Members of the Irish squad competing at last week's European show jumping championships in Mannheim were told not to speak to the media late last Friday, the night Jessica Kürten confirmed to The Irish Timesthat one of her horses had tested positive for a prohibited substance.
The Irish Timeshas learned that a telephone text message was sent to the Irish riders after midnight on Friday by Bernie Brennan, chairman of the Equestrian Federation of Ireland's jumping committee.
"To all team members", the text read. "Controversial story breaking at home in media regarding team member, please maintain media discipline, all comment through EFI. Bernie Brennan."
However, Ms Brennan denied last night that the message had been sent as a warning to the Irish riders. "It's not that they were warned not to speak to the Irish media, it's just that they were requested to maintain media discipline," she said.
"I requested of them that they observe the protocol and the protocol is that the official voice for the team at all times is the EFI."
Team manager Robert Splaine had also used late-night text messages to contact members of the Irish squad about the competitions in Mannheim earlier in the week. As a result, Kürten's husband Eckardt told Splaine that his wife had a 10pm curfew on text messaging.
One of Splaine's text messages asked members of the Irish squad to co-operate with the RTÉ crew filming at Mannheim, but Kürten stated at the beginning of the championships that she was not talking to the media.