You did a great test this time Laura, what did you do differently? "Alf warmed up brilliantly and I used cooling wrist bands myself and only put my tops and tails on just before going in the ring. Alf kept his cool and I was the 'full Laura' so we had a fantastic ride. He had two little spooks from which we recovered immediately and no technical mistakes."

Such a shame to narrowly miss qualifying for the Kur. What did you think of your score? "Unfortunately, I think the judges lacked the confidence to judge us from scratch and mark what they saw on the day. I felt they marked me with my previous performance in mind! I knew it would hold me back a bit but after the test I sincerely thought I would get a good 70% and land my self back into the top section, especially after watching the rest of the class as a lot went wrong for some of the others. Alf was definitely one of the few horses in the dressage who not only coped but thrived in the heat."

How do you feel? "I am extremely gutted as I was so proud to make a comeback and Alf put his whole heart and soul into the occassion and into me. I know I must now forget it, say 'this is the nature of my sport, so be it' and continue but it may take a few more days of working on myself to get there!"

What's next? "Alf is still really fit and well and the most important thing now is to get him home safely and make sure that he knows we are thrilled with him." Well, have a good journey and we look forward to hearing more from you when you are back in the UK!

The blog has been changed to an interview to comply with Olympic regulations