“IT’S our last world games together, he’s 16, he doesn’t get another one,” an emotional Judy Reynolds told The Irish Field in Tryon after the World Equestrian Games announced the Dressage Freestyle final would not go ahead due to the weather.

After a stunning performance in the Grand Prix Special on Friday with Vancouver K, Judy became the first Irish rider in the history of the World Championships to qualify for the Freestyle.

“I am really disappointed, gutted really. We are here, were competitors, that’s what we do, and we didn’t come to go home. Obviously, we have no control over a hurricane, but you know, I have worked so hard to get JP back with this goal in mind, and our goal was to get to the final. And now we don’t get to ride it,” she said.

“He’s been stunning this week. This is what we worked him to towards, to peak here, this was our goal for the last year, to get him back for this event, and it’s worked! He was in amazing form.

“I will be the Irish rider to qualify for a world championship freestyle and I won’t get to ride it! You get this chance once every four years, and they just take it away from you.”

The organisers made the announcement at 3.30pm local time today (Saturday) following 24 hours of deliberations over the approaching Hurricane Florence, which is due to bring heavy rain and flash floods to the Tryon area this evening and tomorrow (Sunday). There will be no competitive action in any discipline on Sunday.

“We knew this hurricane was coming since the day we came here, I don’t see how we can’t have a couple more solutions in place. It seems ridiculous that, all week, people were ignoring the fact that a hurricane was coming and now it’s like a sh*t storm, because guess what, it’s a hurricane!” Judy said.

“And obviously, I wouldn’t do anything to compromise his (Vancouver K) safety, 100% not, but I think there are options and I think it’s a real pity that some people aren’t willing to be flexible!”

Judy’s husband, Patrick Heavey, said: “It’s unacceptable that they come out yesterday and say we are putting it off until Monday and then they come out today to say they are cancelling it all together. I mean, if they had just a little bit of foresight, they could have organised it, they really could have.”

Equally emotional, Heavey added: “It’s not the end of them, they’ll be out again. This time last year we didn’t know if we would get him to another competition, we were asking ourselves ‘do you think is he done, has he had enough of it?’ But he didn’t, he came back better than before.

“They will be back at another championships, we’ll go to the Europeans next year and we will keep the faith and we will try and get him to Tokyo, touch wood, and we will be back in Aachen next year. They will be out representing Ireland and flying the flag and doing their best, but it won’t be here, which is heartbreaking because this is the pinnacle of our sport, our flagship event.”

STATEMENT

Tryon 2018 Organising Committee President, Irishman Michael Stone, said: “This was not an easy decision, but we have explored every option, including trying to reschedule the horse departures, and even looking at moving the competition into the indoor with a change of footing, but the logistics of making all this happen are just not possible.

“We know this is desperately disappointing for the 15 athletes who had qualified their horses for the Freestyle, and of course for all the spectators who had bought tickets, but the weather has simply left us with no choice. Horse welfare has to be the top priority and flying the horses out on the same day as competition doesn’t work, so sadly the decision to cancel the Freestyle had to be taken.”