German five-time Olympic dressage champion Isabell Werth has been suspended for six months after her horse tested positive for a banned medication.
The German Equestrian Federation says the horse, El Santo, tested positive for the drug cimetidine at the Rhineland Championships in Langenfeld in June 2012. Cimetidine is allowed in international competition but not in Germany.
The federation says the breach was likely due to negligence of care in the rider's stable. It fined Werth 2,000 euros ($2,700) and ordered her to pay legal costs.
Werth said she will appeal. The 44-year-old rider blamed a contamination of the watering system in her stable for the positive test.
Werth was banned in 2009 for six months after the banned performance enhancer Fluphenazine was found in her horse, Whisper.
Werth won team gold medals at the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2008 Olympics. She won individual gold in 1996.
