And the whip snaps again
Cavalry in turmoil after next abuse
After the golden days of Versailles, equestrian sport is fighting for its image again. The next “disgusting” video of a beating world champion is heating up tempers less than four weeks after the Charlotte Dujardin abuse scandal. More are to follow. What's really behind it?
The story behind the story is quickly told. A horse groom for dressage rider Carina Cassoe Krüth is filming her training work in 2022 at the behest of her boss. You can see, among other things, how team world champion Cassoe Krüth lets the whip rush twice with full force onto the right hindquarters of her mare Danciera. Two years later, the nurse in question left her employer in disagreement, and a few days later the video was circulating on social media. Coincidence?
No, says Isabell Werth, the whole thing has little to do with chance. “It's not about animal welfare,” says the most successful rider in history to the SID: “If it had been about documenting the completely wrong and senseless treatment of the horse, the video would have been sent to them directly and not two years later must be forwarded to the relevant authorities.”
But it wasn't like that; it's easy to guess that the main thing behind it was personal vanity. Similar to the three-time Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin, who cracked the whip against the horse's legs several times in a video. There are different reports about when the video was filmed, perhaps two, perhaps four years ago. It appeared publicly two days before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris. Coincidence?
“Disturbing and disgusting videos”
Isabell Werth speaks of “human error” and what can be seen in the videos is behavior “that should never happen when dealing with a horse partner”. Of course, a horse has to be corrected in training, “but not with brutality and brute force.” It's pointless, useless, completely wrong, but: “If you really just want to help the horse, then you have to intervene immediately, not two years later.”
Now, despite all the apparently questionable motivation behind the publication of the videos, the damage to the sport cannot be ignored. Especially because cases like this have been increasing recently. In December 2023, for example, the Danish broadcaster TV2 brought disturbing images from the training operations of the rider Andreas Helgstrand to the public, and in February 2024 the FEI spoke of “disturbing and disgusting videos” of the training methods of the US dressage rider Cesar Parra.
“The situation is very negative and depressing for our sport,” national coach Monica Theodorescu told the SID in Paris. It's depressing and, above all, dangerous, as equestrianism in particular has had to repeatedly prove itself worthy of the Olympics for years. By the way, the show jumpers also have bad things in store for them. If you believe the rumors that are getting louder every day, various videos from daily training work are apparently already waiting for publication.
