大象传媒

Sha Tin, Hong Kong

Well it wasn't gold but I'll settle for two bronzes!

What a night it was here in Sha Tin.

The atmosphere in the stadium was electric and the huge floodlights dazzled and sparkled, really hammering home you were witnessing an Olympic final.

I've decided to leave out any mention of disappointment.

Sometimes we can spend too long talking of what would have been. Let's just all celebrate how a team of five Britons, two of whom were at their first ever Olympics, managed to come third in a competition that is always so hard to win.

The Olympic equestrian events are never clear cut.

There are so many horses and riders based around the world that we in Britain don't get to see compete.

Add to that the travel, weather, scary arenas, huge crowds and of course nerves, then anything can happen.

William Fox-Pitt's 'Ed' did his worst ever dressage test and Mary King told me 'Cavvie' hasn't had a show-jumping fence down for two years.

But the one who really surprised everyone was Tina Cook.

It's been nine years since she last rode for Britain yet she looked like she's never been away.

Tina's been telling us all how good Miner's Frolic is for years ''This is my horse for the Olympics,'' she kept saying.

What she meant though was 2012, not 2008!

Well done Tina. It was also an incredible result that the individual gold went to Germany's Hinrich Romeike.

Every amateur rider reading this must take heart from the fact that he's a full-time dentist with just one top horse - Marius. I reckon this makes him the ultimate working rider?!

The competition has been marred slightly by the news that the American event rider Phillip Dutton was disqualified after his horse was found to have been wearing illegally weighted back boots.

Some riders use weighted boots on their horse's back legs in the show-jumping phase to make them pick their feet up, but they have to be within a certain weight limit.

Dutton, who won two team gold medals for Australia in 2000 and 2004 before switching nationality to the US, would have finished in joint 12th place in the individual competition.

His disqualification doesn't affect the USA's final team position of 7th or any of the medals - but it's just not what the sport needs.

It also begs the question, why don't the officials check these things before the rider goes into the ring?

It's a shame - but I hope everyone will forget about it asap.

So one down, two to go. Bring on the pure dressage next.

It starts today at 7.15pm HK time - 12.15pm UK time.

Anky, Isobel, Kyra as well as our own Laura B, Emma and Jane.

I know I am a very lucky girl and I will enjoy every minute watching it.