Appeal for €1,000 compensation fails after horse went missing for two hours in competition

The FEI Tribunal has dismissed a Spanish request to the FEI to overturn a ground jury decision and pay €1,000, after a horse went missing for two hours during a championship competition.

The Spanish equestrian federation appealed the ruling of the ground jury during the young riders European Endurance Championships last September, owing to an “unusual set of facts”.

The dispute related to Clara Latorre Sala, the person responsible or PR, and the horse Eryvan, who were on the Spanish team. During the first phase of competition, Clara fell from Eryvan, who “left without the rider”, the FEI Tribunal report states.

“After some [searching], the horse was ultimately found a couple of hours later,” the report adds. “The horse then returned to the veterinarian gate in the competition area, was checked by a veterinarian and deemed fit to compete.”

The report states that the president of the ground jury offered the rider the chance to go back to the point of the fall and continue from there, but counting the elapsed time. The rider and the Spanish federation refused this, “as they considered that the combination should have restarted from the vet gate, where [the horse] had been taken without the PR and appellant’s consent”.

The president of the ground jury refused this, the horse was eliminated and the appellant lodged a protest, which the president later dismissed.

After the competition, the federation lodged the appeal to the Tribunal, asking for the president of the ground jury’s decision to be dismissed, and for the FEI to pay the €1,000 “for the damages caused to the Spanish team due to the negligence of the competition officials and the organising committee” and “which could be quantified as the competition fee”. The federation also wanted an investigation to “clarify the responsibilities that may be appropriate for the removal of the horse from the field of play without the consent of the PR”.

The FEI’s position was that the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to adjudicate in “a clear field-of-play decision”.

The Spanish federation said that once Clara had fallen, Spanish officials were looking for the horse, with the aim of returning him to the site of the fall, to continue. The federation said it was someone from the organising committee who found him, and was told to take him to the clinic at the main venue, “leaving the field of play without informing the PR”, and “transported without the PR’s consent”. The federation added that its aim in its initial request was to ensure the combination could “continue the competition in a fair and competitive manner”, and that going back to the fall site would have “created a big disadvantage”.

The FEI’s position was that the ground jury president told the rider restarting from the vet gate “was not feasible” and that the decision was a field-of-play one, so “immune from any further challenge”. The FEI added that restarting from the fall site was allowed in the rules, but restarting from the vet gate was not.

The Tribunal agreed that it was a field-of-play decision, so “not appealable in front of the Tribunal”, noting that the appellant did not lodge a protest within 30 minutes of the announcement of the results.

“Rather, the appellant seeks monetary compensation”, the report states.

The Tribunal said it was not in a position to hear the issue, and it was considered inadmissible. The Spanish federation will have to pay costs of CHF500 (£455).

Hannah Bradley, consultant solicitor at Setfords Solicitors, told H&H: “Albeit that this case turns on a very unusual set of facts, it is a reminder that if the applicable regulations preclude a right of appeal, a Tribunal is unlikely to interfere with the decision of a ground jury or steward. These regulations are drafted keeping in mind the special perspective, insight and experience which those responsible for making such rulings at competitions hold.”

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