Marilyn Little finishes cross despite 'blood rule'

Marilyn Little finishes cross despite 'blood rule'
Once again, the so called 'blood rule' has caused some problems. This time at the CCI3* Flair Hill International, where the American Marilyn Little finished her cross country, even after the officials saw blood coming out of the mouth of her horse RF Scandalous.

Christian Landolt, the president of the jury, confirmed that the jury saw blood in the mouth of the horse: "The first report came from the jury standing next to fence number 20. After that the juries of fences 22,23 and 24 reported the same. Because Little was almost at the end of her course, we decided to let her finish. After the cross a vet immediately examined the horse", Landolt says.

The mouth of the mare was examined, but the bleeding already stopped. Because of that, the result of the American rider still counts for the overall ranking. "We didn't find a wound or something else that could have caused the bleeding. The vet reported this so we don't feel the need to examine this any further. The mare probably bit her tongue".

Despite the bleeding, Little rode a good cross. She and Scandalous ended on second place with a total of 46,3 penalties.