Dutch Olympic medallist Adelinde Cornelissen was supposed to compete in a dressage, a stylized riding, at the Rio Olympic Games but this Tuesday her horse Parzival got seriously ill just before the event. Most probably bitten by a spider or mosquito, Parzival had a fever of over 40 degrees Celsius and the right side of his head was swollen.

“To get the toxics out of his system we gave him fluids,” Adelinde wrote on Facebook. The vets did all they could to get him back on his feet and Adelinde slept with him in the stables, “checking up on Parzi every hour.” The next day the horse was feeling much better and the vets allowed him to participate. Though Adelinde had some serious doubts whether it’s a good decision, she didn’t want to let her team down. “I agreed to give it a try,” she wrote. “When I entered I already felt he was giving his utmost and being the fighter he is, he never gives up… But in order to protect him, I gave up…My buddy, my friend, the horse that has given everything for me his whole life does not deserve this… So I saluted and left the arena…”

More info: Facebook (h/t: thedodo)

“My buddy, my friend, the horse that has given everything for me his whole life does not deserve this… So I saluted and left the arena…”

Adelinde Cornelissen’s horse got seriously ill just before the Rio Olympic Games

But the vets did all they could to make him feel better and he was allowed to participate

“When I entered I already felt he was giving his utmost and being the fighter he is, he never gives up…”

Image credits: Alex Livesey 

“But in order to protect him, I gave up…”

Image credits: Adelinde Cornelissen

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