The hot favourite Lottie Fry was eliminated from the dressage World Cup Final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after her stallion Everdale was judged to have blood in the mouth prior to starting her test.
The grand prix winner Lottie was first into the ring from the final quartet in the deciding freestyle, but the judge at C, Hans-Christian Matthiesen, stopped her before she’d trotted round outside the boards once, had a quick word, and Everdale left the ring on a long-rein walk.
“That’s one of the very difficult parts of our job when we sit there as a judge at C, and I am devastated when it happens, but it’s a thin line and can happen in a split second,” said Hans-Christian. “Although it’s a hard decision to make, I was well backed up because our rules are very clear when it comes to that, so I could make the decision quickly.”
The FEI vet director Göran Åkerström added: “The mouth of Charlotte’s horse has been examined and it is a minor bleeding from the mucosa, the gum above the incisors. It is the kind of injury that will heal extremely fast, it was not much blood at all. There should not be any concerns over the horse or the oral cavity because of it. It was extremely unlucky.”
British Dressage shared the following statement on behalf of Everdale’s owners, the Van Olsts and Lottie.
“We are of course upset with the elimination, but the horse’s welfare always comes first and foremost so completely respect the decision.
“Everdale was checked over by the FEI vet team straight away and they couldn’t find any sign of a cut or abrasion in the mouth and our own vet has also given him a thorough check with no obvious cause. The most important thing is he’s fine and there is no injury.
“We were really happy with the warm up where he was relaxed, we took his bandages off and gave him a final check before heading in to the arena and can only think he maybe just caught his front lip as we went around the arena.
“It’s a disappointing way to end our FEI World Cup campaign, but we have a happy horse to take home for another day.”
The dressage World Cup Final 2024 was won by Patrik Kittel riding Touchdown, ahead of Nanna Skodborg Merrald on Blue Hors Don Olymbrio, with Isabell Werth third on DSP Quantaz.
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