We have just confirmed that Karim Florent Laghouagh and Havenir d’Azac of France were eliminated by the ground jury after blood appeared around Havenir d’Azac’s mouth during their dressage test. The ground jury let Karim finish the test and then convened with the horse and rider by the side of the arena. Marilyn Payne of the ground jury explained that they noticed red in the saliva early in the test but decided not to stop the pair because there was only a little bit of red in the saliva and they were unsure that it was blood–Marilyn mentioned that sometimes horses are given peppermints before the test. By the time that the ground jury noticed a lot of red and determined it could only be blood the horse was turning the corner to make his final two changes. After Karim finished his final salute the ground jury called him over to examine the horse and determined that it was indeed blood and by rule blood around the horse’s mouth means disqualification. Of course, a Dutch pair was stopped and eliminated in the team portion of the dressage competition on Tuesday for blood in the horse’s mouth. Leslie took pictures of the entire incident that show the development of the blood throughout the test:
