Eurodressage just released this article.
Somehow I am not surprised, Carina Cassoe Kruth worked with and for Helgestrand for years…
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It is what it is and nothing will ever change…. Helgstrand advertises Wendy still so as long as he advertises successful horses people will buy from him (BTW also Jessica von Bredow Werndl) and his business will continue…
And people do with their horses what they learned so what can you exspect from a client from Helgstrand….
I admit I despised him from the beginning when he took over the ride of Don Schufro from Lars Petersen…. I was a huge fan of Don Schufro and was sorry for him to have to deal with Helgstrand 
I am a dinosaur and so far I remember a lot from the past 
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Why is it so hard for these riders to train with kindness?
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Podhajsky said to remember “I have time”, when dealing with horses. Many pros are in a hurry, gotta get ready for next competition, gotta get this horse polished for a sale.
A student once bought a lovely grey horse with magnificent flying changes, but don’t ask for S/I, H/I or .H/P. Not there. Poor lady had vision of center lines.
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Because everyone is in a hurry to get to a point. It is really about the journey.
I’ve seen it so much in the horse world. People just want to get to the next level, the next show…and if it takes too long, then they move on to another trainer, horse, barn
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These horses are rarely if ever turned out or hacked out. They are big, fit, strong and muscular and underworked. What starts as defensive riding turns quickly into forcefulness and “the way it is done” because there is a lack of trust and fear of each other.
You rarely see this in my experience where horses are hacked out, turned into fields and where they get enough mental and physical stimulation and the riders are not afraid to get hurt.
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Well …. I went to a rural ( not high end show) today with my young horse. In the warm up ring I was shocked…… most riders were professionals… Not one horse looked like it was 4 years old… they were ridden like 10 year old horses…… some horses were white all over from sweat…. (Thankfully that horse was marked down because it obviously showed no walk). It looked like it was close to get a heart attack….
Obviously kindness towards young horses is lost…. This was my first YH test in 30 years and I swore to myself that I will not end up like this….
I admit I was eliminated because it was the first show for my horse and she kind of felt lonesome in the dressage ring because it was a bit further away from the warm up ring. But I plan to show her like she is able to peform at home. But I don’t think you get ribbons for that…. that’s why riders ride like they do…
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Does anyone have a link to the video?
I don’t think it has circulated. I don’t want to watch it, but I’d like someone reasonable to describe the “error” so I know what “training a horse in a very hard way” is a euphemism for, in light of the Danish equestrian federations recent statement about their commitment to transparency.
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And it’s interesting to read the comment attached to it…. Obviously it’s a friend of the rider who asks everybody to contact their national organisation or FEI in order to stop this. She is talking about this type of training common in a lot of stables….
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Can someone explain this to me?
It appears that the rider is schooling piaffe/passage, and is trying to get more energy/elevation?
Using the dressage whip behind her leg does nothing but distort the rhythm, so she cracks the horse across the croup with the whip until it canters forward?
What has this accomplished except to make the horse pissed off and sour?
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it’s a punishment in their eyes. Isn’t that Helgstrand coaching too?
It looks to me like she is having to urge the horse to continue the piaffe and when he falls out of it she decides that the errr, whipping is more appropriate to keep him going.
There’s zero gray area about that one, that is not ok.
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I MO he is in piaffe and she wants to go forward out of it and he is ignoring her forward aids.
Two good whacks. He goes forward.
Other solutions?
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Except once he goes forward, what does she do? side to side on the reins to choke him back. Dressage whips are NOT meant to be swung like a bat. The rider was not in danger. Realizing the horse was stuck, she should have relaxed her seat and hand and been quieter so he got unstuck. Force is only for punishment of behaviour you never want the horse to do, (such as biting), not for a breakdown in understanding. This poor horse was whipped for struggling to understand it should move our of a piaffe forward into a stiff seat and hard hand. Nothing he was going was dangerous, and they want the horse to piaffe, so why whip the crap out of him while he is doing it?
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Yes. Don’t beat a horse for your own stupid goals.
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Well it depends I guess
Either she caused it by her aids or the horse was simply stubborn and resisted….
If the horse was stubborn and resisted it was probably something you could do, but my experience is that most horses are not stubborn and resisting by nature. usually there is a reason caused by the rider….
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According to one comment:
Cassøe Krüth and reportedly Helgstrand directing.
If a spectator doesn’t understand the horse probably doesn’t either
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How can they possibly be muscular or fit if they are inside all day? That’s like a gymnast practicing an hour a day and then hardly moving for the remainder.
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