It had all come down to this – Day 4 of Olympic eventing competition – show jumping. Over the first three days, the horses and riders had been put through the paces in the dressage ring and out on the demanding cross country course. 15 riders had been eliminated on cross country day, and the remaining 53 horses and riders now had the chance to jump their way to team and individual medals…

I’ve had a lot of people (both non-riders and riders who aren’t familiar with every discipline) ask me why dressage happens twice, or if the equestrian events are over for the Olympics, since we’ve already seen dressage, cross country and show jumping. I can certainly understand the confusion, since there are a lot of shared names…