Horse & Hound – 22 August 2019

34 Horse&Hound 22 August 2019

Pictures

by

FEI/Lukasz

Kowalski

EVENTING

PONY EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

15-18 August

PonyEuropeanChampionships,

Strzegom,Poland

GREATBRITAINledfromstart

tofinishtoclaimteamgoldat

theFEIponyEuropeanEventing

Championships—andthegold

andsilverindividualmedals,

courtesyofFinnHealyand

IbbleWatson.

Britainhasanoutstanding

recordwithitsCharlesOwen-

sponsoredponyteam,winning

sixtimesinthepast 14 years,and

haswona teammedalofsome

coloureveryyearsince2004.

Expectationsweretherefore

high,despitethefactthat

allsixmembersofthesquad

werecompetingattheirfirst

championships.

DaisyBatheledthewayafter

dressage,scoring26.8onthe

experiencedstallionSFDetroit

forthirdplace.Shewasonly1.4

penaltiesbehindtheleaders,

Germany’sSophiaRösseland

CamilloWE,and0.6ofa penalty

behindGermanindividuals

NicolettaMassmannand

Majestro.

WithIbbleWatson

(BookhamlodgePennylane)in

eighthon30.3andFinnHealy

(MidnightDancerII)10thon

31.3,thatwasenoughtogive

TeamGBRa 5.3-penaltyleadover

France,withGermanythirdand

Irelandfourth.

Britain’sponyridersexcelata toughchampionshipto

bringhomethreemedals—twoofthemgold

Britain’sFreyaPartridge

wasfirsttogoacrosscountryon

MasterMackyandshestormed

roundinsidethetime.Individual

riderXanthedeWesselowalso

deliveredanexcellentclearon

BaramonaLass.Ibble,whohas

alsoskiedforBritain,pickedup

just2.4time-faults,and15-year-

oldFinn,ridingtheConnemara

ponyhissisterElliehasproduced

froma barely-brokenfour-year-

oldandonwhomshewonteam

goldlastyear,alsowentclear,two

secondsinsidethetime.

“Wehadonedodgymomentat

thefinalcombinationofa palisade

brushdropdowntoa skinnywhen

‘Caspar’tooka strideout,butwe

survivedthat.It wasverytechnical

andI knewthetimewastight,soI

wasgoingasfastasI’veevergone,”

saidFinn.

AmeliaLudiman,at 14 the

youngestofthesquad,hada

run-outonTynanMist,andDaisy

Bathe,lasttogooftheBrits,

jumpeda goodroundfortwo

time-faults.Shetookthelead,

withFinnsixth,Ibbleseventh

andFreya10th,andtheteam

had9.3penaltiesinhandover

France.Therewaslessthana

fencebetweenthetopseven

individually,however.

Theshowjumpingwasbuilt

oncleverlinesinStrzegom’s

ByCATHERINEAUSTEN

Healy leads Brits to double gold

The British team stand top of the podium as they celebrate their win

RESULTS

Teams.—1, GreatBritain101.8

(MidnightDancerII/FHealy;

BookhamlodgePennylane/IWatson;

MasterMacky/FPartridge;SF

Detroit/DBathe);2,France120.1

(OMaDoueKersidal/LGualtiere;

VersaillesDesMorins/LPetitjean;

VidockDeBerder/JdeVericourt;

Winnetou/LilouDucastaing);3,Ireland

131.6(Fiona’sFionn/GTyrell;Millridge

BuachaillBui/AConnors;Tullibards

SixthSenseAC/BKuehnle;Coppenagh

SpringSparrow/THancock).indiv.—1,

MidnightDancerII 31.3,0,0.4=31.7;

2,BookhamlodgePennylane

30.3,2.4,0=32.7;3,CamelotDamgaard

(CLuciani)ITA30.1,0,4=34.1;4,Master

Macky33.4,0,4=37.4;7,SFDetroit

26.8,2,10.8=39.6;10,BaramonaLass

(XdeWesselow)GBR34.5,0,6.4=40.9;

11,Fiona’sFionn33.3,0,8=41.3;

13,RockonPedro(OSwan)IRL

35.8,4,4=43.8;15,MillridgeBuachaill

Bui28.1,12,4=44.1;16,TullibardsSixth

SenseAC38.2,0,8=46.2;22,Tynan

Mist(ALudiman)GBR33,25.6,8=66.6;

24,FernhillMixAndMatch(S

Shanahan)IRL35.3,32,5.2=72.5;

29,CoppenaghSpringSparrow

33.8,44.8,8.8=87.4.

atmospheric arena, and plenty

of poles fell. Ibble and Finn’s

showjumping experience told

and they jumped clear, Finn

just adding 0.4 of a time-fault.

That pushed them both up the

leaderboard, and Daisy went in

to jump knowing the team medal

was in the bag but that she had to

go clear to win individually.

Sadly it didn’t go to plan, and

a stop and a fence down dropped

her to seventh and handed gold

to Finn and silver to Ibble. Freya

finished fourth and Xanthe in

10th. Ireland took team bronze

behind France.

“It’s crazy — it still hasn’t sunk

in,” said Finn, who has dreams of

eventing professionally.

He took over the ride on nine-

year-old Caspar from his sister

last November, and it took a while

for the two to click.

“He’s very sensitive on the flat

and it took a little bit for us to get

used to each other,” Finn said.

“But he’s very obedient and always

tries really hard. He’s got the heart

of a lion.”

Pony chef d’equipe and

chairman of selectors Jill Barker

said: “All six British riders were

wonderful. I’m proud of them

all and very grateful to all our

support team.

“It was a difficult send-off

for our riders with the tragic

death of [long-listed rider] Iona

Schlater in an accident at home.

They carried her with them,

no doubt about it. They wore

a representation of her cross-

country colours on their number

bibs and they wanted to do the job

for her.” H&H

‘It still hasn’t sunk in,’

says Finn Healy of his

individual gold medal

aboard the ‘sensitive’

Midnight Dancer II