A SOMERSET horse rider battled it out in the south of France earlier this month as part of a gruelling, 17-hour endurance race.

Shanti Roos, who lives in Bishops Lydeard, represented her birth country, the Netherlands, at the Endurance World Championships in Monpazier, with her team finishing in a very respectable fourth place.

Ms Roos and her three teammates faced off against competitors from 39 other countries, totalling 145 athletes and 155 horses.

The race proved tough due to the wet weather and harsh conditions as the mud started to build underfoot.

Just 39% of the horses crossed the finishing line in the end.

Ms Roos said: “Overall, I come away from the championship experience super positively.

“I have an amazing horse trained by a professional in Klervi. The Dutch team were great; I learnt a lot and am very excited about the future.”

Shanti Roos riding Fripon

Ms Roos was riding her nine-year-old Anglo Arabian gelding Fripon Au Xois, which unfortunately was eliminated just before the end of the race as he was showing signs of thumps – a condition that causes the diaphragm to spasm irregularly and is generally observed in fatigued horses.

“There is no equestrian sport that is more controlled by veterinarian checks than endurance, and horse welfare is key,” she explained.

“The thumps were an indication he was not quite ok, but in combination with some other parameters like hydration and gut sounds maybe, he was eliminated.”

Ms Roos says Fripon was his usual self the next day with no health concerns, but said she was disappointed to learn the elimination of Fripon partly contributed to her team finishing just outside a podium place.

Shanti Roos was part of the Netherlands team that finished fourth

“The realisation that we could have been third in the world as a country team only came later and it made me sad, but I’m still very positive about having taken part in the event and knowing that I have such an amazing, strong, keen, healthy horse.

“The course was a lot more difficult than anyone had expected. Riders had trained for a dry technical course, not for endless mud, which made the course very tricky.”

The host nation, France, took gold at the event, while teams from China and Malaysia secured a spot on the podium for the first time, taking second and third place.