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The most recognizable brand of running shoes, and definitely the fastest running shoes in the Olympic movement, are not on the track and field athletes in Rio 2016. They’re the shoes on the only four-legged athletes at the Games - the horses! Whether it’s heels up in Europe to keep the good luck in, or heels down in Asia to stop the bad luck dropping in, the horseshoe is a universal sign of good luck. And the hardest working shoe fitters in Rio are the team of British and Brazilian farriers working round the clock to keep the well-heeled equine athletes well-shod at the Olympic Equestrian Centre in Deodoro.

Rio 2016 Olympic Team Jumping Final Deodoro Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro eric lamaze amy millar yann candele tiffany foster Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum Christian Ahlmann Daniel Deusser

France claimed Team Jumping gold for only the second time in the history of the Olympic Games with a brilliant performance at Deodoro Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro (BRA) on August 17. Lying only a single penalty point behind the joint-leaders from Brazil, Germany, Netherlands and USA after the first round of competition, they added just two time faults to clinch the win.

equine show jumping team Rio 2016 Olympic Games Canadian Show Jumping Team Eric Lamaze Yann Candele Guilherme Jorge Brazil, Amy Millar, tiffany foster, Mark Laskin, Karen Hendry-Ouellette Dr. Sylvie Surprenant

In a dramatic end to jumping team competition on August 17 at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, BRA, the Canadian Show Jumping Team forced a jump-off with Germany for the bronze medal, but were edged into fourth place. Individually, Canada’s Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, ON was the only rider of the Games to maintain a perfect score of zero after three rounds of individual qualifiers.

Belinda Trussell from Stouffville, ON closed out the second Olympic appearance of her career on August 12, finishing 27th individually in the dressage portion of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, BRA.

Charlotte Dujardin Olympic Dressage Grand Prix Freestyle Deodoro Olympic Park Isabell WerthKristina Broring-Sprehe Patrick Kittel Carl Hester Charlotte Dujardin Laura Graves

Great Britain’s Charlotte Dujardin (31) and the fabulous 14-year-old gelding, Valegro, were in a class of their own when posting an Olympic Dressage record score of 93.857 in the Grand Prix Freestyle to claim their second successive individual title today. The double-gold medallist at London 2012 is the first British woman to retain an individual Olympic title, and she now matches the British record of three gold medals for a female athlete set by cyclist Laura Trott yesterday.

Germany Olympic Dressage Gold Olympic Equestrian Park Olympic Dressage Olympic Grand Prix Edward Gal Diederik van Silfhout Hans Peter Minderhoud Dorothee Schneider Steffen Peters Fiona Bigwood Laura Graves, USA

Germany clinched team Dressage gold in considerable style at the Olympic Equestrian Park in Deodoro on August 12, 2016. Germany has now won eight of the last nine Olympic team Dressage contests - with only Great Britain spoiling the party on home soil in 2012 - and today’s result brings the Germans overall tally to 13 sets of Olympic team golds.

Rebecca Howard Canadian Eventing Team Rio 2016 Olympic Games Equestrian Canada fei rio Colleen Loach, Jessica Phoenix, Kathryn Robinson, Chef d’Équipe, Clayton Fredericks; EC Eventing Manager, Fleur Tipton; Team Veterinarian, Dr. Jill Copenhagen; Team Farrier, Andy Vergut

Rebecca Howard took the maple leaf all the way to the eventing individual final on August 9, 2016, finishing in 10th place individually and contributing to Canada’s 10th place overall as a team at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, BRA. As the third and final phase of eventing, show jumping encompassed two rounds - the first to decide the team standings, followed by a second round for individual titles. The Canadian Eventing Team, comprised of Howard, 37, from Marlborough, GBR; Colleen Loach, 33, of Dunham, QC; Jessica Phoenix, 32, of Cannington, ON; and Kathryn Robinson, 31, of Kettering, GBR, moved up one spot from their cross-country team standing into the final position of 10th on a team score of 339.10.

“We are very disappointed with [the August 7, 2016] IPC decision. Like our Paralympic athletes from all other countries, our three Russian athletes have trained hard to make it to the Paralympic Games and we are troubled that today’s announcement means they cannot participate in Rio.

The world’s best equine athletes at the Olympic Equestrian Centre in Deodoro are now poised to help their human companions win medals for eventing, dressage and show jumping, and as they focus on the prize they have access to a hi-tech veterinary facility like no other.

We are pleased to feature the following videos, in celebration of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games - Featuring Eric Lamaze, McLain Ward, Rodolpho Riskalla, William Fox Pitt, and John Whitaker.

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