Over very heavy footing Spain’s team of three won gold after a total riding time of 28:56:02. France rode to silver in 29:08:44, adding to its silver at the 2010 Games. They were 12:42 minutes behind Spain, and overtaking Switzerland on 29:42.54.

Jaume Punti Dachs, 45, endurance trainer for the Newmarket based stable of Sheik Mohammed’s Darley stud, led the Spanish team riders Jordi Arboix Santacreu and Javier Cervera Sanchez-Arnedo. Punti Dachs’s wife Maria Alvarez Ponton could not defend her individual title from Lexington 2010, and retired on the course.

Experienced Jean-Philippe Frances, riding the youngest horse on the French team led the way, from team-mates to Denis Le Guillou and Robin Cornely. Frances rode the course in 8:12:37.

The Swiss team’s bronze is the second team success after silver in Aachen 2006.  Claude Nordmann, Chef de Mission for the Swiss Team, gave all the credit to Barbara Lissarrague, finishing fourth individually. “She has done her utmost for the team (with Sonja Fritschi and Andrea Amacher). They all rode together after we had lost the first two riders of five rather early on the course.”

First endurance medal for The Netherlands

Silver medalist Marijke Visser rode Laiza de Jalima to the country’s first endurance medal at a World Games, and the first time the Dutch had fielded a team.

Marijke Visser, a student, won the 2013 Young Riders Endurance title and also rides dressage. Her grey arabian mare, 10-year-old Laiza de Jalima, is owned by Dubai’s Sheikh Abdulla Bin Faisal Bin Saqr Al Qassimi and trained in The Netherlands. To prepare for the Games, the mare was sent to Belgium to train with Emile Docquier.