German showjumper disqualifed in London
A German showjumper was disqualified from the Longines Global Champions Tour grand prix at Horse Guards in London on Saturday (16 July) because his horse was bleeding from a spur mark.
The wound was found after Hans-Dieter Dreher and Embassy II had jumped two clear rounds, which had qualified them for the jump-off.
But, as a result of the wound, the combination were not allowed to take part in the final jump-off, which was won by Britain’s Scott Brash.
The pair were disqualified from the class — losing out on tens-of-thousands of Euros in prize-money.
Hans-Dieter was also given a verbal warning.
“The horse came in for the mandatory boot check and it was very obvious that it had a spur mark on the flanks; that the horse was bleeding,” said Stephan Ellenbruch, president of the FEI ground jury.
“The ground jury then has to decide whether to take any further legal action against the rider. We have decided that we are not taking any further action — the rider received a verbal warning — but we have no indication that there was any horse abuse.
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“Everyone knows that things like that can happen, but FEI jumping rules are very strict on such things. But from what we have seen on the horse, and what we have seen the rider do during his round, we do not think there to be any basis of horse abuse, and so we will not take any further action such as a sanction or a warning card.”
America’s Laura Kraut withdrew Nouvelle before the jump-off, leaving just four to contest the €148,500 first prize.
Don’t miss the full report on all the action from the three-day Longines Global Champions Tour London show in this Thursday’s issue of Horse & Hound, out 21 August.
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Sophia Heath joined Horse & Hound in July 2013 having previously worked for the Daily Telegraph's Olympics website, CNN International and Omnisport. A Durham graduate with a Masters in journalism from City University, Sophia has evented, showjumped and hunted. Sophia left Horse & Hound in early 2015 to join an international boating website.