By Ellie Jolley
Shortly after British eventer Tom McEwen set off on his cross country round at the Oasby Horse Trials on Friday, he was presented with an altogether different obstacle than what the course designers had in mind.
His mount’s martingale came loose and Tom was forced to untie his reins, free the martingale, and then ride the rest of his round with it held in his mouth.
As Tom told Horse and Hound later, he didn’t want to lose the martingale on the course so decided to carry it with him any way he could.
Tom continued through the open intermediate course on Dreamaway II incurring 4.4 time faults.
And despite the wardrobe malfunction, Tom finished second behind Piggy March who is currently sitting at 4th on the FEI Eventing World Athlete Rankings.
Despite being no stranger to riding under pressure after he won a world team gold for Great Britain at Tryon in 2018, this was probably one of the strangest rides of Tom’s life.
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