A new low in dressage sport ... tongue amputation

[Palindrome]

A news article was published today which is rather sad:

Danish Federation Bans FEI Pony after Detection of Partial Tongue Amputation

Anonymized documents of the committee's decision were circulated across international media the past month, but it was TV 2 who picked up the topic and first published the case. The date of the verdict as well as the names of the people and pony involved were removed from the document.

eurodressage.com

a dressage pony has been suspended from dressage competitions because it is suspected that a vet amputated the pony's tongue to prevent him from sticking his tongue out.

I have no words.

 

[Reacher]

I hope the vet got struck off.

Neurectomies and tail denerving too

 

[Rumtytum]

Fgs am utterly appalled at how low people will sink in their lust for victory

 

[Nicnac]

WTAF???? No words.

 

[Snow Falcon]

Absolutely disgusting and immoral. The pony should be removed from them.

 

[Kunoichi73]

The vet should be struck off. The vet and the owners should be prosecuted for animal abuse and banned from keeping and/or competing for life.

 

[scats]

Humans utterly disgust me.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

What the actual heck!?!?!?!?!?!

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

I have no words….that’s truly depraved.

 

[JBM]

Mutilation.
All should be prosecuted and pony should be rehomed

 

[TheMule]

I am horrified by this.
Also horrified by the photo of the pony being used- no wonder it stuck the tongue out, where else was it supposed to go with that kind of pressure exerted on it?
I really fear that the future of using horses in sport is going to be under serious threat unless the picture changes very soon, this is animal abuse pure and simple.

 

[Fjord]

Unbelievable. The owners should be prosecuted and the vet struck off.

 

[sbloom]

There are thoughts that it's as rare as we might think. Sometimes the human race makes me

 

[shortstuff99]

There are no words

There was an interesting post on the British Dressage Facebook group of a rider being really sad that they lost their place to compete at the BD nationals as some horrible person who was jealous dobbed them in to BD that their horse had a nurectomy and wasn't legal to compete. Everyone was feeling sorry for them and BD sent them a plaque! I was a bit gobsmacked as of course you shouldn't be competing.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

This is from google, I have cropped it so as not to post a child's face, even if it is a publicly available photo... but if this is how the poor thing is ridden, then I am not surprised it stuck it's tongue out. That pony has literally nowhere to go, it's head is in a vice, and look at how tight that flash is... and it's not an isolated photo either. Owners should be banned from keeping animals entirely imo.



ETA: I don't speak the language so not sure, but this is a riding club I assume from the title - I wouldn't personally be proud of any of these photos, and certainly wouldn't have them on my webpage. The only one not entirely offensive is the one in the drop.

Bedre sent end aldrig – Gråsten rideklub af 2004

grr4.dk

 

[sbloom]

The new normal, though it's really not so new. I stopped watching a long time ago.

(To clarify I mean the photo and I think I wasn't sure if I was on this or the top level dressage thread).

 

[Lurfy]

If this is true, it is ghastly. Like the big lick TW horses, just indefensible.

 

[ester]

There are no words

There was an interesting post on the British Dressage Facebook group of a rider being really sad that they lost their place to compete at the BD nationals as some horrible person who was jealous dobbed them in to BD that their horse had a nurectomy and wasn't legal to compete. Everyone was feeling sorry for them and BD sent them a plaque! I was a bit gobsmacked as of course you shouldn't be competing.

not a blanket ban anymore though, presumably they hadn't gone through the official channel of fit to compete.

 

[shortstuff99]

not a blanket ban anymore though, presumably they hadn't gone through the official channel of fit to compete.

No they had not.

 

[Prancerpoos]

WTAF? Certainly not helping with my increasing beliefs that horses would be a lot better off without humans.

 

[LEC]

It is absolutely awful.

For me its another case of animal welfare needs to involve serious financial penalties if used in competition. The fact that the TV show highlighted it as well.....

 

[cauda equina]

Presumably Denmark has animal welfare laws?
Imo this sort of practice deserves to be illegal, and prosecuted as such; it shouldn't just be left to the sport's governing body to apply sanctions (or not)

 

[southerncomfort]

This makes me sick to my stomach.

Utterly barbaric. That poor pony.

 

[PurBee]

A linked article from that site on the function of the tongue - it’s connected to the back legs.
Highlights why bridle and bit choice needs very careful consideration..

From the Horse’s Mouth... Actually the Horse’s Tongue

From the Horse’s Mouth... Actually the Horse’s Tongue

eurodressage.com

 

[SashaBabe]

Utterly disgusting. The level people will sink to makes me sick. Poor pony.

 

[ihatework]

All levels of wrong.

 

[Goldenstar]

That’s just terrible , it difficult to know what to say .

95% of tongue issues are nothing to do with the tongue it’s about hydroid discomfort and that’s caused by stuff further back.

 

[Cortez]

Despicable. It's not the first time I've heard of this being done either. No wonder the poor thing was lolling it's tongue, look at the restriction in the parotid gland; I'm surprised it could breathe. There needs to be a real root and branch of the welfare standards - and absolute compliance - or else I feel there will be a reckoning a-coming.

 

[Birker2020]

A news article was published today which is rather sad:

Danish Federation Bans FEI Pony after Detection of Partial Tongue Amputation

Anonymized documents of the committee's decision were circulated across international media the past month, but it was TV 2 who picked up the topic and first published the case. The date of the verdict as well as the names of the people and pony involved were removed from the document.

eurodressage.com

a dressage pony has been suspended from dressage competitions because it is suspected that a vet amputated the pony's tongue to prevent him from sticking his tongue out.

I have no words.

This is totally heartbreaking

 

[humblepie]

The noseband is so tight. Poor pony all the way round.