CAEN, France — On a day when luck often eluded the Americans over Frédéric Cottier’s 13-obstacle track, the team of world-class riders, bookended by two championship stalwarts, persevered to finish on total of 16.72 and win the Team Bronze at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

The U.S. returned home from the WEG, held in Normandy, France, from Sept. 2-7, with seven total medals (two Gold, two Silver, and three Bronze). They finished fourth in the world count, behind Great Britain (seven Gold, 15 total), Netherlands (six, 18) and Germany (five, 15).

The American Gold Medals both came in Reining where the Dream Team swept the top team honor as well the individual medals. Shawn Flarida, reining’s only $5 million rider, enjoyed another golden Games, following up the team gold by sealing top spot in the individual competition. Riding 7-year-old Spooks Gotta Whiz, owned by Michell Kimball of Escondido, Flarida denied Andrea Fappani in the final run — while their U.S. teammate Mandy McCutcheon became the first woman to win an individual medal with bronze.

The American Show Jumping showed moxie of their own.

Led by Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland, the resilient squad composed of Lucy Davis of Los Angeles, McLain Ward (New York), Kent Farrington (Florida), and Beezie Madden (New York) came into the World Championships highly regarded and did not disappoint with supreme efforts over the three rounds of the Team competition.

“A medal is what we came here for,” said Ridland of the U.S. mentality heading into the week. “This is one of the best teams we’ve ever fielded and it was great sport.”

Davis and Old Oak Farm’s Barron looked on form to put a faultless effort forward for the U.S., but a pole down at fence 12 meant they would collect four faults. This week’s competition in France was the World Championship debut for the 21-year-old Stanford student, who enjoyed the pressure of the World Equestrian Games and learned a lot from her veteran teammates.

“We were just a little unlucky this week.” said the 21-year-old Stanford student. “The U.S. riders have been a little unlucky this week. We like this pressure, we like this type of competition. I’m very lucky to be on a team that’s been so supportive.”

The FEI World Individual Jumping Championship came to a conclusion on the final day of competition in the d’Ornano Stadium with the highly anticipated Final Four competition. The U.S. closed out the 2014 Games on a high note, as Beezie Madden claimed Individual Bronze. Additionally, her partner at these Championships, Cortes ‘C’, earned the Best Horse title following four rounds of impeccable jumping on Sunday afternoon.

In Driving, Chester Weber had an excellent final day of competition, driving his team to a faultless round and clinching the Individual Silver medal. He and teammates Lisa Stroud and Misdee Wrigley Miller performed well in the Team Championship, finishing in fourth place on a score of 298.48.

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MEDALS 2014
Normandy, France

Rank Nation/ Gold/ Silver/ Bronze/ Total
1 Great Britain/ 7/ 6/ 2/ 15
2 Netherlands/ 6/ 3/ 9/ 18
3 Germany/ 5/ 6/ 4/ 15
4 United States/ 2/ 2/ 3/ 7
5 Belgium/ 2/ 1/ 0/ 3
6 France/ 1/ 4/ 1/ 6
7 Austria/ 1/ 2/ 1/ 4
8 Italy/ 1/ 2/ 0/ 3
9 Australia/ 1/ 0/ 0/ 1
10 Spain/ 1/ 0/ 0/ 1
11 United Arab Emirates/ 1/ 0/ 0/ 1
12 Switzerland/ 0/ 1/ 2/ 3
13 Canada/ 0/ 1/ 1/ 2
14 Denmark/ 0/ 0/ 2/ 2
15 Hungary/ 0/ 0/ 1/ 1
16 Qatar/ 0/ 0/ 1/ 1
17 Singapore / 0/ 0/ 1/ 1
Total – 28/ 28/ 28/ 84