Lea Siegl is out of the Olympics even before the official opening: The horse Fighting Line, with which she was supposed to compete in the eventing competition starting on Saturday, failed the health test on Friday morning and is therefore not allowed to compete.
“It was out of the blue for all of us and is actually inexplicable,” said Tesch. “Perhaps Fighting Line was confused by all the cameras and people.” The gelding, with whom Siegl had calculated a top ten place, was completely above board in training and during the veterinary checks. “Fighting Line didn’t show anything at all.”
Timing irregularities
However, during the first trot as part of the official conformation test on Friday in Versailles, the horse showed irregularities in its gait and was taken to the holding box for examination, where again there were no complaints. However, after Fighting Line again showed irregularities in its second trot, permission to start was refused.
Lea Siegl is now condemned to watch. After Fighting Line appeared fit until the end, “there was no reason to bring Lea Siegl’s replacement horse to Versailles.” Harald Ambros’ horse Vitorio du Montet passed the health check without any problems. “Now it’s time to give everything to support Harald Ambros,” said Tesch.
The dressage team had to be reorganized on Thursday. Instead of Christian Schumach, Stefan Lehfellner, who had previously been nominated as reserve rider, will be used in the competitions starting on Tuesday. Before the trip to Paris, Te Quiero, Schumach’s Olympic horse, was judged not to be “fit to compete” at a final veterinary check because slight irregularities in its gait were found, it was said.
