US Equestrian has announced a last-minute change to their team of three for the Paris Olympic eventing competition, moments before the first horse inspection.
Travelling reserve combination Liz Halliday and Nutcracker will move into the competing trio for the USA eventing team, replacing Will Coleman and Diabolo. Will had already swapped his first selection Off The Record to his reserve horse Diabolo while on the training camp, but since moving to the venue at Versailles, Diabolo has shown signs of a hoof abscess.
“The last 48 hours have truly been tough for our team, but particularly for Will Coleman,” said US chef d’equipe Bobby Costello. “Off The Record looked well at the training camp, but Will’s direct reserve, Diabolo, continued to impress and was physically in such great condition, so we made the decision to place him into the team roster before moving to the venue.
“Diabolo trotted up great prior to shipping from the training camp and arrived at the venue happy and sound. Unfortunately, shortly after settling into stabling he showed some significant signs of discomfort and the team immediately got to work to address a potential abscess in the right front foot. Team farrier Beck Ratte, Dr. Susan Johns, Diabolo’s groom Hailey Burlock, and Will’s wife, Katie, were so diligent and excellent in treating Diabolo and he did in fact trot up sound last night.
“With that said, we felt after weighing the risk, it was not in Diabolo’s or the team’s best interest for him to move forward with the competition this week. We’re all just really devastated for Will and his entire team. It takes so much work to get to this moment and it’s just such an unfortunate turn of events. We’ve got to look forward though, and with that said, we’re heading into this competition with four very competitive horses, and l still feel very confident in this team’s ability to be successful here in Paris.”
This will be Liz’s Olympic debut, having been selected for Tokyo but then withdrawing after a horse injury. She made her USA eventing team debut at the Pan Am Games last year, taking team silver. Cooley Nutcracker is a 10-year-old, who was eighth at Kentucky in the spring although the pair parted company at the US final trial. His Cooley prefix is being dropped for the duration of the Olympics in line with the Games rules.
The new alternate for the US team is Sydney Elliott with QC Diamantaire, a 14-year-old by Diarado owned by Carol Stephens.
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
