Stuart Tinney and Vettori (Kiwi) jumped a fantastic clear round today to finish in 8th place of the Individual competition today. Chris Burton and Holstein Park Leilani had one rail down and some time faults to finish in 48th place and Peter Atkins jumped clear to finish in 24th place while poor Paul Tapner and Sam Griffiths sat on the sidelines. Sonja also sat out the showjumping – she withdrew Jag after the trot up as he apparently had a small puncture wound which was flushed out and treated overnight. Jag is fine but in Sonja’s words – “he has nothing left to prove” and she intends to now retire this wonderful horse. What a great job he has done for Australia. 
The team positions changed dramatically towards the end of the competition as the veteran rider for the US, Karen O’Conner on Mandiba had 8 faults at Fence 7 (an upright gate where she had a stop and then knocked it down), taking her from 9th to 19th place and costing the USA their medal chance. When the US went down from silver position, Canada moved up to take their place and our Antipodean friends, New Zealand won bronze. Ingrid Klimke also had 8 faults, taking her from 4th to 13th and throughout this, Stuart was slowly moving up the placings! Wayne Roycroft presented the New Zealand team with their bronze medals and there were lots of hugs and jokes but I would have loved to know what was in his mind as he presented them! The update from Paul Tapner is that Inonothing has sustained a fracture to a bone in his stifle joint but he has been treated by the vets and is now comfortable in his stable. Hopefully he will make a full recovery and will get another chance to represent Australia in the near future.
