Dutch dressage rider Sven Rothenberger decides not to sue the NHS (Dutch Equestrian Federation) for being kept out of the European Championships' selection by chef d'Equipe Jurgen Koschel.
He withdrew this decision as he had no intention of harming his fellow team members.
By sending a letter to the NHS, he wants to point at the fact that the complete selection of the Dutch dressage team is in hands of one man: Koschel. "It's is my right to do so," explained Rothenberger ",there was only one selection show announced and that was the Dutch Dressage Championship, where I won the most important team championship test. But apparently the tournament in Aachen counted as an extra qualifier.
The chef d'equipe deemed it not necessary for me to enter the show so I didn't compete. It's ridiculous that the entire selection depends on the decision of one man. It smells like dictatorship and dependence." Koschel claims that facts (Rothenberger's victory at the championship) are not the only measure for a qualification. "It's the same thing as letting a computer program decide who can go and who can't. My personal impression and the condition of the horses at Nijmegen helped me to select Anky with Bonfire, Arjen with Goliath, Ellen with Silvano and Coby with Ferro."
This was reported in the Algemeen Dagblad in Holland
Picture copyrighted Mary Phelps