A Lithuanian eventer has spoken out after losing his place at this summer’s Olympics as he did not gain his final qualification at Luhmühlen Horse Trials (13–16 June) on account of being eliminated. Aistis Vitkauskas had initially gained a place as one of the two highest-ranked athletes from FEI group C (central and Eastern Europe, central Asia).
Aistis and his ride Commander Vg went to Luhmühlen CCI5* to get their final Olympic minimum eligibility requirement (MER) before the 24 June deadline. However they were eliminated across country under the dangerous riding rule – they were stopped by a fence judge after jumping fence 10abc, an upright to a ditch then a skinny flower box.
Aistis said: “The ground jury president said, ‘We know that you and Commander normally do much better, and this is not your day.’ I was told I’d been stopped for dangerous riding at fence 10abc. I argued that in my opinion the fence was very well handled by the horse, it was a tough moment, but it was the opposite to dangerous riding.”
Riders are being encouraged to work with authorities even more to regain access to off-road riding routes – and recent success stories might just be the motivation and hope we all need. A broken bridge in Buckinghamshire has been repaired and reopened, while gates obstructing a restricted byway in North Yorkshire have recently been removed.
Find out how these changes were achieved
Young rider Theo Charnley, who has been excelling in dressage with a rescue pony rehomed from the RSPCA, now has a second pony out winning, Jerry, who was rescued from a shipping container. Theo’s father Paul saw Jerry on the RSPCA website and brought the pony home in April.
“Jerry’s was a weird case,” he said. “There was a complaint about dogs barking in a field and the inspectors found two shipping containers. They opened the first one and found about 20 dogs, then in the other one, they found two ponies. It was pretty awful.
“We adopted Jerry after some fabulous work by the RSPCA rehabilitating him, and he looked pretty good when we got him.”
He has now been out in hand, showing successfully at Reaseheath Equestrian Centre.
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