FRENCH event rider Maxime Livio has been suspended by the FEI after a horse he rode in Thailand tested positive for a banned substance.

Bingo S, a nine-year-old Dutch gelding owned by the Thailand Equestrian Federation and ridden by Livio at the Pattaya CSI*-W show jumping competition in Thailand, tested positive for testosterone. The horse will be suspended until April 15th, 2015, but there is no end date set for Livio’s suspension.

The Thailand Equestrian Federation wrote to the FEI earlier this week, saying it had supplied the horse to Livio and he had “no relationship with the horse, nor before or during the jumping sessions.”

Livio is awaiting a ruling from the FEI on the positive test of his World Equestrian Games mount Qalao Des Mers for the controlled substance acepromazine (ACP), which he claimed was sabotage.

If the rider is disqualified by the FEI based on this charge, Livio and the entire French team would lose out on their qualifying spot for the Rio Olympics next year.