With the last 18 months being a strange concoction of doubt, fluid plans and general disbelief as to whether anything would run; I didn’t really believe I could get to the Europeans until I stepped out of the car after the 15-hour journey onto the car park in Avenches.
The look of admiration… JL Dublin and Nicola Wilson share a moment during the final horse inspection, FEI European Championships, Avenches, Switzerland September 2021 © Copyright Hannah Cole Photography. All rights reserved.
Despite some anxious few minutes at the border having our vaccine certificates scanned (turns out that not even the European scanners like our hard copies of our certificates, which later made eating out an issue we hadn’t even thought about), we were across the border and in.
Size isn’t everything… Corouet & Sarah Bullimore GBR jump the massive ditch corner on their way to Bronze individually - rather proud to have watched this pint-sized superstar horse go from unaffiliated to championship medal contender - FEI European Championships, Avenches, Switzerland September 2021 © Copyright Hannah Cole Photography. All rights reserved.
There was a sense of ‘could we’ with these championships for me; despite this being described by some as essentially our ‘B’ Team that fell short of making the Tokyo team by the narrowest of margins, we were still taking arguably the best team of riders in the field. Would it pan out that way and what medals would we be taking home?
Traditions aplenty during the first horse inspection, FEI European Championships, Avenches, Switzerland September 2021 © Copyright Hannah Cole Photography. All rights reserved.
As it happens, the gods had heard my prayers, the horses performed as we know they can and we did indeed ensure that every medal on offer was safely secured and on it’s way back to Blighty after Sunday’s final phase.
GOLD! Team GB proudly display their new medals on the podium during the Team Medal Ceremony, FEI European Championships, Avenches, Switzerland September 2021 © Copyright Hannah Cole Photography. All rights reserved.
In my heart of hearts, I am personally gutted for Team Canter – Alby and Ros after their selfless dedication to the team in Tokyo, seemed to suffer the ultimate sacrifice and didn’t get their chance at double gold that I hoped they would. That’s the thing with equestrian sport, it rarely is predictable and dreams so rarely come true – that’s why the highs have to be celebrated so fully, they don’t come along as often as we’d all like and wish for.
A job well done - Vendredi Biats receives admiration from his adoring owners after his dressage test, FEI European Championships, Avenches, Switzerland September 2021 © Copyright Hannah Cole Photography. All rights reserved.
The team at Avenches couldn’t have been more welcoming. We had an amazing press room, with a granite staircase, 2 huge coffee machines as part of the bar facilities and the most comfiest seats I think I have experienced in a press room – luxuries we only joke about in our usual drafty tents back in the UK. Massive thanks to Corine and her team for looking after us all so well.
Despite the championships being put on at short notice, it certainly didn’t feel that way when you were at the venue. If there is a theme to this season, it has definitely been that with the right team and attitude, anything is possible.
A compact yet perfectly formed venue, with a sand main arena; the venue is predominately a racecourse for most of the year – Trot Suisse race there often and we were treated to watching some Trotting races when we arrived on Wednesday and began to walk the cross country track. The XC was big, bold, twisty but not quite as twisty as Stzregom, very akin to Pau. Once the Trotters returned to their stables, the horse inspection got underway and it was game on. And time to find the Fondue stand…
A jubilant crowd watched the cross country action unfold, celebrating their rider coming home clear, FEI European Championships, Avenches, Switzerland September 2021 © Copyright Hannah Cole Photography. All rights reserved.
I feel so privileged to have been ring-side to watch the competition unfold – The Brits delivered classy dressage test after classy dressage test – it says something when your drop score after the first phase was 24.1! To be honest I would have been happy enough to have bene there to spectate, so to be able to cover the event for my publications and for British Eventing was quite a pinch-myself honour.
I joked with my fabulous road-trip buddy Ben during the drive down to Avenches about the chances of a Brit 1-2-3, so imagine our complete amazement when that’s exactly what the Brits delivered on Sunday afternoon! Dreams do come true. During the medal ceremony the Brit supporters found every Union Jack they could muster and the whole bottom side of the bank above the Avenches main arena was decorated in red, white and blue – a little Swiss corner of Blighty for half an hour of celebrations.
A little corner of Blighty amongst the crowd at Avenches, FEI European Championships, Avenches, Switzerland September 2021 © Copyright Hannah Cole Photography. All rights reserved.
I safely delivered my co-photographer back to England, with only one near-miss on the French Alpine roads to add to my grey hair count – photographed taken, images loaded and heart full of Brit medal filled memories to keep us going through the long winter.
Making a splash, Jody Wilken & Burry Spirit NED fly out of the water at fence 18, FEI European Championships, Avenches, Switzerland September 2021 © Copyright Hannah Cole Photography. All rights reserved.
And then there is the cover. I hark back to the little four-year-old, sitting in our neighbours’ farm kitchen endlessly flicking through their mountainous pile of copies of Horse and Hound. This magazine has been around as long as I can remember and I have dreamed for a long time to have my work on the cover.
I’ve come close in recent years but never quite finished first past the post. I’m not usually one for fate, I’m more of a hard work pays off kinda girl, but at Blenheim it all just clicked into place – an email from H&H requesting potential cover images, happening to be at the Palace fence for one of my supported riders when Yas was 2 horses earlier to go and the seemingly endless wait from submission of the image on Sunday night, to seeing a digital copy whilst on the way to Avenches site on Thursday morning. Yes I did a quiet little dance when hopefully no one was looking.
Hard work does eventually pay off and sometimes dreams really do come true.
Artwork & Design: Horse & Hound, Photo: Hannah Cole Photography
A quick turnaround back in the UK for a trip to Osberton for the Young Horse Championships, then onwards to Weston Park and Oasby to watch eventing amidst the changing colours of Autumn… then time for one last adventure before winter?
Below are a few of my favourite images from FEI European Championships, Avenches, Switzerland September 2021 © Copyright Hannah Cole Photography. All rights reserved.
