Britain’s team delivered a super silver at the pony European Eventing Championships (31 July-3 August) in Le Mans, France, holding second in the standings throughout the competition.
Team member Annabel Ridgway added to the medal haul by landing the individual bronze with Project Pony’s Akim De L’Arquerie.
The team of Annabel, Arabella Henderson and Hannah Henderson’s Our Billy Eile (seventh), Florence Drewitt with the Drewitts’ Battlestown Delight (16th) and Alice Fraser and Erica Watson’s Bookhamlodge Pennylane, got proceedings off to a great start by slotting into provisional silver after the dressage, behind Germany.
Cross-country course-designer Pierre Michelet’s track proved influential; two notable water combinations late on course caused the most problems. Arabella was the pathfinder and a confident clear inside the time provided her team-mates with valuable information.
“It was a little bit nerve-racking going first, and then my stopwatch didn’t start, so I had to keep the pace up, but luckily ‘Mabel’ is a bit of a speed demon,” said Arabella.
“Near the end there was a corner off a sharp left-hand turn that I had planned to go the long route, but because she’d given me such confidence all the way round, I went direct. I was really pleased with how she tackled it, she was definitely game-on.”
Annabel was last to set out for the team and a clear was needed to maintain Britain’s podium position. Florence had picked up 20 penalties and 4.8 time-faults, and Alice suffered an unfortunate technical elimination for missing an element when re-presenting at a combination, having completed the course.
“The course walked quite tough but ‘Otto’ loved it,” said Annabel. “I have such a good partnership with him and he trusts me. His ears were forward the whole time and it all went to plan.”
The pair’s faultless round moved them up from seventh to provisional bronze individually.
Going into the final showjumping phase Britain was on a score of 117.4, behind reigning champions France, who finished the cross-country on a score of 86.7.
The Brits held a comfortable buffer ahead of the Netherlands (169.9) in provisional third but this was not needed as all three counting riders posted clear jumping rounds, Florence adding just 0.4 of a time-penalty to the team tally, to claim the silver. France won gold, and Germany moved back on to the podium, taking bronze.
“It’s amazing just to be able to go to the Europeans, let alone to go with a pony who is my best friend. I’ve grown up with Mabel, so it’s brilliant to finish my journey with her on a high,” said Arabella, who moves on to horses next season. “There’s been such great team spirit and everyone has been so supportive.”
Annabel Ridgway and Akim De L’Arquerie claim individual bronze at the 2025 pony European Eventing Championships. Credit: Libby Law/FEI
Annabel claimed the individual bronze, at her final pony Europeans. France’s Ella Rinaldi won individual gold with Boston Du Verdon and Germany’s Milla Staade and Charleen San silver.
“You really get to know your team-mates, it’s been so nice,” said Annabel. “We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, so for it to all come together, and to get the individual medal too, is extra-special.”
Pony European Eventing Championships: ‘Proud of our riders’
British individual combinations, Maisie Greening with her own Kilnaspic Lily, and Cleo Whitbread on Claire Davis and Isabel Lhoyd-Owen’s Night Fury, finished 17th and 26th respectively.
Chef d’equipe Camilla Kruger, who led the Brits with coach Nicola Wilson, said the standard of these young riders is “very exciting”.
“We are very proud of all our riders,” she said. “In the dressage we had three riders in the sub-30s, which was great, and the cross-country was very influential – although it is a 1.05m track, the technicality was three-star, so it’s decent for these 14.2hh ponies. In the showjumping our riders jumped exceptionally and the ponies came out looking fantastic.”
Camilla thanked everyone involved: “It doesn’t take one or two of us, it takes a whole team to get that result,” she said. “We are so grateful for the support of British Eventing and our sponsors for giving these riders opportunities to go overseas and compete for the British team.”
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