Tokyo 2021 – Irish Sport Horse Magazine

Well the Irish Equestrian Olympic campaign was missing a Dressage Team due to no fault of our Irish Dressage Athletes; however, the Irish Equestrian Athletes that got to the games did us proud. Irish Olympic Dressage Update Heike Holstein was first off, with her homebred mare, Sambuca, and despite having no support on the ground, i.e. no High Performance Dressage Coach, Heike and Sambuca, put up a solid performance which was close to their Personal Best, finishing 6th in their heat. Although this combination failed to make the finals at this Olympics, Sambuca is relatively young horse for this level and we hope to see both Heike and Sambuca shine for Paris 2024. Indeed with still 3 years to Paris the future is looking bright for an Irish Dressage Team, as there is some wonderful talent coming through the ranks to Grand Prix. Irish Olympic Eventing Update Next up was our talented Eventing Squad, and I must admit I did have high hopes for this fantastic squad. However, when Cathal Daniels long time Equine Partner, Rioghan Rua had to be withdrawn for Veterinary reasons, it seemed that Tokyo was not going to plan for the Irish Team. However, the reserve and 3 times Olympian Austin O’Connor, a native of County Cork, stepped in to take Cathal’s place, with his horse Colarado Blue, which is relatively new to the Level. All 3 of our event team, put up respectable Dressage Scores, and when it came to the Cross Country Phase, Austin’s Horse really did shine, storming around the Tokyo Cross Country clear and inside the time, impressive as there were not many horses that did so. Sam Watson and Tullabeg Flamenco, also had a good round, although Sam blamed himself on a mistake Cross Country, which saw him knock a fence and add some costly Jumping, along with time faults to his score. Sarah Ennis and Horseware Woodcourt Garrison, also had minor Issues Cross Country, but on the whole for Watson’s and Ennis’s First Games, I really believe they put in wonderful performances. Following the Showjumping Phase, our 3 event riders had some fences down, with O’Connor and Colarado Blue, making the Individual Final and finishing in 13th place overall. The Irish Eventing Team finished in 8th place over all, and a super achievement to all concerned and certainly lots to look forward to for Paris in 3 years time. Irish Olympic Showjumping Update Next up was the Showjumping, with 3 super Combinations with 3 exceptional horses 2 of which were Irish Sport Horses! Cian O’Connor and Kilkenny, Darragh Kenny and VDL Cartello and Bertram Allen and Pacino Amiro. Cian has represented Ireland and 3 Olympic Games taking an Individual Bronze in London 2012. This was Darragh Kenny and Bertram Allen first Olympic Games, although they both have huge experience at this level. Our Showjumping Campaign for the Individual Event, got off to a Cracking Start, with all three of our Riders Making it through to the Individual Final. The following day, Cian O’Connor and Kilkenny were first to go and put in a foot perfect round to finish clear on Jumping faults, but with just one time fault, preventing them going through to the second round. O’Connor finished in 7th Place overall in the Individual Showjumping Event with Kilkenny, a horse who is quite young and relatively new to the level. Unfortunately Kenny and VDL Cartello had 2 fences down which ruled them out of the second round. Allen and Pacino Amiro also had 2 fences down which put an end to Ireland’s Individual Medal hopes. But it was all still to play for, as the Irish Team still had a Team Showjumping Competition to look forward to. However following his performance Cian O’Connor announced that Kilkenny had suffered a nose bleed at the end of his super round, and although the Vet had given him the all clear, the decision was made to withdraw the horse from the team competition as the Welfare of the animal was O’Connor’s main concern. So Shane Sweetnam the Irish Reserve rider was called on to take O’Connor’s Place. Irish Olympic Team Showjumping Update The Stage was set for a super Team Showjumping Event, with 3 super Rider Horse combinations, Shane Sweetnam and Alejandro, Darragh Kenny and VDL Cartello and Bertram Allen with Pacino Amiro. However, it was not to be for Ireland this time. During Shane Sweetnam’s round disaster struck, when Alejandro lost a show early in the round and hesitated at the combination resulting in a crashing fall. Luckily neither horse or rider was badly injured during the fall and the decision was made to withdraw the final rider from the competition as there was no way Ireland could continue in the team competition. Ireland's withdrawal was due to the new Olympic format, there are only 3 rider horse combinations allowed to compete giving the teams no discard score or room for error. Irish Olympic Pentathlon Update Our last Equestrian Rider of sorts was in the Pentathlon Event, our Irish Athlete, Natalya Coyle was in 4th Place so close to a medal going into the riding phase. What I did not realise prior to this games, that these Athlete’s do not ride their own horses, horses are provided at the games that are meant to be up to a certain standard. However, at the Tokyo Games, this did not appear to be the case, with more than one horse refusing and looking upset and uncomfortable. Unfortunately for our Irish Athlete, she drew a horse called Constantin, who had previously stopped quite badly with another Athlete. Although our rider did her best to get round the course of show jumps, this horse was extremely unhappy, he looked sour and miserable, resulting in some refusals, which saw Coyle drop out of medal contention to finish in 24th place overall at her last Olympic Games. I believe it was completely unfair of the Olympic Organisers to provide horses that were so unhappy, this goes completely against animal welfare and let us not forget the Individual Athlete that has trained for years in the hope of reaching a medal position only to have it reduced to a game of chance, i.e. whether you were lucky enough to draw the right horse. More needs to be done to ensure that the Horses are not only up to the job, but that they are happy and comfortable doing it, let us hope this problem will be addressed prior to the next Olympic Games. Well that concluded this Irish Equestrian Olympic Campaign and I am so looking forward to what the next 3 years can bring, as I feel certain medals are within our grasp!!