WELFARE WATCH

Leaked videos of top riders abusing horses are starting to feel like the norm.

In the latest scandal, a video of US 5* Eventer Andrew McConnon found its way onto social media. In the comments people speculate about what exactly the video shows McConnon doing. Several obstacles are in view and it’s not clear where the rider is trying to go, but as the horse turns, their hindquarters swing into the fence in the foreground and elements of the fence rattle to the ground. What is very clear is that McConnon then proceeds to growl and strike the horse repeatedly in the face.

Of course we’ve seen riders claim a leaked video just happened to capture a one-off mistake. McConnon isn’t so lucky; there are multiple videos. And if that wasn’t enough, several eye witnesses also corroborate that this is behaviour they’ve seen first-hand.

While all this was coming to light, Andrew McConnon was going about his business competing at Burghley Horse Trials in the UK, on a US Eventing Association grant of $50,000.

Complaints

Every sport has a few bad apples. But here’s the part that’s worrying and perhaps revealing: the USEF and FEI knew about this. In fact, they’ve known for months.

The USEF confirmed that Andrew McConnon was reported at the beginning of summer. They were sent the videos as well as complaints so they knew exactly what we now also know. The USEF told the FEI… Then, as far as anyone can tell, nothing happened.

It’s unclear why the videos made it onto social media in September, but it seems frustration over the USEF and FEI’s inaction may be behind that decision. Whatever the motivation, the moment those videos started to circulate, sponsors started to withdraw their support (though, shockingly, not all), at least one horse seen in the videos was brought back home by their unhappy owner, and the governing bodies started to say something.

The USEF pointed out that their self-imposed rules prevent them from acting on abuse unless it occurs at a USEF-licensed event. What you do behind closed doors is none of their business. (Until the 1st of December this year that is, at which point they will finally change the rules, but only for abuse that occurs after this date.)

So the USEF threw the responsibility over to the FEI and said they will do whatever the FEI says to do. No one thought it was important to inform anyone else of the allegations. Not the owners, not the sponsors, not the source of the grant money, not even the USEA who, technically, do have some ability to take action.

And the FEI? The FEI said it is investigating and “takes all allegations of horse abuse very seriously”.

Transparency

When just about everyone can watch the videos and see that there is something very troubling happening in them, how is it that the FEI, which is supposed to be protecting our equine partners, needs months to come to the same conclusion and do something about it?

It took the FEI one day to provisionally suspend Charlotte Dujardin when complaints were filed against her with video evidence, only days before the Olympics. Had the FEI been sent those videos sooner, perhaps not immediately before such a high profile competition, would the British Dressage rider be celebrating her 7th Olympic medal now?

Is the FEI sweeping things under the rug and only addressing welfare concerns when they feel they have to? If these videos of Andrew McConnon had never been shared, would we have ever found out about any of this? Would any of the owners know how their horses were being treated? Would he have continued to be awarded grants, been given rides, and kept sponsorships?

I think we’d all like to think the issues in the equestrian world are due to “a few bad apples” or “one-off mistakes”. But I find it very difficult to ignore the systemic problems we have within the FEI: the lack of transparency, the make-the-rules-up-as-you-go approach to horse welfare, and the bureaucracy that seems to exist to protect the human athletes, even at the expense of the horses who have no voice. At some point we need to question whether the issue is in fact a few bad apples, or whether the problem is that the FEI is rotten to its core.

Dr Dee Mamuneas is a lifelong equestrian and horse trainer with a PhD in animal behaviour. She encourages horse lovers to explore kinder approaches to horsemanship that put welfare first. She advocates species-appropriate management practices, champions the individuality of horses and their humans, and promotes horse-friendly training methods. Dr Mamuneas is also the co-founder of Good Horse (www.good-horse.com), a website that promotes effective and ethical approaches to horsemanship.