Tokyo talking points

With the Games done and dusted, what did the travelling vets and farriers learn from their experience? Andrea Oakes reports

- Andrea Oakes

OUR riders returned from Tokyo 2020 with no fewer than 13 medals, proving themselves once again to be among the world’s best.

Vital to the performance of our Team GB horses are the vets and farriers that accompany them to the Games. With so much uncertainty in the runup, and concerns regarding the challenging Tokyo climate and Covid-safe practices, the equestrian support team recognised that this would be no ordinary event. What did they make of the experience?

“The 2019 Tokyo test event gave us the chance to see how the horses coped with the travel and conditions,” says British eventing vet Liz Brown MRCVS.

“They were very settled during the 19-and-a-half-hour flight. We opened the front partitions in the jet stalls during the flight so they could get their heads down, to help airway clearance and prevent lung problems, and gave them a few rest days on arrival to allow them to acclimatise to the heat before building up their ridden work.

“Our event horses were experienced at five-star and so the demands of the Tokyo cross-country course were within their level of fitness,” adds Liz, explaining that fitness involves cardiovascular efficiency, respiratory health and muscle conditioning and strength.

“In hotter weather, horses can tire both mentally and physically. Those that have built stronger core muscle strength through correct training are able to maintain their body position and stride pattern, coping better with technical demands such as combination fences towards the end of the course.