Otto Scratched from Falsterbo to Focus on Aachen
14 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Otto Scratched from Falsterbo to Focus on Aachen
PADERBORN, Germany, July 2–Otto, the 13-year-old Danish warmblood gelding that Todd Flettrich is campaigning for a place on the U.S. team for the World Equestrian Games, has been scratched from next week’s Falsterbo Horse Show to insure a complete recovery from the ill effects of travel.
Otto was originally scheduled to compete at Fritzens-Schindlhof CDI4* in Austria last week and at the Exquis World Dressage Masters CDI5* in Falsterbo, Sweden this coming week and then the CHIO World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany, July 13-18. The horse is scheduled to return to the U.S. for the WEG selection trials the first two weeks of August.
However, Otto traveled “horribly” and on the advice of veterinarians was scratched from Fritzens.
Although the horse owned by Cherry Knoll Farm has since fully recovered and is back on its training schedule, the decision was made not to travel for at least six hours by highway more than 325 miles (523km) from the facility of Hubertus Schmidt in Paderborn, Germany to Falsterbo and then return immediately to Germany for Aachen.
Todd, based in Wellington, Florida, trained with Hubertus Schmidt and competed in Germany last year before returning to the United States where their competition record has placed them ninth among in the latest standings of American combinations seeking to qualify for WEG in Kentucky beginnings Sept. 25.
