First ever post: Anyone else see this at Badminton SJ?

[Lou_Lou123]

Hi, I've been reading the forum for a while but never posted before.

I was at Badminton watching the SJ in the afternoon, and noticed one of the riders being rather unkind to their horse. The horse had fence 10 down (an upright of blue poles on a tight turn), and at the end of the round the rider cantered over to the fence, halted the horse, and dug his spurs into the horses ribs. Now, i think this was quite unnecessary and a bit unfair to the horse, after all it had completed the XC the day before! It also strikes me as unprofessional, especially at Badminton when so many people are watching - not a good image for the sport. Did anyone else see this and think it was a bit mean? And will there be any consequences for the rider in question?

Lou

 

[Kentisheventer]

Many riders recieve 'yellow cards' or some disciplinary action is taken... i think 2 yellow cards means a month suspended from FEI... so yes rather harsh consequences!

 

[kerilli]

I'm very surprised to hear this... very stupid thing to do, cruel to the horse, pointless imho, and not the image we are looking for - with thousands of people watching, i'd love to know who did such a thing. please pm me, will keep it under my hat!
i'm making a private bet that it wasn't one of our big names...
re: consequences - unless the judges or BE stewards noticed, probably not. if you or anyone else has footage of it, yes, possibly.

 

[dieseldog]

I would be surprised if there were any consequences as nothing happens if you kill a horse by jumping it lame over the last fence of a 4* with evidence of your cruelty plastered all over the internet.

 

[kerilli]

hear hear DieselDog. I still can't believe the FEI did naff all about that. absolutely disgusting.
let's not forget the rider at the Olympics who hit her horse (who had gone brilliantly clear) twice after jumping the last xc fence (definitely against the rules) - i've not heard of any repercussions there.

 

[Lou_Lou123]

I didn't have my camera with me. I'm not sure whether any of the officials would have seen as the next rider was already in the main arena as it happened, although he couldn't have been more than a few feet from a couple of the officials.

I agree Kerilli, it was a totally pointless thing to do. Will PM you the name, but no it wasn't a British rider.

 

[wizoz]

I sat there and watched EVERY show jump round but did not see that! Do you know who it was?

 

[Lou_Lou123]

I'm very surprised that the FEI don't seem to take incidents like that more seriously, Deiseldog. I remember reading about that and seeing the video on youtube, but didn't realise no action was taken. Such a shame for the horses involved.

 

[Lou_Lou123]

I have PM'ed you.

 

[TarrSteps]

Leaving aside the high profile cases that always seem to come up in these situations . . . don't assume no action is taken just because it's not publicised. During the doping scandal at the Olympics I took a look at the list of suspensions, fines etc. and was quite surprised how many incidents were listed. In at least one case I know personally one of the riders in question, who had received a short ban (and, if I remember correctly, a fine), and I wasn't even aware of a gap in her competition schedule, at least not one that looked unusual. I would assume in most cases the hearing were done privately and/or the riders accepted guilt, the paid/did their time, and continued on without anyone really noticing. (I'm not saying this is good or bad but it's a bit like saying a crime doesn't "count" unless it makes the papers.)

 

[kerilli]

hmm, TarrSteps, that's interesting. must admit though, anything at all to do with horse welfare, abuse of the horse, or whatever, i think should be hugely publicised as a deterrent.

 

[wizoz]

Actually, now you've mentioned that TS, I remember looking at BE's disciplinary record and seeing something like 4 pages of fines, so if this incident was seen, you can be sure it'll be on there.

 

[Ottinmeg]

[ QUOTE ]
I sat there and watched EVERY show jump round but did not see that! Do you know who it was?

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto, i watched every round as well and was quite near that fence, Please PM who it was

 

[Lou_Lou123]

Good point TS that we shouldn't assume nothing has been done just because we haven't heard about it. However, I am inclined to agree that publicising these sort of incidents would put others off behaving in the same way.

I searched the FEI website for yellow cards, and found the list. It was last updated on 4/5/09, so it will be interesting to see if anything is added from Badminton.

 

[zefragile]

[ QUOTE ]
Ditto, i watched every round as well and was quite near that fence, Please PM who it was

[/ QUOTE ]
Me aswell, please. I watched every single round but don't recall seeing anything like that.