Equestrian sport caused quite a stir in 2021. Now the riding association FN is opposed to a training method that has been criticized for a long time.
Warendorf – The Equestrian Federation (FN) wants to ban a controversial method of training horses at the jump. This was decided by the FN Presidium and thus follows the unanimous recommendation of the Training Methods Commission. “The FN Presidium will now submit an application to the FN Advisory Board for Sport to include a ban on touching at the jump during training in the tournament sport rules and regulations for performance testing (LPO),” said a message from Thursday (March 3rd, 2022). the German Press Agency is available.
The practice of so-called touching is controversial. The FN guidelines have so far stated that touching is “professional sensitization of the horse by specifically touching the horse’s legs during the jumping process”. The poles must be a smooth log – no more than three meters long and no heavier than two kilos. Touching may only be used by experienced horse professionals.
Equestrian Association wants to campaign for a ban on controversial training methods
A few weeks ago, a contribution to the “RTL Extra” program caused a stir. In it, the four-time Olympic champion Ludger Beerbaum was accused of using the forbidden parallel bars training method on his show jumpers. Beerbaum had vehemently defended himself against the allegations and the accusation of animal cruelty and emphasized that it would be a matter of allowed touching.
It is not the task of the commission to legally evaluate the pictures shown in the RTL report and to pronounce regulatory measures, it said in the message, the FN Disciplinary Commission is responsible for this. They continue to check whether the images indicate an allegation of a violation of the performance test regulations and will not comment on the ongoing investigations. (slo/dpa)
