French out in force at Bramham International

Swoon time ladies as Astier Nicolas and Arpege du Mancel trot up

 

An Eventful Life is filming all competitors on cross country at

Bramham International - find out more here

 

There is plenty of ooh la la at the Equi-Trek Bramham International Horse Trials this week with the French out in force at the big international event in Yorkshire

Astier Nicolas, Maxime Livio, Karim Florent-Laghouag and Luc Chateau are among the nine combinations competing in the Equi-Trek CCI4*-L, while five young French riders are tackling the British Horse Feeds U25 CCI4-L and three in the Land Rover CCI4*-S. Like Germany, the French high performance squads target certain big British events to give their riders exposure to top international competition and big atmosphere and Bramham is obviously the place to be this year

The British riders are also obviously going to be influential across the three classes with the Under-25 class having some very strong British contenders; Bella Innes Ker, Richard Coney (who recently enjoyed his first British Senior Team experience), Felicity Collins, Mollie Summerland and Yasmin Ingham are all red hot competitors but they will have to fight off Irish silver medallist Cathal Daniels on his Olympic horse Rioghan Rua. It’s hard to believe these very talented riders are still under 25!

 

       Cathal Daniels and Rioghan Rua

 

Talking of Ireland, it’s lovely to see that Aoife Clarke is back in the saddle after having her baby. Aoife says she has been keeping herself fit during the pregnancy and always targeted Bramham as her comeback event

The only Australian competing is Catherine Burrell on Duke but there are several New Zealanders in the mix across the classes including Nick Brooks and For Fame who we last saw at Puhinui in New Zealand and are now in the UK for a little while .....

We have a full run down of Ian Stark’s 4* course coming up soon but for now here are a few pics from the first Horse Inspection

 

      Aye, aye captain. Mollie Summerland and Charly Van Ter Heiden

 

      We love the red coat of France's Barbara Sayous who will be riding Opposition Filmstar in the U25

 

      Sealed with a kiss. Britain's Indie Vaughan-Jones competing Quab Dynamic in the U25

 

      Zara Tindall emeges from the stables with Class Affair

 

      Andrew Nicholson is one of several New Zealanders competing, seen here with As Is