Spanish dressage rider Beatriz Ferrer-Salat has withdrawn from the dressage competition which starts on Wednesday after her horse, Faberge, failed to recover from a leg injury.
Ferrer-Salat won Spain's first-ever Olympic dressage medals with a team silver and individual bronze in Athens.
'We waited until the last minute [to withdraw the horse],' chef de mission Bobby de Bobadilla said. 'Trying to recover particularly when you are in competition is difficult because you cannot give any treatment, just ice and walking. The horse is not 100 per cent and you don't compete a horse or take it to the vet check if it is not 100 per cent.'
De Bobadilla said Ferrer-Salat was worried about the horse and disappointed she could not compete.
'She doesn't know if she is going to leave or stay for the grand prix,' De Bobadilla said. 'In the morning she says she is going to go [home] but then ... says she will stay. It's quite hard.'
Without Ferrer-Salat, Spain will no longer compete in the team competition and instead will be represented in the individual competition.