August 27, 2004 6:50 pm
N.J. equestrian gets bronze in jumping
MARKOPOULO, Greece - On a star-crossed night for the U.S. equestrians in individual show jumping, Chris Kappler left with a bronze medal and an injured horse.
Kappler, 37, of Pittstown, N.J., was aboard Royal Kaliber in a jump-off Friday night to determine the silver medalist when the horse went lame. Kappler pulled up, and Royal Kaliber was removed from the course by ambulance.
Examination determined no fracture, but there is swelling and acute strain on the horse's left forelimb. The leg was iced, and the horse was being treated with analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs and returned to its stable.
Before entering the ambulance, Royal Kaliber, a 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion, had a splint put on his leg. Kappler remained composed until he was off the course, then was overcome with tears as he stood out of view of the spectators at the Markopoulo Olympic Equestrian Center as preparations for the medal ceremony began.
He walked to the awards podium without a mount, followed by gold medalist Cian O'Connor of Ireland aboard Waterford Crystal and silver medalist Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil aboard Baloubet du Rouet.
"He was jumping fantastic, then seemed to land a little bit awkward,'' Kappler said. "I thought he maybe stung himself, then he took another funny step to the double verticals, and I knew I had to stop.''
U.S. rider McLain Ward of Brewster, N.Y., also reached the final but retired from the competition when the bit broke on his horse, Sapphire.
Beezie Madden and her horse Authentic never made it to the medal round. She had a clean score after three earlier qualifying rounds and was the last rider to take the course. But all riders started from scratch Friday, and Madden, from Cazenovia, N.Y., saw her hopes for a medal vanish when she had knocked three fences down.
Three horses were taken away by ambulance during the competition, bringing into question whether something was wrong with the ground on the course.
Pessoa called for an investigation, and Kappler agreed.
"The ground is not perfect,'' the Brazilian rider said. "It's not normal for these horses, who are super athletes trained to do this, to be injured like this. We go all over the world, and we don't have these kinds of accidents. There should be a strong investigation of the ground and look for reasons.''
Said Kappler: "It's a combination of horses at the extreme of the sport, jumping high, very wide, over many days over long courses. But the ground has to be 110 percent. I think that needs to be looked into for the future. At Spruce Meadows (in Canada), where we do the Nations Cup on Saturday and turn around and jump the biggest Grand Prix in the world, you don't see this happen, three horses come out of the ring. And that's very special jumping up there.''
Kappler was gold medalist at the 2003 Pan Am Games and was named equestrian of the year by the U.S. Equestrian Federation. He also earned a silver medal in the team show jumping earlier in the week.
O'Connor and Waterford Crystal earned Ireland's first-ever medal in equestrian and first medal of the 2004 Games.
"I imagine there'll be a lot of Guinness pulled tonight,'' O'Connor said when asked his country's reaction.
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