Equestrian European Championship
“That’s not possible”: Excitement about white horses in the EM course
Two white horses in the course caused a stir a few hours before the start of the World Equestrian Championships. photo
© Friso Gentsch/dpa
Shortly before the start of the Equestrian World Championships, two synthetic horses caused a stir in Milan. The organizers react.
The two plastic animals were installed as part of an obstacle in the time competition on Wednesday and caused trouble for some show jumpers.
The World Equestrian Federation FEI initially allowed the artificial horses to move away from the obstacle by about a meter, but that wasn’t enough. After lengthy discussions, the two horses were finally completely dismantled and carried away.
“That doesn’t work”
“That’s not possible, it distracts the horses,” complained national trainer Otto Becker: “It can be difficult, especially with stallions.” The German coach had campaigned with several colleagues for the dismantling of the plastic animals. They then disappeared just under two hours before the start of the first special stage.
“It’s just unfair,” Christian Kukuk complained. The European Championship individual starter from Riesenbeck had feared that his stallion Mumbai would keep an eye on the plastic animals from the start. Mumbai is “not really peppy,” explained Kukuk, but through the use of breeding he knows such dummies and is distracted by them on the course.