The United States underlined their domination of the reining competition by taking team gold at the FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018 on Wednesday.

The American team, led by 18-year-old Cade McCutcheon on his grandfather’s horse, Custom Made Gun, claimed a comprehensive victory from Belgium in second and third-placed Germany. It was Team USA’s third successive FEI World Equestrian Games gold medal triumph as they claimed the reining crown on a team score of 681 points.

Belgium, meanwhile, completed a hat trick of silver medals, while Germany’s bronze was a reining first for them at WEG.

For McCutcheon, who was joined in the team by Casey Deary, Daniel L. Huss and Jordan Larson, it continued the family’s connection to WEG success, given that his father won individual gold in 2010 and his mother, Mandy, claimed silver four years ago.

“I was real nervous, but all the guys really helped me and that made a huge difference,” McCutcheon said. “My grandfather owns my horse and he’s trained it as well. He is a pretty good owner to work for.” 

“Cade did an amazing job,” Deary added. “He showed all that he had, and we are all extremely proud of the job he did.”

“I think everybody did everything that they could do with their horses and, although it was a strong competition, I think Belgium was also pretty strong,” said Belgium’s Bernard Fonck, reflecting on another second-place finish. 

There was also plenty for Germany to celebrate as they completed the podium places.

“This is the fifth WEG I have been a competitor at,” said Grischa Ludwig. “All the other competitions, we’ve always been fourth and fifth, we’ve been beaten so many times by a half point and one point, and now we’ve beaten the others [Austria] by a half point, which makes this feel even sweeter.

“I did not think that it takes five FEI World Equestrian Games to get a medal! But, in the end, we really deserve it. This team really deserved it. We’ve been consistent. We had no low score and we were really fighting for the medal.”

– Submitted article