to jump to that report)

Jumping Report - The Team Competition

The first round European Jumping Team Championships took place from 8am and there were teams from 10 nations plus some individual riders from other countries. The Championships is a two round "Nations Cup" style competition with the jumps having a maximum height of 1.30m and maximum spread of 1.40m, apart from triple bars where the spread can be up to 1.60m and the Water Jump can be up to 3.30m. Team GB were drawn first in the running order, and the first British competitors, Jodie Hall Mcateer & Tixylix did a lovely clear to get GB off to the best star possible.

Next to ride for GB were Jack Whitaker & Zodianne van de Doevenbree and they too did a lovely clear. Then it was Jessica Hewitt & British-bred Ammanvalley Santino and much to GB supporter's delight, they too went clear, so without the 4th rider jumping, GB were guaranteed to go into the second round on the 1 penalty they'd carried forward from yesterday. So the pressure was off Charlotte Ash & Aughnashammer (who are the only combination to have been at a previous Pony Euros) and they cleared all the fences nicely but just put a toe in the water for 4 faults.

At the half way point, France and Ireland were level on zero faults and GB were in Bronze with one fault. Then came Belgium on 4 Faults, Germany on 8 and Netherlands on 9. So it was "game on" for the second round. After a 30 minute break, the second round started and and all the individual riders jumped first.

The team riders then jumped in turn but with the team order now in reverse order of merit which added to the drama and tension - especially with GB last but two to go (joint leaders France & Ireland were after in the order). With the course identical to round one, less problems may have been anticipated, but actually there were the same number of clear rounds.

All the 1st riders went clear, including GB's Jodie Hall Mcateer & Tixylix, apart from those riding for France (8 faults), Italy (4 faults) and Switzerland (4 faults). Then it was the turn of the second riders. A clear from Jack Whitaker & Zodianne van de Doevenbree would have put pressure on Ireland and France at this stage, but unfortunately, he had the middle of the treble down and finished with 4 faults. However, although the French rider went clear, the Irish rider had fences 8 and 12 (the last) down, so at the end of the round, all of the top 3 countries just had the one clear "banked".

In round 3, it all got a bit more dramatic with the Swiss rider eliminated for 2 refusals (at fences 2 and 3b), then the Swedish rider demolished fence 4 on her way through (and was given 4 faults for a knockdown rather than the bell ringing for a refusal). The Dutch rider then had 5 faults (including 1 for time), the German went clear and the Belgian had 8 faults. Jessica Hewitt & Ammanvally Santino then jumped a lovely clear and when the following 2 riders (for France & Ireland) had 5 and 4 faults respectively, all of a sudden GB were in with a chance of Gold if the last British rider went clear!

Elimination for a refusal that unseated the Danish rider at fence 3b (which was quite influential overall), 8 faults for the Swede then a clear for the Dutch rider left the Netherlands on 9 faults and the commentary team saying that could give them a medal! Germany then dropped behind the Netherlands when their last rider had 8 faults, then Belgium's Maartje Verberckmoes & Nibor went clear to give them a final score of 8 and so they went ahead of the Netherlands.

Next in was Charlotte Ash & Aughnashammer and they did indeed achieve a lovely clear round and to all GB supporter's delight, the commentator confirmed that it had indeed secured the GOLD medal for GB on a final score of 1 fault. Interestingly, in 2014 the Gold medal was also won on a one fault score (but then by France).

The French rider was next and had to go clear for them to finish no worse than Bronze and Thomas Scalabre & Sligo de Mormal rose to the occasion and delivered the required clear.

Then it was the final rider, Michael Pender & Imagine If One, and if he jumped clear then Ireland got the Silver (as they had in 2014) but one fence down would give France the Silver and put Ireland and Belgium into a jump off for Bronze. Michael did not let this pressure affect him and he did his 3rd clear of the competition and so Ireland won the Silver medal.

