Bernard Fonck takes gold in the reining at the World Equestrian Games
The jockey Bernard Fonck has entered the history books after taking gold in the reining competition at the World Equestrian Games at Tryon in the American state of North Carolina. Something of an achievement given that reining is a western riding competition in which jockeys guide their horses through a precise pattern of circles, spins, and stops.
Tryon crowd saw Bernard Fonck triumph over the home-grown favourites Daniel Huss and Cade McCutcheon.
Last year Bernard Fonck became European Reining Champion and he has now become the first ever European to take gold in the discipline at the World Equestrian Games that are organised over four years.
The 45-year-old has been at the top of his sport for many years. For this year’s World Equestrian Games he had set his sights on a medal in what is a typically western equestrian discipline. Now he has taken gold in the lion’s den.
In the team event Bernard Fonck, his wife Ann Poels, Cira Baeck and Dries Verschueren took second, behind the Americans.