Top Irish rider Bertram Allen is set for a spell on the sidelines after breaking his collarbone.
The 20-year-old was riding his new horse Hector Van d’Abdijhoeve (not pictured) at the Glock Horse Performance Centre, Treffen in Germany yesterday (Thursday, 27 August) when the horse stumbled through a fence.
Bertram came off, breaking his collarbone.
A spokesman from Horse Sport Ireland told H&H that they had “no indication” on how long Bertram’s recovery could take, but that the rider was having surgery in Germany today (Friday, 28 August).
Bertram is currently the highest Irish rider in the world rankings, standing at number five.
Earlier this year he was named Irish Field senior showjumper of the year. Aged 19 at the time (February), Bertram was the youngest rider to receive the award following a remarkable year.
Hector Van d’Abdijhoeve has only recently been taken on by Bertram. The eight-year-old was formerly ridden by Irish showjumper Thomas O’Brien.
The horse recently made his 1.60m debut in Lisbon finishing with five faults.
Bertram also represented Ireland at last week’s FEI European Showjumping Championships (18-23 August) in Aachen. He finished 11th individually with grey mare Molly Malone V.
However, the Irish team narrowly missed out on qualifying for Rio 2016 by just 0.38 of a penalty.
During the final team round Cian had jumped clear up to fence 10 and was rounding the mound on a right-hand turn to fence 11 when a member of the arena crew ran across in front of Good Luck. He then had the next jump down.
However, the appeal committee rejected the Irish appeal over interference during Cian O’Connor’s round, leaving the Irish team without a spot for Rio 2016.
