Dressage-News

Aug. 29, 2025

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

Cesar Parra, the American dressage rider, is understood to have filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport against his suspension from horse sports for 15 years on accusations of “recurring” horse abuse.

The appeal against the longest suspension in the history of the sport was not unexpected by the FEI–International Equestrian Federation–based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The FEI did not confirm the appeal to CAS that is also based in Lausanne, but sources confirmed the filing on the 21st day since the suspension was confirmed, the last available opportunity to fight the action.

The appeal by Parra, aged 62 and based in Jupiter, Florida, is believed to compare the suspensions of prominent dressage figures. He is one of seven dressage riders, six Olympians, to have been suspended for alleged horse abuse in the past two years, with maximum suspensions before Parra’s case of one year. However, American jumper rider Andrew Kocher was banned by the FEI Tribunal in 2021 for 10 years for use of electric battery operated spurs and his appeal to CAS was rejected.

Parra, who competed for his native Colombia in the 2004 Olympics and after switching to ride for the U.S., was on the American gold medal team at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2011.

The disclosure of numerous videos and photographs detailing the treatment of horses by Parra led to an initial provisional suspension on Feb. 2, 2024.

The three-member FEI Tribunal panel that considered the case heard from some unidentified witnesses, former employees of Parra, alleging abuse of horses.

However, declarations of support for Parra came from 54 people including customers, veterinarians, farriers and others, including U.S. dressage judge Lisa El-Ramey based in Loxahatchee, a neighboring community to Wellington, Florida.