Swiss government bans rollkur

[Koen]

A government spokesman told H&H it had introduced the ban so that authorities could “officially control and sanction owners”, rather than leaving the matter to equestrian bodies.
“Now everybody can watch and complain about bad practice.”
Prosecuted riders will face a fine of up to CHF20,000 (£13,325).
Swiss ban refers not only to shows but also to training at home.

H&H


YES! A government with balls! Lets hope this pioneering move makes other governments take more interest for the welfare of the horse at the level of training and competition.

BTW Im not against stretching horses in an appropriate manner and lengh of time. Briefly "asking" for a "hyperflextion" is fine, it has a good part to play in stretching exercises.

 

[cptrayes]

I hate seeing it but I think it's a slippery slope when governments start to ban things for which there is no solid evidence of harm. The end point of that would be a ban on riding altogether.



I think they should have commissioned some solid scientific research, with autopsies, first.

 

[cptrayes]

The Swiss are getting interesting lately. They recently had a referendum, only very, very narrowly defeated, that the person at the very top of an organisation should be paid no more than twelve times the person at the very bottom.

 

[amandap]

The Swiss are getting interesting lately. They recently had a referendum, only very, very narrowly defeated, that the person at the very top of an organisation should be paid no more than twelve times the person at the very bottom.

Wow! very interesting.

They are using the FEI definition of rollkur though! Any cases brought will be fascinating.

 

[dogatemysalad]

Good for them.

 

[tristar]

felictations la suisse!!!!! i note it mentions rapping also, and under article 21 is banned along with tail docking!!

it talks about 'any method likely to cause pain and FEAR' at last an acknowledgement that animals have emotions as well physical sensation, and they have the right to benefit of the doubt where damage is concerned.

what a blxxdy awful photo accompanies the article!!!!

 

[Koen]

Lets hope spurs and other cruel and commonly abused pieces of equipment follow. This amongst other things will certainly also curb the use of side reins strapping down a horses head into fixed hyperflextion, at least where it can be witnessed.

The latter I've seen used/abused in at least one top show jumping yard on the continent and a few dressage stables, horses lunged for twenty minutes strapped up, young horses while being ridden and jumped. Forces the horse to use its topline "correctly" training for a better bascule action over a jump! Scandalously this latter yard was being used as a demonstration yard/visit for students on a management course at the time.

I am very relieved to say that almost every single student look appalled and started pointing and questioning this, unfortunately hurriedly hushed up and rapidly moved on and out of the indoor school by the organisers of the field trip.