Portuguese WEG team alternate Nuno Palma e Santos will not be competing for his team at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Lexington, KY, USA, 27 September - 1 October 2010. Palma e Santos was supposed to step in for Maria Caetano who tragically lost her stallion Util last week.
Nuno Palma e Santos and the Lusitano stallion Sal (by Mississipe x Golega) were appointed team reserves mid August but decided not replace Caetano. Sal's owner Sergio David of International Gosto Equino (IGE) sent a letter to the Portuguese press backing up Nuno's decision.
"Nuno Palma will not be participating in the WEG, mainly for professional and personal reasons," Sergio David wrote. "We accept and understand this fully."
IGE went into detail about this atypical decision, which has caused much commotion in Portugal. "Regrettably the substitution of Nuno Palma has gained such notorious dimensions, in fact event greater, than the sudden and violent death of Util."
IGE felt uninformed and disrespected as horse owner in the Portuguese WEG team selection process. "At no stage did we receive any contact regarding the objectives, nor did the people responsible for the project enquire whether we had the financial support to meet the inherent costs regarding the participation of Nuno Palma / Sal at the WEG 2010."
Nuno Palma e Santos is based in Germany and the ride on Sal is fully sponsored by IGE. "IGE will always honour future commitments, as long as they are clearly formalized, well explained and with a foundation, in line with our organizational professionalism."
Though the 2010 World Equestrian Games were a goal for the combination due to the above reasons, Nuno and IGE declined from riding on the team.
"For good understanding and in conjunction with all efforts around a common cause, Dressage there must be a collective understanding, that in the event of a similar situation, more transparency and communication is required from those responsible for directing dressage in Portugal to avoid any future occurrences," said IGE.
Photos (c) Astrid Appels
Translation support for Eurodressage provided by Equisport.pt
Related Links
Maria Caetano's Util Passed Away
Portuguese Team Selected for 2010 World Equestrian Games