Gold proves elusive for GB team as hosts Germany produce winning formula

But after a difficult week they returned home with the consolation of team bronze after managing to hold their nerve in a competition that never looked to be going their way right from the start.

These championships belonged to the home nation Germany, who were on terrific form and had a convincing lead, to take team gold.

They also swept the board in the individual stakes with reigning world champion Michael Jung adding the new European title to his list of honours.

The British team was plagued by hitches. Polly Stockton’s horse, Regulus, was withdrawn before the competition began after he came out of the stable feeling unlevel.

In the dressage, only Mary King and Laura Collett (riding as an individual) did as well as they had hoped, only for everything to go wrong for them on the cross country.

Mary had a heavy fall from Imperial Cavalier and Laura had to retire with Rayef, not on his usual form, after three run outs.

Nicola Wilson and Opposition Buzz flew round the cross country course well inside the time and Piggy French went clear with Jakata with some time penalties. The British were still in with a chance at this stage but the pressure was on William Fox-Pitt and Cool Mountain.

They nearly parted company on two occasions, once after a dramatic stumble in the water, but William hung on to ride clear inside the time.

The final showjumping phase was a tense battle for silver between the British and French teams.

Our three riders had one fence down each while the French jumped their way to silver by producing clear rounds to beat GB by just 3.5 penalties.

Will Connell, equestrian performance director, said: “This has not always been the easiest of weeks for Great Britain – that they have kept fighting and come away with a team medal is testament to the spirit of both riders and team staff.

“The Germans did an outstanding job with a strong squad. It is always sad to end a winning run but this is a very strong team and we will be back in 2012.”

Back in May the equestrian artist Jane Lazenby set herself the challenge of completing 100 paintings in 100 days.

“It’s been an uphill struggle but a wonderful creative experience,” says Jane.

“Having to create a painting every day meant not only did I have to work very, very quickly but I also had to dig deep into my artistic reserves to come up with fresh ideas day after day.”

For Jane the challenge was a way of developing her artistic vision and it meant venturing into previously untried media, experimenting with lighting effects and new, innovative paints.

Jane is based in Kexborough, Barnsley, and works mainly on commissions from photographs. “I relished the chance to paint what I wanted to paint, rather than what other people wanted me to paint,” said Jane.

She documented her daily progress on a blog and on the social networking site Facebook, collecting over 600 followers along the way. When she invited people to send her images from which to choose her final 10 paintings she received almost 150 photos.

“It has been an immensely rewarding journey, my paintings have changed and evolved, I feel stronger and more creative as an individual,” says Jane.

She is now looking for a venue where she could display the paintings. Meanwhile they can be seen at her blog, www.rantingravingandpainting.wordpress.com and on her Facebook page, EJ Lazenby Fine Art.