Olympic rider suspended for repeatedly whipping young horse in video says it was a ‘rescue mission’

Australian Olympic rider Heath Ryan said he is sad an “awful” video has surfaced of him repeatedly whipping a young horse – which he described as part of a “rescue mission”, and which the FEI and Equestrian Australia are investigating.

The 67-year-old, who competed at the 2008 Games in dressage and was eventing at four-star level in 2024, has been provisionally suspended as of today (12 June). The video has been shared widely on social media.

An Equestrian Australia (EA) spokesperson told H&H the federation is aware of the footage and has received a formal complaint about the matter.

“Equestrian Australia is extremely alarmed and concerned by the treatment of the horse shown in this footage,” the spokesperson said.

“Equestrian Australia’s complaints, disputes and discipline policy includes high standards to protect all participants and their horses against any adverse physical, social, and emotional conditions during all EA endorsed equestrian activities that are conducted under the auspices of EA or by any EA affiliate. We also have a code of conduct which requires participants to adhere to the FEI code of conduct for the welfare of the horse.

“The person depicted in the video is a member of Equestrian Australia. EA is currently investigating this matter through the lens of these two policies and will have more to say about the matter when we have more information to hand.”

“A problem child”

In a statement, Heath said the “most awful video” was taken two years ago, of a six-year-old called Nico, a “beautiful type” who was “dropped off at my place on his way to the knackery”.

“He was genetically a result of my best stallions, all of which were successful in grand prix dressage, so Nico was beautifully bred,” he said. “Nico belonged to a wonderful family friend who had been put in hospital in intensive care by Nico. Prior to this really bad accident Nico had always been a problem child and would just stop. This gradually got worse and worse until the accident. The owner of Nico and my friend is a diminutive lady and 100% not capable of being physically aggressive in any way.”

Heath said Nico had always had a very good home, wanted for nothing and was loved.

“Here is the question,” he said. “If a beautiful six-year-old horse turns up at your facility and it was bred by your stallion and it belonged to a lifelong friend of yours who had been put in hospital in intensive care by this horse would you just send it to the knackery??

“Well, I didn’t and I felt obliged to the horse to just have a look and see if it was possibly salvageable. Well, did I get a shock.

“And so the video. I have never ridden anything like it. I am so sad this was caught on video. If I had been thinking of myself I would have immediately just gotten off and sent Nico to the knackery. That video was a life or death moment for Nico and of that I was very aware. I felt I genuinely had to try my very hardest to see if Nico would consider other options.

“Anyway by the end of that initial ride I did feel Nico was responding. I rode Nico for another couple of days and he responded very well and started to go without the use of excessive driving aids. I then called up another friend of mine who is also a grand prix dressage rider who is always watching out for a special horse but has very limited resources. I disclosed the whole story but said that I thought if Nico could find the right home I thought he was a good horse and maybe a very good horse.”

New home

He said Nico went to a new home, which turned out to be a very good one; he shared another video of the horse “thriving in a loving and competitive home with an exciting future”.

“All of this transpired sincerely with the horse’s best interests the sole consideration,” he said. “Unbelievably it was so successful for everyone except me with the release of this video.

“What can I say? If you think I did that flippantly, you are wrong. I hated reaching out in those moments to Nico and asking the hard questions. That was the last place I wanted to be. I have never before ridden a horse that reacted like that and I certainly will never do it again.

“Was it worth it? Well, not for me however I am very happy for Nico. I need to add that this happened about two years ago and the video has been posted by an unhappy ex-employee. “All I can say is that this awful video was collateral damage of me from the bottom of my heart launching a rescue mission.”

In an updated statement this afternoon, EA said it had suspended Heath pending investigation.

“Equestrian Australian takes matters of animal welfare very seriously,” it said. “Contrary to commentary on YouTube, we have no information to suggest Equestrian Australia management asked for the footage of this incident to be removed.”

An FEI spokesperson told H&H it had mirrored the EA suspension, adding: “The FEI is aware of the footage published on social media and is taking it very seriously. We are liaising with Equestrian Australia and looking into this incident.”

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