"It was a rough week'

Sam Hutton reflects on bouncing back from a "gutting" championships debut

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THE European Championships in Milan, Italy, was a rough week – we certainly didn’t achieve the results I’d hoped for. But I’m now more determined than ever to prove myself.

It was my first-ever championship and nothing can prepare you for being there under that kind of pressure. Obviously you want to perform at your best, but my horse, Oak Grove’s Laith, didn’t feel his normal self, and that was gutting.

The first day he jumped really well, even though the ground was terrible. Then on day two, I started to feel he wasn’t jumping as well and then he got worse. On the last day, he felt like he gave up. I don’t know if it was too much for him or he was tired. We just weren’t good enough, so it felt like a very long week!

I only started riding Laith in April and we had a few good results at the start and that’s when I got the call asking me to do the Falsterbo Nations Cup.