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First in the arena in round 1, Jodie Hall Mcateer & Tixylix go clear to give GB the best possible start

Second in the GB order, Jack Whitaker & Zodianne van de Doevenbree also went clear

in round 1

Jodie Hall Mcateer & Tixylix go clear again in round 2 - so far they are faultless in the competition

Jessica Hewitt & British-bred Ammanvalley Santino in the second round on their way to a vital double clear

Charlotte Ash & Aughnashammer clear the last fence to secure GOLD for GB

GOLD	GB - Total 1 (1st Individual round 1, 1st Team round 0, 2nd team round 0)
		Jodie Hall Mcateer & Tixylix (0, 0, 0)
		Jack Whitaker & Zodianne van de Doevenbree (18, 0, 4)
		Jessica Hewitt & Ammanvalley Santino(1, 0, 0)
		Charlotte Ash & Aughnashammer (0, 4, 0)

SILVER	Ireland - Total 4 (1st Individual round 0, 1st Team round 0, 2nd team round 4)
		Olivia Roulston & Ballygawleys Little Ferro (0, 5, 0)
		Abbie Sweetnam & Spartacus Reape (0, 0, 8)
		Luke Garrigan & Dr Spot (0, 0, 4)
		Michael Pender & Imagine If One (0, 0, 0)

BRONZE	France - Total 5 (1st Individual round 0, 1st Team round 0, 2nd team round 5)
		Victoria Tachet & Reter d'Or (0, 0, 8)
		Justine Maerte & Shamrock du Gite (0, 0, 0)
		Charlotte Lebas & Quabar des Monceaux (0, 0, 5)
		Thomas Scalabre & Sligo de Mormal (0, 4, 0)

The victorious British team team with Chef d'Equipe, Matthew Lanni

British-bred Ammanvalley Santino turns to watch the Union Flag being raised during the medal ceremony

GB Team Lap of Honour

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Eventing Report

At the end of the first session of eventing dressage, the Dutch team had established a lead of 9.9 penalties from GB in silver and Ireland just one mark behind in Bronze. However, as each team of 4 can drop their lowest score, so the results at the end of the first day often change.

Saffron Cresswell & Cuffesgrange Little Ric (unknown breeding), were the first of the British to do their dressage and their overall score of 46.2 penalties (69.17%) penalties was good enough to put them into 18th place at the end of the session.

Next to compete were GB individuals Jessica Thomas & Another Island (Island Lad x Westside Mirah) who did a lovely test that was rewarded with a score of 71.74% (42.4 penalties) which meant she started the XC in 9th place.

As always, the pressure as on the last GB pair, 2014 team silver medallists, Thomas Tulloch & Spirit VI (unknown breeding). This did not phase them and they too delivered a 70% plus score, finishing on 43.4 penalties, one place behind Jessica & Another Island.

So, at the end of the dressage phase, very good performances from other nations had moved GB down to 4th - which was where they fwere at the same point last year (and then finished with Team Silver). Overall, individuals Jessica Thomas & Another Island are the best placed British pair before the start of the Cross Country (XC) with their 42.4 penalties putting them in 9th place Thomas Tulloch & Spirit VI one place behind in 10th.

Pictures to follow...

Dressage Report

The first part of the individual dressage medal competitions started at late due to the Jumping taking longer than scheduled and the random draw had resulted in just one of the British riders being drawn to go in this session.

So, all eyes were on Rebecca Bell & her lovely mare Valido's Sunshine. Having scored do a consistent and accurate test for 70.829% and 6th place at the end of the first session.

The 2nd highest scorers from the Team Test, Nadine Krause & Cyrill WE (FS Champion de Luxe x Power Man) were also drawn to go in this session and they set the standard, scoring to lead overnight, but with Phoebe Peters & SL Lucci, drawn to go first at 8am the next morning, GB supporters were hoping that Nadine wouldn't old the lead for long!

Picture to follow...

Rebecca Bell & Valido's Sunshine

All photos by www.qorum-photos.com and must not be copied

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