Pádraig McCarthy couldn't hide his anguish as he described the moment he tumbled on Simon Porloe halfway through the cross-country phase on the second day of competition.
Ireland were fifth overall following the dressage portion of the competition at the weekend but were immediately under pressure when McCarthy and Simon Porloe stumbled on a testing course.
Claire Abbott, Jonty Evans and Mark Kyle all steadied the ship thereafter to leave Ireland in eighth place overall.
Just three of the 65 starters managed to finish clear inside the time allowed, over what proved to be the toughest cross country course in Olympic history.
The Rio Cross Country course delivered a clear jumping rate of just 40.6%, which surpasses the previous highest scoring rate of 47.6% set in Sydney in 2000. It was scant consolation to McCarthy.
Padraig McCarthy says both he and his horse are fine after their cross country fall #rterio2016 https://t.co/mIKLxxuVCi
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 8, 2016
"I’m fine. I’m a little bit annoyed, we’re both okay the horse is fine," he told RTÉ Sport.
"We live to fight another day. He wasn’t really travelling like I expected him to.
"He had an uncomfortable jump at No 6 and I was having to hunt a little bit too much. He ended up a little bit too deep on the corner.
"He got his front legs out of the way but he sat into it with his back legs. He just tumbled on landing. It wasn’t as bad as it looked.
“It’s hugely disappointing. We put in a lot of work and expense to get this far. We were in such a good place after the dressage. We’ve great experienced riders and I’m sure they’ll make up for my blunder."
The team medals will be decided after the first round of show jumping on Tuesday, while the top 25 individuals will then go forward to another jumping round to see who wins the individual medals.
Evans is in 16th place on just 64.60 penalties, with Kyle next best of the Irish in 34th and Abbott in 38th spot.
Australian Christopher Burton is in the gold medal position, ahead of Germany’s Michael Jung in second and Frenchman Astier Nicolas in third.
