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Postcards From the Saddle: Longines FEI World Cup Sweden

Published on Wednesday, March 12, 2014 in Postcards from the saddle

By: Meryn Cooper 

Facebook & twitter @Zebramezmedia

Michael Whitaker

Every now and then you get to tick something off your bucket list. And recently I was able to watch some of my showjumping heroes in action at the Longines FEI World Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden. 

It’s something that my “normal”, non-horsie friends don’t know about me. But on rainy days or when the temps soar to a ridiculous high I enjoyed nothing more than watching Europe’s best in action. Originally I imported DVD’s from overseas, but in recent years, I’ve subscribed to FEI TV, which only fuels my addiction. I can now watch the events in real time, or if I don’t want to stay up late, within 24 hours.

So there I was, ticket in hand outside Gothenburg’s Scandinavium Arena, as thousands of like-minded horse people streamed through the gates. The event works in with EuroHorse, a huge display of horse products from all around Europe, I’d already spent hours trolling through the 250 trade stands containing anything and everything to do with horses.

The mood in the 12,000-seat arena was electric, as a near capacity crowd cheered on the home favourites. The first combination out in the ring was Swedish rider Marlin Baryard-Johnsson and her horse H&M Tornesch 1042. The pair produced a clear round and the crowd exploded, with cheering, stomping and clapping. How the horses cope I don’t know, but they do.

And it was to be the home nation's day; with the Swedish riders claiming three of the ten clear rounds to move through to the jump off. Germany’s Marcus Ehning and Switzerland’s Pius Schwizer proved why they remain at the top of their game and also went through to the next round.

Australia’s Edwina Tops-Alexander and her 10-year-old gelding Ego Van Orti jumped clear, though a one second time penalty pushed her out of the jump off. Other big names were also unlucky. Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum’s horse became disunited and he withdrew mid-way through the course and England’s Michael Whitaker and Ireland’s Dennis Lynch collected rails.

The jump off provided even more excitement, as the riders raced against the clock. Just point two of a second separated the winner and second place. Belgian Nicola Philippaerts won the day on his horse Donnatella-N, a mare picked out by his coach and father. But I didn’t really care who won. It was just such a thrill being there. Being part of a collective gasp from the crowd when a rail went down, watching the concentration on the rider’s faces as they turned from one jump to the next, feeling the sand as it flicked out of the arena. I think being seated so close to the ring; you could truly appreciate just how high 1.6 metres really is.

It was an unforgettable day, and something I hope I’ll be able to do again soon.

 

You can see the concentration on the rider's faces
The first rider out was Marlin Baryard-Johnsson
Lamborghini helmet at one of the trade stalls at EuroHorse

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