2002 World Equestrian Games

Dressage Vet Inspection Blocks Gestion Silvano N

Dutch dressage team member Ellen Bontje has definitely run out of luck. Only two weeks after the news that her equine partner of many years, Gestion Silvano N, had been sold to Paul Schockemoele, Bontje's Holsteiner gelding did not pass the vet check at the first day of the 2002 World Equestrian Games.

Opening day of the 2002 World Equestrian Games kicked off under a brilliant Spanish sun-filled sky with air that heated up to sizzling temperatures. The vet inspection for the dressage horses started at 10 AM in the morning and was the first official event that made part of the WEG. Anna Merveldt-Steffens (pictured) of the Irish team was the first to present her chestnut Fosbury to the panel of judges and passed easily. The jog, which took two hours in total, ran smoothly with no incidents besides a few frisky, bucking and rearing horses. Four horses in total were held for re-inspection but only one did not make the test.