Paralympics 2008

Hong Kong

Well what a day! Equestrian dressage team gold in every Paralympics contested - not bad eh? It wasn't exactly unexpected as Great Britain were favourites but this year it is much more competitive, particularly in the individual competition.

Talking of which, despite Lee Pearson spending all of last week telling us "I might not do it you know, I will try my absolute hardest but I may not win gold" he did, of course.

Gentleman is a very classy horse and it will take a brave bunch of judges to deny him the freestyle title on Thursday.

Lee was also temporarily deaf in one ear on Tuesday night, which must have affected his balance. He told me he is getting it sorted on Wednesday at the hospital but once again, his and the rest of the riders' talents never fail to amaze me.

The team medal ceremony isn't until Thursday because the riders don't want to upset the horses before their freestyle tests. But having 12 horses in the arena at once could still lead to a few problems!

Simon Laurens has already admitted he'll cry during the anthem: "I cry at the drop of a hat, even when Bambi is on the television."

Anne Dunham said she will be in a daze, particularly now she has won her first ever individual title.

And what a nail-biter that was. I was watching Anne's live scores on the big screen as she went round and it looked like she was going to come second to fellow Briton Sophie Christiansen.

But those percentages are just a rough average and at the end when the official score is announced it either gets higher or lower. Luckily for Anne, her score went up and when Sophie hear the news she was clearly disappointed. Never mind, she rode beautifully and her time will come.

Debbie Criddle described herself as "gutted" after her grade 3 test. Her horse Pavaroti spooked at the arena men going in and it all went downhill from there. It's a measure of
how well she rode that she finished with a score of 68%.

I have thought a few times during the Olympics and Paralympics that the men who move the white arena boards must look a bit spooky. They are frequently still fiddling around as the horses come back down the side during the test. But Debbie is so far the only rider to mention it.

It must be a tough Games for her. At least Simon has his team gold. But I'm confident Debbie will nail it in the freestyle. With Wet, Wet, Wet and Goldeneye... how can she fail?!!!

I'm also hoping things improve for Felicity Coulthard and Ricky Balshaw. They both need a confidence boost. I love Felicity's horse Roffelaar. He's a very small looking 16.1 with fast but lovely paces. Apparently he's everyone else's fave too.

Unfortunately the judges don't seem to share our admiration and I think Felicity's marks have been a bit on the harsh side but what do I know? She's riding to 'Fiddler on the Roof' and I'm hoping Wednesday sparks another gold rush for Britain.

In Athens they won five golds and three bronzes, so far in Hong Kong it's three golds and a silver. Watch this space.