Equestrian-Australian Olympian suspended after video of horse whipping emerges
FILE PHOTO: Heath Ryan of Australia is seen during the Equestrian Dressage Grand Prix competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in this file photo in Hong Kong August 13, 2008. REUTERS/Bobby Yip (CHINA)/File Photo
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Dressage rider Heath Ryan, who competed for Australia at the 2008 Olympics, has been suspended by Equestrian Australia after video of him whipping a horse during training was posted on social media.
In echoes of the incident that resulted in six-times Olympic medallist Charlotte Dujardin being barred from the Paris Games last year, the two-year-old video showed Ryan whipping the horse repeatedly.
"Equestrian Australia is extremely alarmed and concerned by the treatment of the horse shown in this footage," the governing body said in a statement.
"Equestrian Australia has imposed a provisional suspension of this person's membership (which) means they may take no part in competitions or events as competitor or Official or in the organisation of, or participation in, any event under (our) jurisdiction."
The 66-year-old rider will remain suspended until an investigation into the video is completed, Equestrian Australia added.
Ryan released a lengthy statement on social media defending his actions, saying he had saved the six-year-old horse from being destroyed after it had attacked its owner.
"The most awful video of me on a young horse has just surfaced. This horse was dropped off at my place on his way to the knackery," he wrote.
"I felt obliged to the horse to just have a look and see if it was possibly salvageable. Well did I get a shock and so the video. I have never ridden anything like it. I am so sad this was caught on video."
Ryan said the video had been placed online by an "unhappy ex-employee" and posted another which he said showed the horse thriving in a new home.
"If you think I did that flippantly you are wrong. I hated reaching out in those moments to (it) and asking the hard questions," he added.
"All I can say is that this awful video was collateral damage of me from the bottom of my heart launching a rescue mission."
After last year's Dujardin ban, the global governing body for showjumping and dressage pledged it would be uncompromising in enforcing animal welfare.
"Equestrian Australia takes matters of animal welfare very seriously," the local governing body added in its statement.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
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