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Sonja Johnson withdraws from Australian Eventing Team

Sonja Johnson

Olympic silver medallist Sonja Johnson has made the heartbreaking decision to withdraw Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison from Australia’s three-day event team for the FEI World Equestrian Games 2014. 

The announcement comes two days after the West Australian and her 13 year old off-the-track thoroughbred, also known as Ben, touched down in Melbourne where they were to meet other Australian based team members for a flight to Europe next Wednesday.

A devastated Johnson remains optimistic the decision to withdraw Ben will give him the best chance to represent Australia in the future.

“Ben has been in good spirits since arriving in Melbourne. His injury was detected yesterday and is only a minor one. If we give him time to recover he’ll be fine, but if we push on there’s a chance it could escalate into something more serious.

“He needs more time to recover than what we have available to us, so sadly we must withdraw from the Australian team.”

Australian team vet Dr Nathan Anthony applauded Johnson’s decision to put the horse’s welfare first.

Sonja Johnson and Ringwould Jaguar

Above: Sonja Johnson and Ringwould Jaguar at the Beijing Olympic Games in Hong Kong 2008 – Pictures Berni Saunders.