Sustainable Horse Training

04/10/2026

22/09/2026

11/09/2026

Excellent post and something I believe we often don’t give enough thought to

The average horse goes through around 7 homes in their lifetime.

As someone who used to work at the racetrack and was directly involved with rehoming, retiring racehorses, I think 7 homes is a conservative estimate.

But, let’s go with the 7 statistic.

That’s 7 times moving to places with humans who have new expectations and new ways of communicating.

7 times of leaving established bonds with other horses, if the horse is “lucky” enough to even have access to social turnout in the first place.

7 times of having their sense of stability uprooted.

If this stat existed for any other animal, people would be beside themselves.

Imagine if the dogs were bought, sold and discarded as often and with so little thought like what horses are.

It wouldn’t fly.

Yes, horses are expensive. Yes, people like to ride them.

Neither of these things hold any weight on a discussion solely pertaining to the wellbeing of the horse and what is fair to them, though.

Horses deserve better.

Navigating the systemic changes to create that “better” may be uncomfortable and difficult for humans but we owe horses a lot.

Causing ourselves a little discomfort in creating a new paradigm is the least we can do to honour animals who have gone to war for us, built civilizations for us and continue to suffer for human enjoyment.

We can do better by them now.

But, that starts with an honest conversation about the extent to which we are currently failing them.

It’s a hard conversation to have but a necessary one.

04/09/2026

A very well considered post/argument.
What are your thoughts?
Backing up an aid? Or Punishment?
Is it justified/justifiable as ‘good riding’ or an expression of this riders frustration/anger
What, if anything, do you believe should be done about it?
Does the level of competition/rider make a difference to your judgement?

04/09/2026

A very well considered post/argument.
What are your thoughts?
Backing up an aid? Or Punishment?
Is it justified/justifiable as ‘good riding’ or an expression of this riders frustration/anger
What, if anything, do you believe should be done about it?
Does the level of competition/rider make a differ to your judgement?

04/09/2026

Guy beats horse. 41 strikes of a whip in around 30 seconds. Plus another 9 strikes in another video. That’s a pretty intensive beating.
18 months suspension from competition and 6000 francs doesn’t seem like much of a punishment to me.
What do you think he’d have got if he’d been beating a dog? Or a child?

Now add that he’s an Olympic rider. He’s supposed to be a role model, something young riders aspire to.
Now add that he makes absolutely zero acknowledgement/admittance of guilt because ‘he wasn’t punishing the horse- he was trying to save its life. Apparently the horse was so dangerous it was going to be put down. And this was his attempt to save its life.
To beat it into accepting a riders dominance!!!
This demonstrates that this rider. This OLYMPIC RIDER has absolutely ZERO understanding of a horses behaviour, psychology, nervous system responses, ethology, learning theory or pretty much ANYTHING to do with horse behaviour!!!
And yet he gats 18months suspension and then he gets free rein to carry on.
No need to educate himself.
No need to show remorse.
Just pay your dues and don’t get caught again.
WTAF????
This man is an abuser who doesn’t even believe he was being abusive!!!!
How can he be allowed to continue???
I’d love to know your thoughts on this. Am I overreacting? Or is this just another example of an industry that gives zero f***s about the very animals it exists around??

OLYMPIC RIDER SUSPENDED FOR 18 MONTHS OVER HORSE WHIPPING VIDEO

Australian Olympic equestrian **Heath Ryan has been suspended for 18 months** after a tribunal found that his treatment of a horse shown in a controversial training video amounted to abuse.

The footage showed Ryan repeatedly striking a horse named Nico with a whip during a training session. An expert assessment presented in the case identified **at least 41 strikes in around 31 seconds in one section of footage, followed by another nine in a second video**.

The tribunal concluded that the whip use was excessive and found Ryan had breached rules designed to protect horse welfare.

Ryan, who represented Australia in dressage at the **2008 Beijing Olympics**, was also fined **3,000 Swiss francs** and ordered to contribute another 3,000 francs towards legal costs.

But Ryan has strongly denied that he was abusing the horse.

He argued that Nico had developed extremely dangerous behaviour, had seriously injured his owner and was facing euthanasia if he could not be successfully rehabilitated. Ryan described the session as a last-chance attempt to save the horse.

He also maintained that the horse was ultimately successfully retrained, rehomed and is now being ridden without incident.

The tribunal acknowledged that Ryan may genuinely have believed his actions were necessary and noted his long record in equestrian sport. However, it ultimately concluded that **good intentions did not justify excessive use of the whip**.

His suspension was backdated to his provisional suspension in June 2025 and is due to end on **12 December 2026**.

The case once again raises an uncomfortable question for equestrian sport:

**Where should the line be drawn between correcting dangerous behaviour and unacceptable treatment of a horse?**