A Facebook post by Kaizen Equine has 500+ shares and 263k views.
This is the text included along with the video of Calvin’s “fall” on xc yesterday in the 5*.
"EDIT TO ADD: After spending some time in the hold box, Phantom of the Opera has been accepted for show jumping. An exhausted horse who shoved his bodyweight into the ground yesterday falling, nearly fell at another fence, and whose rider made the selfish choice to continue, is being allowed to jump again. There is no world in which this is in the horse’s best interest. There is no world in which this is fair to the animal who gave everything. There is no chance he makes it to the podium from 14th. So what is the point? Glory? Ego? Sheer stubbornness? This is abusive. Full stop. And it’s being permitted by officials, normalized by silence, and packaged as sport. Would you show jump your horse the very next day after a fall like that? If your answer is no, then ask yourself why it’s okay when someone else does it on a livestream with thousands watching.
Something happened today at the Kentucky Five Star that we all need to talk about.
Calvin Böckmann’s horse, Phantom of the Opera, fell on course after reaching for a long distance to a fence. The horse went down hard. Though Calvin stayed in the tack, what happened next was far worse than the fall itself: he kicked the horse forward and continued on. No yellow card. No veterinary check. No withdrawal. No elimination. Nothing.
A horse that falls has risked its body, its safety, and sometimes its life, to protect its rider. Under FEI rules, a fall of the horse, defined as both the shoulder and hindquarters touching the ground simultaneously, requires mandatory elimination. An automatic sanction is to be issued whenever a rider continues after a fall. The FEI also has a Horse Fall System Interview, in which a formal meeting must occur between athlete and ground jury after a fall.
Calvin isn’t facing any consequences. In fact, he’s currently sitting 14th.
Ask yourself: what would you do if your horse nearly fell on top of you out on course? Would you stop and check on him? Take a few trot circles to see if he’s sound? Or would you put your leg on and continue pushing him?
Worse still, the broadcast commentator laughed. Called it “unbelievable.” As if it was just another wild moment in sport, not a serious welfare concern that went completely unaddressed.
If riders aren’t held accountable, not just by the rulebook, but not even by the culture around them, then what exactly are we saying to the rest of the world?
We’re saying the horse is disposable.We’re saying results matter more than welfare. We’re saying: don’t look too closely. Just clap and carry on.
Don’t let this go. Don’t excuse it. Ask why the rules weren’t followed. Ask why the jury didn’t step in. Ask why some of the most visible riders in our sport think this behavior is acceptable. We need to demand better, not because we hate the sport, but because we love it too much to watch it rot from the inside."
Given that we all couldn’t really figure out what Lauren Nicholson’s FB post from Terranova was about due to the athletes restrictions on posting criticisms, this seems highly ironic.
It was never going to be the athletes messing up their income streams. It will be Jane Doe uneducated observer screaming “Abuse!”
Just a fun thing to see on FB today. Trying to post here and there to explain that this is an FEI rules thing has already gotten me accused of ‘gaslighting’ and implications that I must also be ok “abusing” my own horses. 🤦🙄
Good luck.
Em
