worldofshowjumping.com

The gold winning British team; Peter, Ben, Scott and Nick. Nick Skelton was obviously a popular man on today's press conference that followed after the British Olympic gold medal: "I have been to a lot of Games and doing a lot of mistakes so I have been waiting a long time for this medal," Nick said about finally winning an Olympic gold medal.

Nick for sure is one of the favorites for the individual medals and said this about the final on Wednesday: "It is another day and a different competition. Big Star is in tremendous form and couldn't jump better. But everything can happen and anyone of the riders in the final can win."

Julia Hargreaves has made it to the final for Australia. Read about what Marcus Ehning said after his clear round today, Reed Kessler's thoughts about her Olympic debut at the age of eighteen and Nick Skelton's words about the fantastic Big Star and much more in the quotes from today.

Julia Hargreaves about her Olympic experience so far: "I didn't think I'd make it this far in the first place. When I got here I was happy to jump around the first day and in the team competition, and put it under my belt as experience. I have been very happy with how he [Vedor] has gone, he has been looking after me incredibly well. It is no better horse to be on for your first games and I am not a super relaxed competitor so he really looked after me." So you have been nervous? "You have no idea!"

The British team won Olympic gold on home soil in London. Here are Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Scott Brash and Peter Charles with their medals. Photo by © 2012 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com.Great Britain made history and took home the Olympic gold in London in the team competition. This was Great Britain’s first Olympic jumping gold since 1952, and the first Olympic jumping team medal in 28 years – the last came in Los Angeles in 1984. Not only was the gold historic, it was also much longed for – not to forget extremely deserved after amazing performances from Nick Skelton and Big Star (Quick Star x Nimmerdor), Ben Maher and Tripple X (Namelus R x Cantango), Scott Brash and Hello Sanctos (Quasimodo VD Molendreef x Nabab de Reve) and Peter Charles aboard Vindicat (Guidam x Libero H) through what ended up to be three rounds of team competition. After a thrilling jump-off – almost too much to bear – between Great Britain and The Netherlands, the latter had to settle for silver as three of the British riders rode clears and two of the Dutch had poles down. The bronze went to Saudi Arabia, after great performances from the entire team.

There will be no more Games for Penelope Leprevost. Photo by Jenny Abrahamsson.The Olympics are over for several riders. There have been a lot of surprises over the last days and several of our gold medal candidates will miss the rest of the Games. Not one of the medal teams from the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky 2010 - Germany, Belgium and France - made it to the second round of the team competition. Instead the two teams with just three riders, Brazil and Canada, did an amazing job and qualified for today.

The starting order for the third individual qualifier and second part of the Olympic team competition in London Monday, can be found here.

Philippe and Vigo after today's round.The reports from London say that Philippe Le Jeune’s ride Vigo d’Arsouilles (Nabab de Reve x Fleuri du Manoir) will not compete in the third individual qualifier tomorrow due to a minor injury. The final decision has not yet been made, but it looks like the reigning World Champion has jumped his last fence in London. Several websites also reports that this might have been Vigo’s last competition, and that the wonderful stallion now will be used for breeding only.

We will keep you updated tomorrow as soon as we know anything more. Fingers crossed for Vigo and Philippe. We would love to see more of them together.

Nick Skelton got a big hug from Laura Kraut after his clear round on Big Star.  

A press conference regarding Victor's disqualification was held this afternoon. Victor, ridden by Canadian rider Tiffany Foster, will take no further part in the equestrian events at London 2012. The horse has according to FEI been disqualified under the FEI’s hypersensitivity protocol due to an area of clear and obvious hypersensitivity on the front of the left forelimb. A protest was lodged by the Canadian chef d’equipe and was heard by the FEI Appeal Committee before the end of the competition, however the protest was denied. A press conference with Princess Haya, president of the FEI, Tiffany Foster, Eric Lamaze and FEI Foreign Veterinary Delegate Kent Allen has just been held at Greenwich Park.

“I do want to be very clear with you, it is absolutely no accusation what so ever of malpractice. We have this rule for the welfare of the horse. I totally sympathize with what Tiffany is going through,” Princess Haya said at the press conference. “We are here to stand beside Tiffany and we are very grateful for her to be here,” Princess Haya added later as Foster was clearly very upset and cried through the entire press conference.

"He didn't touch a fence, he is in super shape!" Edwina said about her super star Itot.The homecrowd favorite Nick Skelton: "It was a nice course, not crazy big. I am happy. He [Big Star] is very fresh, but outside he is very quiet and you might think it is something wrong with him. But as soon  as he gets in the ring he lights up ten gears," said Nick about his round with Big Star. Nick also explained why he likes to ride first. "I am not a very patient person"!

Luciana Diniz about her big baby Lennox: "The feeling was good. I was number one to go so I didn't have to worry about anything. I could just be me there - me and my horse. So we went in there to enjoy it and have fun and so we did. Lennox has a lot of caracter, we call him the big baby. He is still a baby in his mind, he needs a lot of support and a lot of trust, a lot of friendship from the groom and the team - he is a great horse."

The Saudi Arabian team - here represented by Abdullah Sharbatly and Sultan - are in the lead of the Olympic team jumping in London. Photo by © 2012 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com.Day two of the Olympic Games ended in the most surprising way, when the Saudi Arabian team took the lead after the first round of the Olympic team competition and favorites Germany and France made a shocking exit together with five other teams. Germany was considered as one of the favorites – if not the favorite – for the Olympic team gold, but after ending up on a twelve penalty score the team competition was over for the German team at day two. A small comfort was nevertheless that Janne Friederike Meyer, Marcus Ehning and Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum all made it to the third individual qualifier as they were among the 45 best riders. Expectations were high for the French team as well, they were in the medals both at the Europeans last year and at the WEG in 2010, but after today the French had to wave goodbye to their team medal chances after ending on a 14 penalty score – and also seeing Penelope Leprevost sadly exit the individual competition.

©ESI Photography Laura Chapot and Quointreau Un Prince get some serious height over the CWD fence in Friday's $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, at HITS Saugerties.Laura Chapot just extended her impressive mid-summer winning streak with another victory in the $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, at HITS-on-the-Hudson. Friday’s triumph marked the fourth consecutive win for Chapot in the last two weeks and the second victory aboard Quointreau Un Prince, an 8-year-old mount she bought three years ago from McLain Ward. 

Find the starting order for today's team jumping at Greenwich Park here.

Ian Millar just seconds before he does his first start in his 10th Olympic Games. For sure an impressive record! 

Reed Kessler is the youngest rider at this Olympics with her 18 years. "She is brilliant all the time, she is always brilliant," said a happy Reed Kessler about her horse Cylana after their Olympic debut where they only had one time penalty.

Marc Houtzager on the course and his horse Tamino; "He jumped really good and was super today. He is just a fantastic horse. And the course was build really fair. The horses have to jump four days with the warm-up class yesterday and that is a lot. Normally we give our horses a day off in between, but it will be the same for everyone. It will be tough for the horses though. So this was a good and fair class to start with," explained Marc.

"Silvana is a really careful horse and sometimes she can be a little bit scared and loose her capicity to make a good jump. She is a little bit stiff and need her flatwork, but I have to take my time with her. It is a little bit the same story every day so I have to give her time,"Kevin Staut said about his mare.