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Olympic dressage rider Heath Ryan Was suspended by Equestrian Australia on Thursday after video shared online showing him reportedly whipping a horse.
The sports management body announced the suspensions in a long -term post and added that it followed both the revelation of the video online and a formal complaint.
File -Australia’s Heath Ryan waves after driving with “Greenoaks Dundee” during the Beijing Green Prix dressing event in 2008 on August 13, 2008 in Hong Kong. (Mike Clarke/AFP via Getty Images)
“Rider Australia is extremely upset and concerned about the treatment of the horse shown in this recording, ”the statement reads. Ryan was not named in the statement.
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“Equestrian Australia has this afternoon imposed a preliminary suspension of this person’s membership of Equestrian Australia and their rights, privileges and benefits associated with their membership. This means that they may not participate in competitions or events as a competitor or official or in the organization of or participation in any event during Jurisdiction of Equestrian Australia.”
Ryan, who represented Australia in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, published a long-standing message on social media claiming that the video was from two years ago and was shared by an “unhappy ex-employee.” The reports say the video showed Ryan whipping the horse 42 times.
File – Heath Ryan from Lochinvar, New South Wales, Australia at the top of Flame competing in the dressage phase of Rolex Kentucky Three -Day Event in 2007 in Kentucky Horse Park 27 April 2007 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Doug Pensings/Getty Images))
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He claimed that the horse, Nico, had been brought to him by a family friend after this person was hospitalized after an incident with the horse. Ryan claimed he had saved the horse from being killed.
“If a beautiful [6-year-old] Horse appears at your plant and it was bred by your stallion and it belonged to a lifelong friend of you who had been put in the hospital in intensive care of this horse, would you just send it to the knack ?? Well, I didn’t, and I felt obliged to the horse to just see and see if it was possibly saving, ”he wrote in a post on Facebook.
Heath Ryan from Australia and Greenoaks Dundee appears in the individual dressage Grand Prix, held at Hong Kong Olympic Equestrian Venue in Sha Tin during day 5 of the Beijing Olympic Games on August 13, 2008 in Hong Kong, China. (Julian Herbert/Getty Images)
“I’m so sad that this was caught on video. If I had thought of myself, I would immediately just have come off and sent Nico to the Knackeriet. This video was a life or moment of death for Nico and whether I was very attentive,” Ryan said, adding later that his actions were performed in the animal’s “best interests”.
Ride Australia said it “taking the case of animal welfare Very serious, and that Ryan’s suspension remains in place pending a study by Equestrian Australia’s integrity unit.
