Tom McEwen and JL Dublin were the first British pair to complete the cross-country phase at today’s Agria FEI European Eventing Championships.
They jumped clear and finished with 6.8 time-faults to add to put them in the hunt for an individual medal.
“It’s amazing the English public here today. It is actually completely full all the way around and there’s definite little hubs of areas where it’s completely packed out and ‘Dubs’ was just loving it,” said Tom.
“For me it was just settling him down for the first couple of minutes. All these combinations are built with positive distances and I was actually holding through all of them, so he was loving it.
“It well suited his way of going and I could just settle him down for the latter part of the course.
“Mark’s allowed you from beginning to end to be in a flowing rhythm, so the horses were in that state of mind all the way and the bigger distances later on come up pretty easy.”
‘I just focus on my own stuff’
Pathfinder Yasmin Ingham and Piggy March both fell off during their rounds, meaning Britain is out of contention for a team medal.
Individual Caroline Harris also fell off during her round.
“To be honest, I just focus on my own stuff. All six of us have been a great team, but we’re all doing our own individual stuff so for me personally, I like to focus on my own bits and bobs,” said Tom.
“I thought, watching them, they all rode fantastic rounds and, like I’ve had many of them, it’s not been their day today.”
Tom picked up 6.8 time-faults — one of the quickest rounds of the day. He said he thinks the optimum time is getable.
“I think there is a possibility that someone as quick and smooth as… I’ll just say Mickey [Jung]. I won’t say the other rider I was thinking of.
“If you can trust, like Mickey said in the press conference yesterday, that you can recover a horse quickly, they’re actually recovering up the hills as much as down the hills. It is possible, but you have to be as quick as you are smooth, which is a tough combination.”
Tom said the earlier rounds of his fellow squad mates did not affect his plans for his round.
“It’s a massive shame, but not at all. I’m riding Dubs and that’s all I’ve got to focus on and concentrate on. It makes no difference what anyone else is up to.”
Since Tom finished, the second British individual, Bubby Upton, fell off Its Cooley Time coming out of the Agria River Crossing (fence 19). Both were uninjured.
