2006 World Equestrian Games Week 2

An enthusiastic and very pleased Dutch fan at the Team Showjumping final.

An enthusiastic and very pleased Dutch fan at the Team Showjumping final.

Finnish rider, Sebastian Numminen and the Cruising gelding, 'Sails Away'. They look good over this big oxer in the second round of the Nations Cup.

The wonderful Aachen arena.

Portugese driver, Ana Christina Guerreiro's team during the second day of dressage. After this first phase they are in 42nd place of the 49 entries.

Czech driver, Jacek Kozlowski with his Team during the second day of Driving Dressage. They really have to do quite a complicated test involving circles and shoulder in etc.

Some very elaborate harness. Needless to say there is plenty of it for sale here.

Australian Showjumping Team vet, Andrew Hunt, looking very serious indeed.

Belgian Driver, Gert De Brauwer shows the pressure. They are however a wonderfully colour coded team, with the greys beautifully presented. They are in 29th place after the dressage.

This lovely and good moving pair are the leaders of Frenchman, Stephane Chauzenoux's team. The bay nearest the camera, 'Ramiro' is the 2002 World Singles Champion.

British Reiner, Francesca Sternberg goes for a practice spin aboard, Doug Allen's stallion, 'Jac's Little Sunrise'.

The cowboys are in town!

Franke Rothenberger's plastic jumps.

We are not sure what this lemon girl is all about , but she is one of the many marvellous sights around the show.

British veteran, and still going strong, John Whitaker with another veteran who is still going strong, Peter Winton. Peter now lives in Malaysia and is responsable for The Kuala Lumpur Grand Prix ans earlier this year, the KL World Cup Final.

Horse Deals reporter, Anna Sharpley hard at work researching the local produce.The beer is excellent and the Belgian Frites with mayonnaise not bad either.

Lisa Champion enjoying her time in Aachen.

Malaysia's Syed Omar Almohdzar looked well up to standard with his Locato Gelding, 'Lui'. They finished the three rounds and two competitions in 64th place.

France's Michel Robert and the Selle Francais gelding, 'Galet D'Auzay' look good over the last fence in the second round of the Nations Cup. These very light planks were set at 1.64.

Royne Zetterman from Sweden with the Swedish Warmblood by Feliciano, 'Isaac'. They jumped well to be in 18th place after two competitions.

Samantha McIntosh and 'Loxley' have looked super all show. The competition is tough here, as with just 9 penalties over the two competitions the Bulgarian pair finished in 31st place.

Edwina Alexander and 'Isovlas Pialotta' lowered the oxer at 4a and just gave the final fence, a 1.65m set of planks, the slightest touch for the addition of eight penalties. They have finished the two competitions and three jumping rounds in 22nd place and made the cut for the top 25 to go forward to the Individual Final.

Eric Lamaze and 'Hickstead' from Canada looked sensational early in the show, as they do here. But the Dutch stallion by Hamlet had three down in the second round of the Grand Prix to slip to 36th place.

During a break in the Nations Cup, the famous German stallion, 'Cento'by Capitol 1 was retired form competition. The beautiful Holstein stallion was a member of the Sydney Olympic Gold Medal Team and has won the World Cup Final as well as the Aachen Grand Prix. and countless other Championships. He was rightly given a standing ovation and a very moving send off as Otto Becker rode him out of the famous arena for the last time.

Great drama in the Reining Trot -Up with a number of horses failing including two German horses. Here the German Reining Team put in an official protest.

The Ukraine let a Medal slip from their grasp at the last minure. Jean Claude Van Geenberghe and 'Osta Rugs Tresor' had jumped so well thus far, but two fences down in the second round of the Nations Cup saw the Team finish in fourth place.

Sydney Individual Gold Medallist, Jerone Bubbeldam jumped a super clear with 'BMC Up and Down' to help the Netherlands claim the World title.

Ludo Philippaerts and 'Parco' jumped clear for Belgium which finished in seventh place.

Sergia Alvarez Moya jumped a great clear round riding his Selle Francais gelding, 'Le Reve du Nabab' in the second round of the Nations Cup to thrill the vocal Spanish fans. Spain finished in eighth place.

The huge German crowd could not get their team across the line in first place and had to settle for the Bronze medal.

McLain Ward jumped a great round aboard 'Sapphire', a mare by Darco, to help the USA take the Silver Medal.

Gregory Wathelet rode a beautiful round aboard 'Loriot' for the Ukraine. Gregory finished in 20th place and the Ukraine sadly in fourth place.

Dutch Team Member, Albert Zoer's Jodokus stallion, 'Okidoki' has his own fan club.

USA Team rider, Beezie Madden and 'Authentic' are really a class act. They are thus far on zero penalties and helped the Team win Silver.

The Ukraine's Katharina Offel and 'Atlanta' jumped a super round, clear on jumping, but they had a costly time penalty, as the Ukraine just missed a medal by 0.01 penalties.

What a jumper, 'Eurocommerce Berlin' the Cassini stallion ridden by Gerco Schroder jumped a breathtaking clear round to help the Dutch take the Gold Medal.

An enthusiastic and very pleased Dutch fan at the Team Showjumping final.

An enthusiastic and very pleased Dutch fan at the Team Showjumping final.

An enthusiastic and very pleased Dutch fan at the Team Showjumping final.

An enthusiastic and very pleased Dutch fan at the Team Showjumping final.