All horses have passed the vet inspection at the 2013 European Dressage Championships in Herning, Denmark, and are considered fit to compete. The jog took place early Tuesday morning 20 August 2013 and coincided with the final team training opportunity in the main stadium before the start of the show on Wednesday.
The vet inspection took place behind the main arena and in front of the stable area. A 10 centimeter layer of arena footing was poured on the concrete to provide plenty of bounce and no slippery situations for the sensitive dressage horses.
Some took advantage of the opportunity of being handled in-hand and jump around and frolick about causing their handlers quite some concern. Only a few of those rascals had to do a second jog. A total of 65 came before the veterinary panel and only one was sent to the holding box, Jose Antonio Garcia Mena's Norte. However the grey PRE stallion passed on re-inspection so will compete for Spain tomorrow afternoon.
The key teams for the medals - Great Britain, Germany, The Netherlands and Denmark - had no problems with making their horses pass the inspection.
The vet-check was supervised by several judges of the panel, including chair of the ground jury Leif Törnblad(DEN), as well as Isabelle Judet (FRA), Francis Verbeek (NED), and Susan Hoevenaars (AUS). The inspection was carried out in the presence of the FEI veterinary committee with President Hans Schougaard (DEN), treating Veterinary Niels Guus Andersen (DEN), Foreign Veterinary Delegate Marco Hermann (SUI) and member Nicolai Jarløv (DEN).
Photos © Astrid Appels
Related Link
Eurodressage Coverage of the 2013 European Dressage Championships