The Bronze Team this year saw the Germans lineup on the podium - and there was much shock at their 3rd placing with most show jumping followers used to seeing them in the Gold position but things didn't go quite accoridng to plan for the team at Windsor Castle this year.

First to go was world number 1, Marcus Ehning on the 12 year old stallion Plot Blue - pictured below - and they lowered the 4th fence and had a foot in the water in round one and in round two they lowered 12B to be the round one drop score. It is uncharacteristic for this combination to have 3 fences over two rounds and it wasn't as if the horse and rider weren't working together, or that anything was drastically wrong - it looked more like it was just a "tough day at the office".

Pictured above right - Second to go was Carsten-Otto Nagel and the huge and scopey 11 year old mare Corradina by Corrado out of a Sandro mare. Again there was nothing disasterous about this combination who had just one rail in each round with 12B in round one falling and in round two fence 9 fell to the ground.

Third to go for Germany was 38 year old Thomas Muhlbauer, who showjumps "for fun" and for work he runs his own Hotel. He has has a great deal of success with the very handsome and talented 14 year old stallion Asti Spumante. Asti Spumante - pictured below left - is by Argentinus out of a Landfrieden mare and they lowered only fence 11 in round one but became the drop score in the second round after lowering the last fence on the course and with their cautious round they also attracted a time penalty finishing with 5 faults.

Last out for Germany was one of the most successful lady riders of all time, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum and this week she left Shutterfly at home and brought the slightly unruly but incredibly talented Checkmate - pictured below.

The 14 year old Contender/Pik Bube gelding has his own style, which may look comfortable or classic is a winning horse who is so tactfully ridden by the tiny MM-B.

He is a hot and determined horse who seems to sometimes make his own decisions, which MM-B then has to work with - and today the gelding had a bit of luck in round one when 8A bounced visibly high out of the cup and landed back in place but the luck did not hold at 12A when the rail fell leaving them with 4 faults and in round two they had no luck at 8A as the fence did fall this time giving them 8 faults over the two rounds.

The reality is that no clear rounds from the german Team saw them

Todays team jumping saw 40 riders working very hard to try and win the three medals on offer - it was possibly one of the best team competitions anyone has seen and the Bob Ellis track impressed the riders and spectators alike - all up it was a fabulous competition.

The only down side was that not enough people came to see this spectacular event and the empty stands were possibly due to some confusion as when people tried to book tickets online they were

told that there were no tickets available - and the shame of this is that the stands were mainly quite empty.

So with the Team medals done for 2009 the final competition is to be held on Sunday afternoon - with everyone saying their prayers for the weather to hold as many of the arena stands were not under cover.

Final results: European Championships Team medals

Gold: Switzerland.....27.66 points
Silver:Italy ..... 31 points
Bronze:Germany ..... 31.75 points

4th - Netherlands ..... 32.96 points
5th - France .....33.71 points
6th - Great Britain ..... 35.26 points
7th - Ireland ..... 35.86 points

8th - Sweden .....45.62 points
9th - Norway .....64.66 points
10th - Austria .....71.25 points

It was an incredibly close competition which really only had two fences between gold and 7th place making it a thrilling class which could have gone any which way.

The Irish Team have much to be proud about considering Cameron Hanley was brought in at the last minute to cover for Denis Lynch whose good horse, Lantinus was suffering some lameness and then at the last moment Chef d'Equip decided to drop Billy Twomey and put 23 year old Tom Ryan into the team, at his first ever Championship event. Even though he was the drop score in both rounds, the epxerience will stand him in good stead and he will no doubt be now hoping for a spot on the Alltech Kentucky World Equestrian Games Team for 2010.

We will bring you more on the Irish in their bid for individual medals shortly.