VERSAILLES, France (Reuters) – Equestrian sports activities want a cultural change, German seven-times Olympic champion Isabell Werth advised Reuters on Saturday as a debate sparked by a video of a number one British rider whipping a horse in coaching rages on.
Six-times Olympic medallist Charlotte Dujardin was suspended on Tuesday after footage emerged exhibiting her whipping a horse’s legs a number of instances throughout coaching.
“I’m extremely unhappy. That is an absolute disaster for us and no one understands it,” Werth mentioned.
“We have to set up a tradition of respecting the horse as a creature. Schooling is vital, however this mindless violence should not occur, as a result of in any other case, we’ll have a tough time making our case to the remainder of the world.”
Werth, Germany’s second-most embellished Olympian of all time who is ready to compete in her seventh Video games in Paris, mentioned the video popping out forward of the Olympics was a tragedy for the game, but additionally for Dujardin, who she respects as certainly one of her hardest rivals for a few years.
Dujardin mentioned the footage confirmed her making an error of judgement that was out of character and didn’t mirror how she skilled her horses or coached her pupils.
The video, which was aired on international tv programmes simply days earlier than the Olympics, sparked a brand new debate about equestrian sports activities and their future as Olympic disciplines.
“I’m afraid this would possibly not have been the final video,” Werth mentioned. ” I simply hope all these will come to the floor at times we’d like a reduce and a self-regulating course of.”
Animal rights teams urged the Worldwide Olympic Committee to ban Dressage from the Video games programme, saying no horse might be compelled to do a number of the most refined strikes with non-violent means. Equestrian athletes say this declare is groundless.
However Werth, who gained her first group gold medal in Barcelona in 1992, mentioned there was a way of alarm inside the game’s bubble.
“Our so-called social license, the way forward for our sport, that is one thing we have been discussing for ten years as a result of no matter such catastrophes, values have shifted,” she mentioned. Animals are occupying an entire completely different place in society now.”
Requested about potential structural shortcomings, resulting in an absence of oversight and compliance with official tips, Werth mentioned governing our bodies had been doing their homework.
“We now have management situations, we have now our trainers, our stewards throughout tournaments, all of that is very secure, however we should get into everybody’s thoughts, additionally throughout coaching at dwelling behind closed doorways, in order that such incidents will not occur,” she mentioned.
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel, enhancing by Ed Osmond)
