Nick Skelton, who was due to compete at next week's World Cup show in Millstreet, has pulled out of the Cork fixture after breaking his collarbone in a fall while jumping at a show near his home in Warwickshire on Wednesday.

Skelton was riding Loro Piana Friso, one of a quartet of horses he took over following the death of top Italian rider Guido Dominici from a brain tumour in July. The accident occurred at the Solihull show when the 12-year-old Dutch-bred gelding took off more than a stride away from a fence, hit the top pole and fired his rider onto the ground.

The 41-year-old was airlifted to hospital where a broken collarbone was diagnosed. He is expecting to be out of the saddle for several weeks and has already abandoned his planned World Cup campaign at both Millstreet and at the German qualifier in Berlin the following week.

Skelton plans to be back in time for the London World Cup round at Olympia in the week before Christmas, but had hoped to pick up some early World Cup points while the International Jumping Riders Club top-25 boycott was still in place.

The IJRC has boycotted both the Oslo and Helsinki qualifiers this month and, unless a last-minute agreement is reached, none of the top 25 in the world will be at Millstreet either following a decision by the IJRC to withhold support from the top 25 riders for any World Cup show that fails to provide more than £100,000 prize money for its three main classes.

Skelton, currently 27th in the world rankings, had just escaped the net and so was eligible to compete at Millstreet, where the prizefund for the entire show stands at £90,000. However, Skelton's compatriot Michael Whitaker, lying 18th in the rankings and therefore officially part of the boycott brigade, has declared his intention to jump at Millstreet if the IJRC restrictions are lifted in time.