The Dressage Team medals are decided on the Grand Prix and the Individual Team medals are decided on the Grand Prix Special test of which only the top 30 get to contest - and seriously with the quality of horses and riders the 5 International Judges were going to have their work cut out judging these combinations.

One of the down side to these European Championships is that the stands are basically empty so far - in a strange happening which nobody can explain, when people tried to book tickets online they were told that all seats were sold and yet this is clearly not the case - the place is sadly empty which will not be pleasing the trade stand people anymore than the organisers themselves.

For those who did not take the opportunity to come and see in real life these magnificent horses, they have missed exceptional equestrian sport at its very best - and the Dressage has attracted many new fans after the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special - the riders are giving of their time to the fans and their obvious enjoyment of the job is so evident it becomes infectious!

No longer is watching paint dry more exciting than watching dressage - this sport has finally come alive and is exciting to watch!

The Grand Prix Special test is perhaps not as flash and complicated as the Grand Prix test but the riders all seem to really enjoy riding this test - some commented that they are not huge fans of the zig zag in the Grand Prix test and as it is not in the Special test they feel they can relax more.

The interesting thing with Dressage compared to Jumping is that in Dressage they start with their hardest test first and work towards qualifying for the most "fun" being the Freestyle test - whereas in Jumping the first contest is usually the simplest while the final day's competition is the hardest.

As Edward Gal and Totilas had broken the Grand Prix record on Wednesday, the buzz around the grounds on Thursday was about whether he could also break the Grand Prix Special test record.

The record, going into today's competition is 82.165% - would Gal come close or break it was the question on everyone's lips! It was almost as if the other 29 combinations were just there to fill the placings - and perhaps this was a blessing for many of them as they were able to stay quietly away from the spotlight.

The class was interesting to non-dressage people from start to finish and it is perhaps because all the horses are so much more flambouyant and exuberant that the average horse person can now see when a mistake is made, whereas perhaps in the times when dressage was more of a "purist discipline" it was hard for those not actively involved to see where mistakes were made - now even the most basic of horse person can see brilliance and mistakes equally - it makes for exciting watching!

The riders no longer ride safe tests - they are riding for that something extra!

For some of the spectators and arm chair specialists around the world, this new dressage is not what they see dressage as all about - but for the sport itself I believe this new style is excellent and will certainly see the sport grow in popularity, which can surely only be a good thing.

So to the results........

Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas ride in 3rd from last and produced a test which can only be described as incredible for so many reasons!

By the 3rd movement of the test they were already 8% ahead of the current leader and by the 8th movement they were 9% ahead.

They broke in the Passage, but the "sit" in this horse is unbelievable and when this combination make a mistake it is still better than most!

Movement 25 - fxh - 15 flying changes every stride is stilla struggle for this young horse and today he received marks of 4 from all judges and he also got some 2's and 3's for some movements - but the 32 marks of 10 he received meant he finished with 83.042% and another record breaking test!

This gave Gal three record breaking rides in under 4 weeks - proving just how exceptional this combination is and with the horse being only a 9 year old stallion, nobody has any doubt that his flying changes will improve making him even more incredible.

Nobody at Windsor Castle today is talking negatively about the mistakes the horse makes which is fabulous to hear - it is all about the excitement of "will he get the changes today?" said with no jealousy, anger, criticism, but rather with the excitement of seeing a young horse develop before our eyes!

Second last to go was Britain's Laura Bechtolsheimer and her 14 year old gelding, Mistral Hojris and they produced a beautiful, harmonious test which had few mistakes, but plenty to be proud of and they produced a result of 80.083% which saw the home crowd go wild about as they wondered whether the Silver would belong to Britain.

And so it might have but for the final rider - Adelinde Cornelissen and the 12 year old Jazz gelding, Parzival swept into the arena with a pizazz and confidence that gave them such an exciting look and the horse was seriously feet above the ground, with lift which was unbelievable and beautiful to see. The changes were more like high level ballet, as were the crossovers - in fact this was an amazing test and as the scores came up it was showing this test to be above that of Gal's!!!

And when the final scores went up, Gal's record breaking ride was broken by fellow team mate Adelinde when she posted 84.042% - the place exploded and for the second time today a dressage test got a standing ovation - we saw history made and it was magic to be there to see this in front of us!

So Netherlands again posted Gold and Silver, with the riders being reversed this time and Britain again claimed Bronze with Laura Bechtolsheimer - what a fabulous competition!

Pictured above left - Emma Hindle for Great Britain riding the 16 year old stallion son of Wenzel, Lancet - they placed 16th today with 70.750%.

Pictured above right - Carl Hester for Great Britain and Leibling, a 12 year old gelding by Lorentin out of a Konigspark xx mare scored 72.250% to take 10th place.

Pictured above left - Kyra Kyrklund and the 14 year old Master 850 gelding, Max are among the most popular combinations - they are ever consistent and the joy Kyra gets from riding this horse is evident throughout. Today they scored 73.917 % to finish in 9th place meaning we will see them in the Freestyle on Saturday evening.

Pictured above - Anky van Grunsven and Salinero who scored 77.91% to take 4th place.

produced a 65.083 % test which saw them placed 29th and sadly will not be seen in the Freestyle. This is a very nice stallion which has perhaps not been long under the saddle of Helgstrand and so a period of getting to know each other needs to happen.

For the full list of results click here

Pictured left - Silver medallist for Netherlands, Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas.

Pictured below - Adelinde Cornelissen and Parzival - who now own a Gold Team medal and a Gold Individual medal.