Joy turned to disappointment for rider Shane Dougan overnight after he was eliminated from the endurance competition at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany.
The Eketahuna farmer was elated with his eighth place finish at the completion of yesterday's 160km event but following a protest from another team it was found Dougan had taken a wrong turn and not fully completed the final loop.
Avery, the youngest in the team, finished in a respectable 23rd after just 68 of the original 148 starters completed the distance.
Following the rider ahead of him, Dougan was unaware a wrong turn had been taken. The lack of officials on that particular point of the course and torrential rain at the time conspired against Dougan and Vigar Riffal being able to rectify the error.