It has been reported that Ellen Whitaker, niece of John and Michael Whitaker who have been stalwart members of the British team for over 30 years, has removed herself from participating in the Nations Cup series.  A major disagreement with the recently appointed manager of British high performance showjumping, Rob Hoekstra, led to her decision. 

Whitaker, who has represented Great Britain on nation's cup teams sixteen times since 2004, had been scheduled to ride on the nations cup team at La Baule last weekend.  

The problem began when Hoekstra suggested she ride her only nation's cup horse, Ocolado, at another major show just two weeks prior to La Baule.  This was a conflict with her schedule for the horse and she felt it was too close in time to ride in such a demanding show just two weeks prior to the nations cup.  Hoekstra also did not want her to ride the horse at a county show which she had already planned to attend.  Comments from both Ellen and her father Steven indicated that they felt Hoekstra was interfering with their ability to manage the horse's career and run their business.  

British Showjumping has backed Hoekstra in the dispute.  

This means that Whitaker will not be a part of the Meydan Nations Cup series of seven more shows, nor will she be a part of the World Equestrian Games team in September.