Today was the last day of the Olympic Three-Day Event, held at the stunning Versailles Palace Gardens. We’re glad to hear that it has been a successful weekend for all teams, including our very own home team, GB, who have just won gold!

Success like this doesn’t happen without an extraordinary ‘behind-the-scenes’ effort. Jim Green, the director of our partner organisation, The British Animal Rescue and Trauma Care Association (BARTA), has been team leader for incident management on the cross country course.

The course’s magnificent setting, one of France’s UNESCO World Heritage sites, once a haven for Versailles to return to after war, adds to the event’s grandeur. Due to the site’s size and scale, horses have been intertwined with its history since day one. It is wonderful to see horse competition culture coming together with horses of the past and the high welfare standards provided by organisations such as BARTA and equestrian bodies like the FEI.

The intricacies of the course and the associated risks have been no secret. These challenges make the stakes high and the competition interesting. With the intricacies of the course comes the utmost need for emergency rescue services should unforeseen incidents occur.

We would like to congratulate our partner organisation, British Animal Rescue and Trauma Care Association (BARTA), who were invited to contribute to the preparation of the Three-Day Event through training with vets and horse ambulance teams and BARTA Director Jim Green was at the event to support any situation that required more technical skills to resolve. Rescue equipment from the UK was available in each equine ambulance.

Thankfully, there were no equine rescues needed, just a deer that had strayed from its usual morning route. We’re happy to hear that it was rescued and safely released!