Hendricks' Drombusch Withdrawn from Aachen 4* GP Kur After Medical Emergency

Dressage

Germany

Felicitas Hendricks will not be competing Drombusch in Saturday's Aachen 4* Kur to Music after her horse experienced a medical emergency on the Aachen show grounds.

Hendricks made her senior Grand Prix debut at the 2024 CDIO Aachen in the 4* tour on Wednesay 3 July 2024 and finished 13th with 69.565%. She was scheduled to ride the freestyle on Saturday night.

"And all of a sudden the world stands still for a moment," Hendricks stated. "Drombusch had a severe allergic shock yesterday afternoon. Thankfully a group of amazing vets was right by our side, stabilising him and saving him from collapsing. I’ve never experienced anything like this and I truly hope neither Drombusch nor I will have to go through something like this ever again. Just moments before he was as fit as he can be and the next second his body just shut down completely."

Fortunately the swift assistance of a veterinarian team helped her 13-year old Oldenburg gelding (by Destano x Dimaggio) to get stabilised.

"Thank you to the amazing vets helping him recover. He‘s already doing much better and has come back to his normal goofy, life loving self," said Felicitas. "I’m so glad I was able to be with him in those terrifying moments and the one positive takeaway I‘m sure of, is that this only made our bond grow even stronger."

She added, "needless to mention, we will not be able to compete in Saturday‘s freestyle here at CHIO Aachen. The most important thing is that Drombusch is healthy and happy."