TRYON, United States, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The organizers of the World Equestrian Games 2018 confirmed on Saturday that the dressage freestyle event has been cancelled due to bad weather caused by Hurricane Florence.

"This was not an easy decision, but we have explored every option, including trying to reschedule the horse departures, and even looking at moving the competition into the indoor with a change of footing, but the logistics of making all this happen are just not possible," Tryon 2018 Organizing Committee President Michael Stone said.

"We know this is desperately disappointing for the 15 athletes who had qualified their horses for the freestyle, and of course for all the spectators who had bought tickets, but the weather has simply left us with no choice. Horse welfare has to be the top priority and flying the horses out on the same day as competition doesn't work, so sadly the decision to cancel the freestyle had to be taken," he added.

"Although we are devastated that this decision has to be taken, we've had absolutely world-class competitions here at Tryon, including yesterday's Grand Prix special, and to see Germany's Isabell Werth and Bella Rose taking double gold and Team USA claiming silver was a real treat for Dressage fans."

Hurricane Florence made landfall in the US state of North Carolina early Friday, and already killed at least five people so far.

The hurricane was downgraded Friday afternoon to a tropical storm, but it will affect North Carolina for the next few days.

Tryon, a small Western North Carolina town, is famous for its rich equestrian history. The Tryon International Equestrian Center is the main venue for the World Equestrian Games 2018, featuring eight disciplines of jumping, dressage, eventing, the Paralympic discipline of Para-equestrian dressage, as well as driving, endurance, vaulting and reining.