In a spectacular battle that went right down to the wire, Germany emerged to claim the 2013 FEI European Pony Jumping Team title at Arezzo, Italy today ahead of Great Britain in silver and Ireland in bronze medal position.

At the halfway stage it seemed the defending champions from Britain had it all sewn up with the only zero score at the end of the first round. But France, Ireland and Germany were all lying just a fence behind and, in the end, three second-round clears from Germany sealed it.

The French lost out in dramatic style when last-line rider, Megane Moissonnier’s stallion Jimmerdor de Florys, stopped twice for a heart-breaking elimination that opened the door of the medal cabinet for the Irish. This was the sixth time for Germany to take Team Jumping gold. Their last victory was at Bishop Burton in Great Britain in 2010 and their first was back in 1989 at Millstreet in Ireland where Marcus Ehning, now one of the most famous names in the sport, was a member of the winning side.

The British began to look vulnerable when pathfinders Amy Inglis and Lea du Genier hit the middle of the triple combination at fence eight, but Emily Ward steadied the ship when following with a concentrated clear from King Mac. However when Faye Adams’ chestnut mare, the 14-year-old Some Like it Hot, put a foot in the water the picture began to change. By then the Irish looked well out of it following a double-error from opener Tim McDonagh with Imagine If One at the influential triple combination and at the penultimate planks, while Matt Garrigan (Future Interest) and Killian Norris (Javes Alun) each lowered the middle of the combination.

In stark contrast, only the opening German partnership of Philipp Schulze Tophoff (Mentos Junior 2) made a second-round error while team-mates Enno Klaphake (Pepper Ann), Justin Tebbel (Okehurst Little Bow Wow) and Lara Volmer (Carrick 13) jumped superb clear rounds to pile the pressure on the French and British in the battle for the gold. Tressy Muhr had opened the French second-round effort with three fences down with Qredo des Islots, but Jean Zhemal (Nymphe du Sud) and Ninon Castex (Quabar des Monceaux) were foot-perfect so, if Moissonnier could follow suit, then they would be on level-pegging with the Germans and perhaps the British. But there was a groan of horror when the French rider’s pony decided he had enough, first stopping at the vertical at fence three and then again at the oxer at fence five to bring their day to an end. France would now have to count those 12 faults from Muhr, and suddenly the Irish were back in the game because their final partnership of Susan Fitzpatrick and Rock Dee Jay produced a brilliant clear to leave the final Irish total at 12.

It was now all up to 2012 Individual Champion, Mille Allen from Great Britain. If she could return without penalty then one of the two four-faults on her team’s score-sheet could be dropped for a finishing total of just four so they would go into a jump-off for gold against Germany. But, as Chef d’Equipe Katrina Moore said afterwards,”the water played a big part in the British result”, and it wasn’t a good one as the judge’s flag was raised yet again.

There were a lot of wet Germans in the aftermath, Chef d’Equipe Peter Teeuwen first to be unceremoniously deposited in the lake in the Baccocchi Arena before, in accordance with the tradition of these Jumping Championships, his riders had to endure the same fate. They all arrived into the post-competition press conference looking a little less than pristine but with big smiles on their faces.

“I’m very proud of my riders and my ponies” the winning Chef d’Equipe said. “We didn’t start so well in the first round but in the afternoon we were better and we really fought for the gold”.

British Chef d’Equipe, Katrina Moore, said “we always knew the Germans would be hard to beat so we were not surprised by how strong they were”. Looking forward she said, “now we have four riders in the top 12 going into the Individual Final (on Sunday) and we are very hopeful about that”.

The Individual standings show Denmark’s Jessica Toelstang (Nikolina) at the top of the leaderboard with zero penalties followed by Ninon Castex (Quabar des Monceaux) with 1 and then eight riders tied for third place carrying 4 penalty points into the final day. The British are certainly well-represented with Ward, Faye and Allen amongst the latter group which also includes Germany’s Klaphake, Tebbel and Volmer along with Ireland’s Fitzpatrick and Austria’s Carole Wegener (Kalinka).

The German camp is in a great mood tonight, as, following their Dressage victory yesterday, they have now won two of the three Team titles on offer at the 2013 FEI European Pony Championships. Next on the agenda is the cross-country phase of Eventing which begins tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 9am local time.