Called up just seven hours before they had to leave for the Championship after Tom McEwen and Toledo de Kerser sadly had to withdraw, Pippa Funnell and Marek Sebastak and her own Majas Hope put in a good performance as pathfinders for the British team earlier this morning to score 35.4 penalties.

Pippa, who sits in 17th place individually, said; “We knew coming in here that Majas Hope finds it very difficult in this phase. He does get arena shy and throughout his career that’s what I’ve struggled with, but we know this is his weakest phase and hopefully we’ll put things right come Saturday and Sunday.

On the course, Pippa added; “There are plenty of questions, so hopefully it won’t be about the dressage! My thing about coming here is very much being a team member and hopefully doing my bit on Saturday and Sunday. Obviously I’d like to have gone better today, and I’m not making excuses, but I started to very much focus on Burghley, but it’s a huge honour to be part of the team [and Luhmühlen] holds very, very special memories for me.”

Riding Jayne McGivern’s striking chestnut gelding, Quarrycrest Echo, Piggy French was second in to the main arena for the British team and produced a score of 29.8 penalties to end the day in seventh place individually; “I was quite pleased, so quite disappointed that there weren’t a few more marks, but I’m not that disappointed with the test. I don’t think there was a lot more I could have done. It’s not a dressage competition and we’ve got to keep going and fighting until Sunday night.”

Looking ahead to the cross country on Saturday, “I think the course is tough, I think it’s a proper championship track – it’s definitely not going to be a dressage competition and there is going to be problems all over, I think. It’s a good course that makes you really think, I’ve only walked it once and I was quite relaxed walking it, but first impression is that it’s definitely tough,” said Piggy.

Laura Collett and Karen Bartlett, Keith Scott and her own London 52 were the last British combination to complete their dressage test on the first day of competition, and gave the crowd a spectacular performance. Riding as an individual, Laura and the 10 year old gelding scored just 25.5 penalties to hold the top spot as the competition stands.

Laura said; "He just went a little bit shy, which he’s allowed to, he’s still so green and inexperienced, but I’d rather him do that and drop off me slightly than blow up in there, so obviously delighted with his score but I know there’s so much more there - it’s exciting for the future! Really pleased that he kept his head in there, because he’s never been in anything like that."

Talking about Saturday’s cross country, Laura commented; "It’s a championship track! I think he’s been very clever with having the first three fences very quickly and then almost a minute of galloping with almost nothing in the woods, just nice and quite thinking you’re having a lovely hack, and then suddenly you come down hill to a massive fence and then that first water. There’s no let up the whole way around and you’ve not finished until you’ve crossed that finish line."

Results after day one of dressage

Team standings

1st – Belgium

2nd – Germany

3rd – France

4th – Italy

5th – Great Britain

Full results HERE

British individual standings

1st - Laura Collett with Karen Bartlett, Keith Scott and her own London 52 (25.5)

7th - Piggy French with Jayne McGivern’s Quarrycrest Echo* (29.8)

17th - Pippa Funnell with Marek Sebastak and her own Majas Hope* (35.4)

Full results HERE

Dressage times for GB - Friday 30 August:

11.07am - Tina Cook with Elisabeth Murdoch’s Billy The Red*

12.45pm - Kitty King with Diana Bown, Sally Eyre, Samantha Wilson and Sally Lloyd-Baker’s Vendredi Biats

2.45pm - Oliver Townend with Angela Hislop’s Cooley Master Class*

*denotes team rider

Stay Updated

Team Results

Individual results

Full start times available HERE

See how you can watch all the action HERE

Find out more about the squad HERE