Olympics-Equestrian-Culture change needed, Werth says after Dujardin 'catastrophe'

VERSAILLES, France - Equestrian sports need a culture change to secure their future, German seven-times Olympic champion Isabell Werth said on Saturday as a debate sparked by a video of a leading British rider whipping a horse in training rages on.

Six-times Olympic medallist Charlotte Dujardin was suspended on Tuesday after footage emerged showing her whipping a horse's legs multiple times during training.

Dujardin has said the footage shows her making an error of judgment that was out of character and did not reflect how she trained her horses or coached her pupils.

"I am incredibly sad. This is an absolute catastrophe for us and nobody understands it," Werth told Reuters.

"We need to establish a culture of respecting the horse as a creature. Education is important, but this senseless violence must not happen, because otherwise, we'll have a hard time making our case to the rest of the world."

The video, which was aired on global television programmes just days before the Olympics, renewed the debate about equestrian sports and their future as Olympic disciplines.

Werth, Germany's second-most decorated Olympian of all time who is set to compete in her seventh Games in Paris, said the timing was a tragedy for the sport, but also for Dujardin, who she respects as one of her toughest rivals for many years.

"I am afraid this won't have been the last video," Werth said. "I just hope all these will come to the surface now and then we need a cut and a self-regulating process."

Animal rights groups urged the International Olympic Committee to ban equestrian sports from the Games programme, saying no horse could be forced to do some of the sophisticated moves with non-violent means. Equestrian athletes say this is groundless.

Nonetheless, Werth, who won her first team gold medal in Barcelona in 1992, said there was a sense of alarm inside the sport.

"Our so-called social licence, the future of our sport, that's something we've been discussing for 10 years because, regardless of such catastrophes, values have shifted," she said. "Animals are occupying a whole different place in society now."

Asked about potential structural shortcomings, leading to a lack of oversight and compliance with official guidelines, Werth said governing bodies were doing their homework.

Separately, the FEI governing body overseeing the Olympic competition issued a yellow warning card to Brazilian eventing rider Carlos Parro for having caused "unnecessary discomfort to the horse" during a training session.

The warning came after campaign group PETA urged the body to ban Parro from the competition due to photographs, seen by Reuters, that appeared to show the athlete forcing a so-called hyperflexion on his horse's neck, also known as Rollkur.

Asked by Reuters about the yellow card, Brazil's eventing chef d'equipe declined to comment.