The Opening Ceremony where each team was led by a traditional jouster
The FEI Pony European Championships took place in Italy last week from 23rd – 28th July.
The Championships, which feature show jumping, dressage and eventing took place in the beautiful medieval city of Arezzo, an area well known for their equestrian connections as well as their jousting competitions.
51 competitors from 12 countries took part in the eventing with teams from 8 nations. The event, which has been run since 1986, seems to provide a great atmosphere for the young competitors as well as being highly competitive. The Opening Ceremony kicked off proceedings for all competitors on Tuesday 23rd and the two days of eventing dressage took place on Thursday and Friday.
Marine Bolleret (Perle du Boisdelanoue) for France
After the dressage the French team, last year’s winners, were in the lead on a score of 136,00, with the home team Italy in second place (137,70) and Great Britain in third (137,70).
A good score of 37.70 for French rider Victor Levecque and Qualitat des Bourdons put them in individual first place and he continued to lead the individual rankings and France held onto its team lead the next day in the cross country. In fact all four of the leading nations maintained their positions as they took their turn over Francesco Finocchiaro’s 24-fence cross-country course.
Leading after the cross country Victor Levecque (Qualitat des Bourdons)
Finocchiaro had the added challenge of creating a course from scratch, as the Arezzo Equestrian Centre had never held an eventing competition before. The layout of the site meant that he had to link new ground at one end of the equestrian complex with the final group of fences that run through the Boccaccio arena, which is named after the famous Italian poet and author Giovanni Boccaccio.
Talking about his approach to the task, Finocchiaro said on the Arezzo Equestrian website that “course designing for pony competition is just the same as for a normal cross-country. It is about striking a balance while also testing the competitors”.
He said that all fences on the new course at Arezzo were built at the maximum height of 1.05m, with the exception of the first fence. “There are six combination fences and the most technical are fences 15 and 16. The Bank to the Skinny at 22 and 23 may also be difficult for some - these two fences have to ridden accurately”.
It seems that the young riders handled the course well, with the top 12 combinations jumping clear and under time.
Yasmin Ingham and Craig Mor Tom
However the final day showed once again that, whatever the size of the horse, it all comes down to the jumping. British rider Yasmin Ingham from the Isle of Man jumped clear to take the individual gold on her pony, Craig Mor Tom while French riders Marine Bolleret and Victor Levecque took silver and bronze
The victorious British team
The British team also took the top honours on a score of 142.2 whilst France moved down from overnight gold to finish with silver on 144.0. Ireland overtook Italy to take team bronze with a score of 150.9 while the home team finished just out of the podium placings on a score of 153.7.
All photos courtesy of Arezzo Equestrian Centre/ Digital World
