Andrew Hoy and Vassily de Lassos.

© FEI/Christophe Tanie´re

Ryan's Rave: What went right (and what went wrong) at Tokyo

By Heath Ryan

Let’s just start with our eventing results. Team silver and individual bronze was a great result and didn’t our three riders, Shane Rose riding Virgil, Kevin McNab riding Don Quidam and Andrew Hoy riding Vassily de Lassos mix it with the best in the world and didn’t they more than hold their own.

Without question, the Australian eventing riders operate at the top level in their sport and are very good at the dressage, very, very good at the cross country and very, very, very good at the show jumping. On top of that, our horses were outstanding and the competitive toughness of our riders was remarkable. There was just so much pressure at the top end of the Tokyo competition and the team that blinked the least was the Australian team. Well, maybe the British team winning the team gold medal was pretty spectacular as well!
 

Read the full article in the August issue of Equestrian Life magazine here.