Olympic Happy Hour: August 7

Throughout the Olympics, Horse Nation will be capping off each day with a pint-sized synopsis of the most recent Olympic equestrian sporting festivities. Here’s your Happy Hour report for Tuesday, August 7.

Take it away, official Horse Nation “I’ve been getting up at 5 a.m. for you people for a week” Olympic Correspondent Liz Fletcher!:

You’ve never seen a fan until you’ve seen an Italian fan. Via Valentina’s Facebook:

And so, the streak continues. Two team golds, the first show jumping gold for Great Britain in 60 years, their first EVER Olympic medal in dressage, and silver in eventing. The team is having an amazing Olympics, and I think that will only continue during the Dressage Freestyle and the Individual medaling rounds for show jumping.

Today’s dressage concluded the team rounds and ended as follows:

The scores are the average scores of all three team riders from the Grand Prix and the Special. Denmark in 4^th place was 4 points behind the Netherlands, highlighting the need for all the riders to score in the upper 70s to even have an opportunity for a medal. The USA finished in 6^th with only Steffen Peters and Ravel qualifying for the freestyle. The top 18 will continue on.

Here is who you will be watching in the freestyle on Thursday morning:

After spending a couple of years in Italy, I hold a special place in my heart for Valentina Truppa and her horse Eremo del Castegno. She was the only Italian to compete in dressage and it is unlikely that they will medal, but she was beaming this morning after she finished her test. Brava for her.

Unfortunately for the German team, Desperados and Kristina Sprehe had some costly mistakes after the stallion spooked by H and earned fours for his passage. This, plus the tremendous riding by the British team, is what gave the gold to the Brits. But team GBR was not without mistakes in their tests, but it was the way in which all the other movements were performed that propelled them into the lead.

Jan Ebeling has stated that he is not upset at all with his score on day two. He feels that the mare has worked very well and done the best she could. Watching her go always puts a smile on my face as she always does seem to give it her all. Tina Konyot also made some mistakes in her test, and in an interview with the Chronicle she said that she was disappointed in herself. I think this Olympics year was very telling for the U.S. team in all equestrian sports, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we have a similar overhaul to that of the British while we prepare for Normandy and Rio.

Tomorrow is the big day for show jumping. Beginning at 12pm GMT (7am EST), riders will compete in Round A and then come back at 2:55pm GMT (9:55am EST) to compete in Round B. Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen, as we watch the best of the best hunt for individual gold.

Go show jumping, and God save the queen.