Franco Jeas dies after Blenheim cross-country fall

German eventer Andreas Ostholt has lost his 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding Franco Jeas after the horse sustained injuries in a fall on the cross-country at Blenheim.

Franco Jeas, who was competing in the CCI3* last weekend, landed badly in the water at the sixth fence, the Dew Pond.

Ostholt said that Franco Jeas was hesitant about the jump into the water and rotated on landing, putting all his weight on his off-side foreleg.

Several veterinarians attended to him immediately, and he was taken to a nearby veterinary clinic for X-rays. Ostholt said that the first shoulder X-ray did not show a serious injury, but after bruising in the area subsided, a second X-ray revealed a chipped bone in his shoulder joint.

Franco Jeas was then operated on but the surgeon discovered that the injury was worse than initially thought, and that his future prospects – even in retirement – were bleak. On the advice of veterinarians and in consultation with German team vet Carsten Rohde, Franco Jeas was not allowed to wake up from the anaesthetic.

Franco Jeas, who was by Friedenstraum and out of the Lemon xx mare L’Amerique,  was with Ostholt for eight years and was reserve for the German Olympic eventing team. The combination won the German eventing championship in 2011.

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