Dutch team clinch first gold of Pony Championships

The first medal of the FEI European Pony Championships 2010 went to the Netherlands for the team dressage competition with a final score of 221.22.

It was a closely fought contest right to the end with Germany taking silver on 219 and Denmark narrowly squeezing Great Britain into fourth to take the bronze medal with a score of 206.22.
The German team have been unbeaten at this level for some 20 years and a delighted Dutch chef d’equipe Tinkeke Bartles commented: "We are really happy, this group of riders have been fighting for gold for a number of years and for three of the riders this is their last year at this level so it is very special."

Chef d’equipe for the German team Cornelia Endres was still pleased with her team performance "We are not disappointed – we may not have been the best this year but I’m sure we have been the nicest! This is a new situation for us but I am sure we will survive. We have a mixed team with two promising new riders and we were unlucky to lose one of our best combinations the day before we flew over here."

Germany’s Jessica Krieg with Danilo topped the individual table with a score of 75.50% followed by Dutch riders Maria Van Den Dungen on Rembrandt DDH in second on 74.22% and Antoinette Te Riele on Golden Girl in third on 74.17%.

The top 25 combinations, including three British riders, will go through to Friday’s individual competition which promises to be hotly contested. All the riders will revert to zero scores.