Laura Collett and Calmaro took the Open Intermediate at the 2018 South of England (2)
There is an invasion of French riders heading to the South of England this weekend
It’s nothing to do with Brexit – simply that the South of England (2) International will be playing host to many French riders this weekend including a raft of slightly smaller riders who are bringing their ponies to England for the Mid Sussex Timber CCI-SP2*
France, who took the Silver Team medal at the FEI European Championships for Ponies in Strzegom behind Team GBR in the gold-medal winning position, have obviously decided to check out how to beat the English on home soil and 16 French combinations are listed to start the Pony 2* at the South of England event. Ireland, who took team bronze at the Championships, also have two combinations entered. The British double gold medallist Finn Healy won’t be competing but we do have a little something special coming up with Finn and his sister Ellie this weekend, so keep an eye out for that!
There are several French riders also entered in the CCI2* and CCI3* classes including UK-based Gaspard Maksud who has some very good horses and the Open Intermediate is awash with big names such as Burghley-winner Pippa Funnell at her family-run event, Blenheim-winner Chris Burton, Zara Tindall, Andrew Nicholson, Kevin McNab, Francis Whittington and Laura Collett.
It’s going to be a good one – let’s just hope the rain stays away this year!
