Isabell Werth Speaks Out On Horse Mistreatment Complaints–Don’t Wait, “Act Immediately”
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By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
PARIS, Aug. 4, 2024–Isabell Werth, one of the most successful Olympians of all time, spoke out Sunday about the need for a cultural change in dressage to deal immediately with mistreatment of horses and not delay for years to target an individual.
Isabell now has 14 medals–eight gold and six silver from seven Olympics–that puts her into the tiny category of the most outstanding athletes of all sports since the modern Games were established 128 years ago.
Her remarks were in response to a question after she took individual silver on Wendy following her gold in the team competition on the 10-year-old mare at this historic Chateau de Versailles amidst growing persistent reports that equestrian is in danger of being dropped from the schedule after Los Angeles in four years.
Reports to dressage-news.com of discussions are that one of the three disciplines of dressage, eventing or jumping may be dropped from the Los Angeles program at Temecula, a venue that needs millions of dollars of improvements to meet Olympic standards. Plus, there are limited hotels and transportation in the area.
The uproar in dressage follows the release of a video showing 2012 Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin of Great Britain repeatedly smacking a horse’s hind legs to improve its gaits. The incident occurred 2 1/2 to four years before the video was shown to the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) and just days before the start of these Olympics–admitted by those involved to be targeted against Charlotte Dujardin.
The video came just months after several videos of American dressage trainer and competitor Cesar Parra were provided to the FEI and the U.S. federation (USEF) and provided to the media for more widespread distribution.
The U.S. federation admits that it has turned over the investigation to the FEI, based in Lausanne, Switzerland that is conducting its questioning of witnesses through Internet connections and not in person.
Further, the U.S. federation has sent officials from its headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky to Versailles who are not involved directly with the sport. The appearance of such officials at previous Games was not approved as it was considered a waste of money.
Isabell, whose Olympic experiences goes back to 1992 when she was on Germany’s gold medal team, was asked what had she seen at Versailles that gave her cause for optimism for the future of dressage.
“We have to make differences between our sport and what happens there,” she said.
“But, anyway, of course, we had some really bad videos and clips, we all know it, and we have to be really transparent and we have to keep it to the legal department, they will go their way there and the most important thing is that we all, all be really open minded and we have to be, we have the responsibility.
“If something went wrong, we have to stop it immediately, not four years later, just to destroy the sport of a person. If something happens in a wrong way, we have to stop it immediately. This is a responsibility of all of us.
“If we love the sport and if we want to keep it going, this is what we have to do. And this is what I really ask for.”
