Two horses held at first eventing trot-up at World Equestrian Games

Two horses were held at the first trot-up for the Mars-sponsored eventing competition at the World Equestrian Games (WEG) this afternoon (Wednesday, 12 September), but both passed on re-inspection.

The held horses were Belgium’s Imperial Van De Holtakkers, ridden by Joris Vanspringel and the Netherlands’ Rumour Has It NOP, ridden by Merel Blom.

The British team horses — Caroline Moore and Ros Canter’s Allstar B, ridden by Ros; Elisabeth Murdoch and Keith Tyson’s Billy The Red, ridden by Tina Cook; Jayne McGivern’s Quarrycrest Echo, ridden by Piggy French; Tom McEwen, Jane Inns’ and Ali McEwen’s Toledo De Kerser, ridden by Tom and The Soul Syndicate and Gemma Tattersall’s Arctic Soul, ridden by Gemma — all sailed through the inspection. It has not yet been announced which of the five will take the individual berth and which four will form the team.

The ground jury, consisting of Anne-Mette Binder (Denmark), Jane Hamlin (USA) and Andrew Bennie (New Zealand), inspected 83 horses from 23 nations this afternoon. Sixteen countries field a team, with the remaining seven having individual competitors only.

Ireland’s five horses all looked in good shape too. The last one to be inspected, Cathal Daniels’ Rioghan Rua cantered sideways on the return down the trot-up strip, but the ground jury passed her without seeing her trot again.

The big grey horse from Ecuador, Meyer’s Happy, ridden by Nicolas Wettstein, also had a little bronc at the end of the strip.

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Pippa Roome

H&H magazine editor and eventing editor

Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.