FEI Investigates Possible Abuse to Horse Injured on Cross-Country at Rolex Three-Day Event
On Saturday, I posted on this blog about Amy Tryon's horse Le Samurai being injured at the last fence of the Rolex cross-country course at the Kentucky Horse Park. The horse continued and crossed the finish line, where he was immediately examined by veterinarians and transported to the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute nearby.
While no real diagnosis has been disclosed, it sounds like the horse may have ruptured his suspensory ligament or somehow disrupted the suspensory apparatus. The injury is not life-threatening.
Yesterday the Federation Equestrian Internationale (FEI), which is the governing body of world horse sports, announced that they had launched an investigation into possible horse abuse in this incident.
Here's the official statement from the FEI:
The FEI was notified of an alleged case of abuse which occurred during the CCI 4* Lexington, Kentucky USA on Saturday 28 April involving competitor Amy Tyron (USA) and Le Samurai.
The preliminary investigation was conducted according to the regulations, whereby the Ground Jury met on Saturday 28 April following the cross country to investigate an incident of alleged abuse before fence 34. The Ground Jury collected written statements from the Fence Judges and Sector Steward and reviewed the video as well as interviewing the FEI Veterinary Delegate, Dr. Catherine Kohn. The rider, Amy Tyron, was interviewed on Sunday immediately after the Sunday morning horse inspection and gave her account of the incident. Following the interview, the Ground Jury referred the matter to the Appeal Committee. The Appeal Committee, in full possession of all the written statements and video recording, took the following decision:
According to article 164.4.5 of the FEI General Regulations: “In serious cases, immediate disqualification with one or more horses from a competition or from the whole event with a referral to the Secretary General (for referral to the Judicial Committee)."
Once the FEI has collected all reports and evidence, the case will be submitted to the Tribunal (the former Judicial Committee) and all the relevant evidence will be reviewed prior to any decision being made.
The FEI takes these matters very seriously and endeavours to ensure that the welfare of the horse is a priority.
(end of statement)
I will keep you posted on this one. Amy Tryon was Bronze Medalist for the USA at the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany.
posted by Fran Jurga @ Wednesday, May 02, 2007
3 comments
3 Comments:
I was there and saw the rider and horse approaching fence 34. I saw the horse take poor canter steps- showing lameness, then he trotted, before the horse could do anything else, the rider gave him the aids to go on. They picked up the canter for the last fence. According to another bystander at the finish line, the rider apologized profusely to the horse as soon as she dismounted over the finish line.
Very sad and the timing of this is strangely ironic...
I just read on another blog at http://survivingvetschool.blogspot.com/ written by a 4th year Vet student (of all people) who was responding to a question posed by a 1st year Vet student who posed 2 questions regarding Amy's actions or lack thereof:
1) Amy should have pulled up Le Samurai before the last fence
2)Was Amy unaware of what was going on underneath her and people support her for "riding on"?
To which the 4th year vet student responds (I won't mention names here), and I quote:,
"My sister participate in some events years ago. However, I'd probably have to agree with the 2nd argument and that society has become to sensitive after the Barbaro incident. While it is hard to tell without being a close witness (i.e. the person riding the horse), you shouldn't "fault" the rider. Plus, wouldn't a eventer and a race jockey have different feels for their horse considering the style and pace of the activity?"
Are you sure you want to be a Vet and not an MD? Your bedside manner speaks volumes already!
If you have ridden as long as Amy has, you should be able to easily identify a lame step, and have the ability to stop your horse quickly before making the injury worse. A halt could have been done during the trot steps preceeding the last fance. (Unlike what happened at a dead run with Barbaro.)
Eventing has become an extreme sport at the expense of the horse.
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