Interesting…
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Not necessarily a Blue Hors issue at this point … but maybe there is a magic date …
From a COTH November 2023 article …
Update: Andreas Helgstrand will be banned from riding on the Danish national dressage team until at least Jan. 1, 2025, the Danish equestrian federation decided in a special meeting Nov. 28, according to a report by Danish newspaper Nordjyske.
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/helgstrand-removed-from-danish-team-after-tv-expose/
Olympic medalist Andreas Helgstrand has been removed from the Danish national dressage team, with no timeline for possible reinstatement, following last week’s airing of an investigative television program that documented welfare issues at Helgstrand Dressage, his sales and training facility. [Editor’s note: Helgstrand Dressage is owned by Global Equestrian Group, which also owns The Chronicle of the Horse.]
In the two episodes of “Operation X: Secrets Of The Horse Billionaire,” journalist Rebekka Klubien went undercover as a groom to see firsthand the daily operations at the Danish base of Helgstrand Dressage, which also has outposts in Germany and Florida. Inside the barn the journalist found horses with welts from whips, mouth sores that were not given time to heal, and spur marks that were disguised with shoe polish when customers visited. She also filmed Helgstrand riders who rode aggressively in training sessions, some with tight draw reins and some using rollkur. The program aired on Danish national televisions station TV2.
When Klubien showed the stable manager spur marks on one of the horses, she was told that the person would “keep an eye on it” and that the rider could continue to ride the horse with spurs. When Klubien discussed the situation with other grooms, they confirmed it wasn’t out of the ordinary. When she told another groom about “stripes” from a whip on a horse’s back, the response Klubien received from another groom—whose voice was disguised and face blurred out in the video—was that it was not unusual. The person suggested that if customers came into the stable, a blanket could be used to cover the marks.
At the end of the second episode, Klubien confronted Helgstrand about the harsh riding techniques she saw.
“A horse must be reprimanded a little,” he told her, while being recorded on hidden camera. “You must tell it, you must go there. If you ride around on a long rein and are nice, it doesn’t understand.”
In any horse competition where many competitors feel that they cannot stay in the top ranks without extreme training measures – how much of that is due to what judges reward, and what they don’t?
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Does everyone remember this horse? I remember just being blown away the first time I saw this video–such a spectacular performance.
Now do we have to wonder what training techniques were used to achieve it?
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Blue hors is owned by the family who produces Lego and IMO they don’t want bad marketing. They sell Lego to families with children and therefore they don’t want to be connected with a bad image. And abuse of animals would be bad…
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I think the Blue Hors brand is past redemption unless they make changes, but I’m hardly an important voice in big time dressage.
I understand why that they are stepping back, and I think it is a wise decision on their part.
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I was always a little distracted by the mare’s tail. She really whips it around a lot during the more demanding movements. It might just be her thing though…but given that tail wringing is a sign of resistance in many horses, I just couldn’t quite overlook it. Of course, there are many possible reasons for it…including it just being her and having nothing to do with how she was trained.
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That video is legendary as an inspiring example of what’s good about dressage. Is that what it truly portrays? I don’t know.
I believe the announcers were characterizing the mare’s tail switching as her excitement for the performance. A sign that she was into what she was doing.
I don’t know, either.
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“The initiative is part of the Danish Equestrian Federation’s (DRF) new strategy ‘Together for Horse Welfare’, which also focuses on better education and changes to competition judging.
Dressage performances produced by the methods that cause the welfare concerns have been rewarded by the judging, for decades.
The abusers are not abusing for the fun of it. They are abusing because the abuse brings the type of performance the judges reward, that keep riders and horses in the top rankings.
Efforts have been made to ‘stop’ abuse, but either ways are found around these efforts, or they are notoriously half-heartedly implemented. Monitoring by warm-up stewards? Who take strategically scheduled breaks with no official eyes on the warm-up ring?
In any judged sport, as performances improve among competitors overall, the judging tends to become tighter and more perfectionistic. Higher scores are awarded to the top to keep them ahead. Judges seek rational ways to defend their placings, so nitpicking can ensue – and competitors respond with hyper-perfectionistic demands of their horse’s performance.
How does the judging stay reasonable in its demands on the horses in the top ranks, and still be able to put them in an order, and defend that order?
Will the changes put forward by the Danish organization represent true reform, or just enough to try to appease the complainers? If genuine change is sought in the judging standards, how will judges and competitors respond?
Blue Hors must want to learn how much change they will need in their training regimen before they show their horses again. They must know that there are forces inside the organization pushing for genuine change. Waiting to see who will win, perhaps – those for serious change, or those for the status quo.
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I feel the same way. Such a lovely mare.
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I have one who has an extremely “busy” tail - even in turnout. It is just her.
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