Last weekend the Longines Global Champions Tour was a disaster for German rider Hans-Dieter Dreher. After leaving the Grand Prix the judges noticed his horse was bleeding from a spur mark. The wound was found after Dreher and Embassy II had jumped two clear rounds. As a result of the wound the combination was not allowed to take part in the final jump-off. 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. According to the President of the ground jury there was no horse abuse what so ever... “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.
