Delgado, Ferrer-Salat’s winning horse, receives farewell tribute

Madrid, Nov 27 (EFE).- A European medal, winner of World Cup events and three, four and five-star competitions, in addition to qualifying for the Olympic Games and the World Equestrian Games, are some of the achievements of Delgado, one Beatriz Ferrer-Salat’s horses, who retired from competition in Madrid on Saturday.

This 20-year-old chestnut horse participated for the last time in a major tournament at the 2019 European Championships in Rotterdam and although “he is in very good shape,” it is time to close this stage of his life, Ferrer-Salat said

“The truth is that it makes me happy, it also makes him happy to finish his career in a place where he has won, where there are fans that applaud him and it truly makes me proud that at his age he is so fit,” the Spanish rider told EFE.

For Ferrer-Salat, the place for his farewell had to be Madrid because it is a competition where they have been successful several times, “in Spain because it is where he has more followers” and at an event of which she is very fond.

The ceremony took place after the third round of the Dressage World Cup, organized by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) and part of the IFEMA Madrid Horse Week.

During the competition, Ferrer-Salat finished second with Elegance, a young 12-year-old horse with which she competed this year at the Tokyo Olympics and at the Europeans Championships in Hagen, Germany.

The Spanish rider regretted Friday the distractions from the stands that disturbed Elegance in the arena, where silence is an important element in a discipline as precise as dressage.

“I have to improve with the horse. The truth is that we have had a demanding schedule with the Games, the European Championships and now the World Cup. It is a lot for his experience, but it is good for him to get used to the arenas and the atmosphere, and he can improve. You have to go as many as you can,” she said.

Regarding her own future, the 55-year-old Olympic medalist said that she is well and without any lasting effects from her serious injury in 2020 – a double fracture of the pubis and sacrum – but she will take each year as it comes.

“As long as I am motivated and I am in shape, I will continue, and when that is over I will stop. I have not set any date,” Ferrer-Salat said. EFE