Beth Underhill, who has represented Canada at the Pan American Games, Olympic Games and World Equestrian Games, announced she won’t be competing at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games this year.

Underhill, Schomberg, Ont., was on the winning Canadian Nations Cup team at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.) in March aboard Iron Horse Farm’s Top Gun. But on July 13, the day before Jump Canada announced its long list for the WEG, Top Gun’s owners informed Underhill that the Dutch Warmblood gelding would no longer be available for her to ride.

Underhill and Top Gun had been named to the Canadian show jumping team that will compete in Nations Cup competitions in CSIO Gijon, Spain, and at the Meydan Nations Cup League Final in Barcelona, Spain, in September.

“I was shocked; I was not aware that this was coming,” said Underhill. “The horse had been named to the European tour, and the World Championships were within reach. I had been campaigning him very much with the focus on peaking this fall for Spain and the World Championships. The owners had a change of heart, and the horse is to be sold. I am obviously devastated and disappointed that I do not have the opportunity to continue riding this horse. As difficult as it is, I have to respect their decision.”

Underhill began riding Top Gun in the summer of 2008. That fall, the pair finished second in the Canadian Show Jumping Championships held at Toronto’s Royal Horse Show (Ont.). In 2009, Underhill and Top Gun were members of Canada’s fourth-placed team in the BMO Nations Cup at the Spruce Meadows Masters in Calgary, Alta. Less than one week before receiving the news that the horse was to be sold, Underhill guided Top Gun to victory in a class at the Spruce Meadows North American Tournament.

“It is such a heartbreak to learn that the horse is no longer available, especially when it is only a couple of months before a major championship such as the World Equestrian Games,” said Torchy Millar, chef d’equipe of the Canadian Show Jumping Team and Chair of the Jump Canada High Performance Committee. “Beth had brought the horse along to the top international level and was a strong contender for the World Championship team. It greatly diminishes Canada’s chances when good horses are taken away, and it is especially disappointing that we do not have good horses available to us after winning gold and silver medals at the last Olympics.”