Equestrian Sports New Zealand released a statement on April 23, in response to an interview Olympic eventer Andrew Nicholson gave to a New Zealand radio station, announcing the rider remains excluded from the high performance squad.

“This is because he has not been prepared to meet certain standards ESNZ requires of its squad members,” stated the release. “He has also put a number of conditions on his reintegration into the squad which he is not prepared to move on.

“This position has been reached after several months of communication with Andrew and his representative and follows Andrew’s own withdrawal from the squad after a verbal and physical altercation with the team vet at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games [France] in 2014.” 

Late last year, Nicholson removed his name from contention after the veterinary incident at the World Games. The rider then announced in January that he was making himself available for the squad again, but ESNZ declined to add him to any lists.

“Andrew has accepted that the altercation occurred,” stated the release. “Efforts were made to resolve this matter internally, but he then withdrew from the squad and has since insisted on a number of special conditions as part of his re-inclusion. These include not working with some members of the team management and being allowed to operate outside the team as an individual.

“This is not feasible in a team environment where all the riders must work closely together with team management to get the best results, and consequently this leaves no way to go forward with him in the squad at present,” it continued. “The door is still open to Andrew to be a high performance squad member if he is happy to be treated like all other team members, to sign up and abide by the rules that apply to everyone and to work as part of the team.”