Andreas Ostholt and So Is Et lead the field
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If you were in Norfolk today, there were only two places to be; the beach or the Saracen Horse Feed Houghton International Horse Trials. In fact Houghton International had the feel of a beach today with beautiful sunshine, a coastal breeze, a big open bar to hang around in and everyone in shorts and sleeveless tops
However the top hats and tails had to be donned for the dressage. The CICO3* including the FEI Nations Cup started today and Oliver Townend started team proceedings on Arctic Mouse with a score of 42.8 which had him in the lead for a good first part of the morning. As is usually Oliver’s luck (and because he rides so many horses) he topped and tailed the day, finishing in 10th place riding Black Tie II while, earlier in the afternoon, Note Worthy had sneaked ahead of his stable mate to currently be in third place on a score of 42.1.
Oliver and Note Worthy, a horse previously competed in Australia by Tim Boland
It wasn’t all the Oliver Townend show however with the young British rider Will Furlong, who won the CCI2*YR here last year on his 14 year old Holsteiner Livingstone, today scoring 41.1 for second place. But it was Germany’s Andreas Ostholt, the man with the big smile and great uniform who finished second at Badminton in 2016 on So Is Et, who wowed the judges and rightly so
Will Furlong and Livingstone II
Andreas and So Is Et produced a test that was light, forward and looked oh so easy. He was obviously pleased with it as he left the arena with a big smile on his face and got high fives from his team
Towards the end of the day there was one rider who could really have pipped him at the post and it was Pippa Funnell on her Rio horse Billy the Biz. Pippa and Billy were absolutely on song as they warmed up outside of the arena although they lost a little bit of sparkle in the arena to finish the day in fifth place
Pippa and Billy the Biz leave the arena but they hadn't done quite enough to topple Andreas
Piggy French dominates the CCI1* and CCI2*, leading both classes on Cooley Monsoon and Morswood. In the CCI1* she has Gemma Tattersall snapping at her heels with just one penalty between Piggy on Jennifer Saunders’ Cooley Monsoon and Gemma on Billy Hopefull while New Zealand’s Caroline Powell on Flipper K is in second place in the CCI2*
Piggy French and Cooley Monsoon (above) and Emily King on Walitze F Vejgard lead the CCI2*YR (below)
