Swiss jumping riders Steve Guerdat and Alessandra Bichsel, whose horses tested positive for prohibited substances earlier this year, have been cleared of any wrongdoing following separate legal agreements with the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI).

The agreements, in which the FEI accepts that the positives were caused by poppy seed contamination, have been independently approved by the FEI Tribunal.

Under the terms of the agreements, there are no sanctions against either Guerdat or Bichsel other than the automatic disqualification of the horses’ results at the events where they tested positive in accordance with Article 9 and Article 10.1.4 of the FEI Equine Anti-Doping (EAD) Rules.

Samples taken from the horse Nino des Buissonnets, ridden by Guerdat, at the La Baule CSIO5* in France on May 17 returned positive for the banned substances codeine and oripavine and the controlled substance morphine. Samples taken from the horse Nasa, also ridden by Guerdat, at the same event on May 16 returned positive for codeine and morphine. Nasa’s sample also showed traces of oripavine, but not at a sufficiently high level for the testing laboratory to declare a positive