WEG Happy Hour, September 17: Ros Canter & Team GB Win Eventing Gold

If anything, pushing jumping back by a day in the schedule only made the suspense that much sweeter: Ros Canter and Allstar B take individual gold, with Great Britain winning team gold.

FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon USA Gold medalist Ros Canter on Allstar B; GBR
Photo FEI/Liz Gregg

With Florence just a bad memory now for the Tryon area, stadium jumping took place today, rescheduled from Sunday afternoon. Whether or not a lot of the intended ticket holders were able to make it back to the arena for today’s nail-biting showdown, cheers rang loud over Tryon with each subsequent round.

The action continues tomorrow with the start of para-dressage, show jumping and vaulting.

The story of the day: Ros Canter and Allstar B win individual gold in a surprising down-to-the-last-fence twist, and Great Britain wins team gold over Ireland and France. The individual medals came down literally to the final fence, with Germany’s Ingrid Klimke dropping the last rail to move Ros Canter with her clear round into the gold medal position. The best-placed US pair was Phillip Dutton and Z in 13th; Team USA finished eighth and will need to qualify for the 2020 Olympics via the 2019 Pan American Games. [British Invasion: Ros Canter, Team GB Take Gold in WEG Show Jumping Upset]

Just how bad did the weather get on Sunday to merit so much rescheduling? Well, some riders believe that they could have ridden and even competed just fine, but with the predicted rain with wind, plus flash flood and mud slide warnings, the consensus is that WEG organizers made the right decision. Check out the photos of minor flooding from around the facility. [How The WEG And Its Athletes Are Weathering The Storm]

Did you miss the live stream today while doing adult things like going to work or class? Not to fear — Eventing Nation’s live thread is here for you to relive the highlights from each round. From Meyer’s Happy taking a bonus victory bolting lap to every lucky rub, here are the details you won’t get from the recap articles. [WEG Show Jumping Live Updates, Presented by SmartPak]

“It’s just absolutely incredible – not just for me but the whole sport and team behind me and Team GB.” Eventing Nation was present at the final press conference to catch the impressions on the day and the entire event from the leading riders of Teams Great Britain and Ireland — tragically, the French had to scramble to catch their flights due to the event rescheduling. [Dream Teams: Inspirational Quotes From the Final WEG Press Conference]

Flashback to reining one more time: among all of the Quarter horses sliding and spinning in the indoor arena, one horse dared to be different. Brazil’s Roberto Jou Inchausti was mounted not on the typical AQHA, but a native-bred Criollo, F5 Licurgo Tapajos. A true representative of his homeland, the Criollo is the mount of the gaucho, the Brazilian answer to the cowboy. While the Quarter horse may be the most popular breed for reining internationally, Inchausti and his compatriots are working hard to keep the Criollo part of the conversation as well. [King Criollo]