Playing water polo, dope testing and a new flight – nine things you didn’t know about Yasmin Ingham’s week winning world gold

It’s nearly two months now since Yasmin Ingham won individual gold at the eventing World Championships, but we can’t get enough of hearing about her triumph in Pratoni.

In an interview on this week’s Horse & Hound Podcast, supported by Veredus and their UK distributor Zebra, Yasmin reveals more about her big win, including these nine things you probably didn’t know about her week…

1. Yasmin was at World Class training when she received the phone call from Dickie Waygood to say she’d been selected to go to Pratoni. She had to excuse herself from a sports psychology session to take the call – and then keep the embargoed news under wraps for a few days afterwards. though she was able to tell her family and Banzai Du Loir’s owners, Sue Davies and Janette Chinn.

2. The British squad played water polo – riders versus grooms versus team staff – as a team building exercise during their final training.

3. Perhaps it was a good thing they’d practised swimming, as the riders managed to find time to go for a swim in the lake near where they were staying in Italy.

4. Yasmin actually found the week less stressful and pressured than when she competed at the Kentucky Three-Day Event in the spring, where she finished second.

5. Banzai Du Loir loves to roll and created himself a pit of mud for rolling in the grazing area in Pratoni.

6. Yasmin walked the cross-country course five times. The first time, the team and trainers all walked it together, then she walked it twice with her trainer Chris Bartle and twice on her own.

7. She walked the showjumping course with Chris and British team rider Ros Canter. When Ros went clear, that boosted her confidence to stick to her plan because she knew it had worked for Ros.

8. After the final press conference, she had to go for routine dope testing – the first time she’d ever had to do that.

9. Yasmin was originally scheduled to fly home with the team on Sunday night, but after she won Alex van Tuyll, who is part of the British team’s logistics section, booked her a flight for Monday morning, so that she could stay and celebrate with her family on the Sunday night.

Hear more from Yasmin Ingham about her week at the World Championships by tuning in to episode 127 of The Horse & Hound Podcast here, or search “The Horse & Hound Podcast” in your favourite podcast app.

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