Dutch rider Adelinde Cornelissen quits Rio 2016 mid-Games to protect her horse Dutch dressage rider Adelinde Cornelissen has pulled out of the Olympics to protect her horse, after 19-year-old Parzival fell ill […]

Dutch dressage rider Adelinde Cornelissen has pulled out of the Olympics to protect her horse, after 19-year-old Parzival fell ill mid-way through the games.

Following an individual silver and team bronze win at London 2012, Cornelissen and Parzival were in Rio to compete in Wednesday’s dressage event – the Individual Grand Prix – but after heading out to the stables on Tuesday morning, Cornelissen found her horse in a state of distress.

“Saying good morning to Parzival, I saw the right side of his head was swollen, he had been kicking the walls. I took his temperature: he had a fever of over 40 degrees”

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Cornelissen describes nursing Parzival after Olympic vets concluded that the 19-year old gelding had bitten by a poisonous insect.

“We gave him fluids. From 6.30 to 15.45 we kept him on this. It helps the kidneys to clean up the toxins out of the body…The temperature dropped gradually and by 15.30 it was 38”.

Despite positive signs from Parzival, Cornelissen approached the FEI (International Federation for Equestrian Sports) with a request to move their fixing to a later test, but the request was denied. With no reserve riders on the Dutch team, Cornelissen describes her fear at letting the team down, but after riding Parzival and feeling he was not at his best, she took the “difficult decision” to withdraw.

“In order to protect him, I gave up…My buddy, my friend, the horse that has given everything for me his whole life does not deserve this…. So I saluted and left the arena”. Given the age of Parzival, it may well be their last opportunity to compete at the Olympics.

The welfare of horses cannot be guaranteed at competition

Public concerns over horse welfare have dogged equestrian sport in recent years with commentators pointing to severe training methods, and the high death-rate of animals competing, as a form of animal abuse. This year, four horses died at the Grand National, two of which had fallen on their heads. Methods such as “soring” – covering the horses legs with chemicals to encourage a high stepping gait – have been widely derided by animal welfare organisations.

This week, concerns for animal welfare were reignited once more after bullets were found near the Olympic stables. In a press conference discussing the security of Rio 2016, General Luiz Eduardo Ramos, commander of the First Division of the Brazilian Army, stated that “nobody can guarantee 100% safety” of the horses, some of the most expensive steeds in the world.