Dressage Champion Gigolo Has Died in Germany

by Fran Jurga | 28 September 2009 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com

Gigolo was simply the world's most successful sport horse...ever. (Isabell Werth photo)

He dominated dressage competitions for years, and helped elevate the sport to where it is today.

The naughtily-named Gigolo has been put to sleep in Germany.

I learned the news today when his 20-year partner, Germany's Isabell Werth, wrote "To me he was a friend, a teacher and a sport partner. His reliability and his commitment were most outstanding. 26 is a blessed age and I am glad that he could spend the autumn of his life here at our place were he had a good time with his friend Fabienne on the pasture. Beyond the sport Gigolo had shaped my life and I remember our years with gratefulness."

Consider this Hanoverian gelding's record: Four Olympic gold medals, two Olympic silver medals, four world championships at WEG, eight European championships and four German championships.

Quite contrary to his name, Gigolo competed only with Werth and the two were almost unbeatable. They competed head-to-head with Anky Van Grunsven and her Bonfire for years in one of horse sport's greatest rivalries that continues today, although the riders are on new horses.

Gigolo went on a farewell tour after the Sydney Olympics and has been turned out at Werth's farm for almost ten years.

Werth contends that Gigolo was the most successful sport horse in competition history. Who could argue?

And who could forget?

Why Horses and Highways Don't Mix

by Fran Jurga | 21 June 2009 | The Jurga Report

Pferd im Auto, originally uploaded by T.J's photos.

This shocking photo is posted just as a reminder of how bad things can turn out when horses get loose. Four horses escaped from a field in Germany and were in a road; this Haflinger was hit by this car and ended up diving head first through the windshield and was killed.

Amazingly enough, the driver of the car was unhurt, except for shock.

Thanks to T.J.'s photos for posting this image by Klaus Ponner. I hope it doesn't disturb people too much but it is quite haunting in that it looks almost like an art installation. It's tragic.

Have you checked your fences lately? Are you sure you closed the gate?

Five-Time German Dressage Olympian's Horse Tests Positive for Banned Medication

Just a few weeks ago, Germany's equestrian federation sent seismic shock waves through the horse showing world by disbanding its national teams after show-jumping riders began to tell shocking tales of medication and manipulation of their horses to bring home gold medals. Germany promised heads would roll.

So this morning's news was more shocking than ever, read through that lens.

According to the Associated Press and confirmed by Horse and Hound and English-language newspapers in Germany, double Olympic gold medalist Isabel Werth has been suspended from competition and will attend a hearing later this week to answer charges that her horse Whisper tested positive for an anti-psychotic medication at the competition at Wiesbaden on May 30, 2009.

“This is a catastrophy for equestrian sports," said Breido Graf zu Rantzau, president of the equestrian federation, in the Associated Press report.

All sources confirm that Isabel has been suspended; however the system includes a backup: the "B" sample may still be tested and prove her innocent of illegal doping. While the investigation continues, she will not be able to compete at Aachen, the biggest competition for German riders in the run-up to this summer's European Dressage Championships.

Should the "B" sample test positive, Werth would face punishment by both the FEI and German authorities.

Up to this time, most emphasis on doping has centered on show jumping.

FEI Meets CSI: Olympics Jumping Scandal Turned Over to Princess Diana Death Investigator

by Fran Jurga | 29 May 2009 | The Jurga Report

The popularity of horse sport in Germany is illustrated by the placement of this billboard in an inner city neighborhood. Flickr image courtesy of Fraencko.

The FEI, the world's governing body of equestrian sport, spoke today, after yesterday's shocking announcement that Germany was disbanding its national equestrian teams. Even as the European championships approach this summer and the World Equestrian Games (WEG) looms for 2010, a deepening scandal surrounding attitudes as well as actions by German riders, veterinarians and perhaps other officials in an attempt to deliver gold medals at Hong Kong during last summer's Olympics.

That's what was going on in Germany. Meanwhile, next door at the world headquarters of Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), in Switzerland, the case moved forwarded on legal and administrative legs that horse sports have never known before.

As some background: on Thursday, the FEI Headquarters filed a protest with the FEI Tribunal on the basis of widely reported admissions by German show jumper Marco Kutscher and veterinarian Björn Nolting concerning the undeclared treatment given to Marco Kutscher’s horse, Cornet Obolensky, at the 2008 Olympic Games and the circumstances surrounding this treatment including the collapse of the horse, which subsequently took part in competition.

If that is correct, after the horse collapsed from its medication, Kutscher still rode him in the Olympics. Compare that to the top British team horse, Portofino, that was scratched "to be safe" before the vet check because he seemed off but was fine on the competition day but, of course, not allowed to compete.

The FEI's protest requests the provisional suspension of these individuals from any FEI activities pending the results of its investigation. It also requests the provisional suspension of Hanfried Haring, FEI Bureau Member, judge and former Secretary General of the German NF, of his responsibilities on the FEI governing body, on the basis that he had knowledge of the relevant facts and did not report them to the relevant authorities.

The FEI had already appointed a three-member ethics panel to look into the German team doping scandal at the 2008 Olympics; the panel includes US Equestrian Federation President David O'Connor.

The panel is headed by London's former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens. If his name sounds familiar, he was oft quoted in the tabloids and on television as he was the head investigator of the death of Princess Diana. In 2006, Lord Stevens and his investigation/security firm, Quest, investigated player corruption in the Premier League of British football, among other things. Sports scandals seem to be one of his specialties.

Today's statement's key sentence may be: "The Panel has considered some preliminary information and is of the opinion that there may have been breaches of FEI rules by riders, team officials and National Federation representatives, and concludes that it should continue to carry out a detailed investigation in order to make specific recommendations to the FEI President on these matters."

The rather long and legalish statement of the FEI today states that the FEI is more or less removing itself from the scandal and Quest is taking over the investigation on behalf of the FEI. As you can imagine, the FEI wants to know who knew what, and when he or she knew it---not only on the German team and within the German federation, but within the FEI.

The statement reads: "In the interests of efficiency and speed, the Panel members considered that the gathering of further information and evidence should be carried out by expert professional investigators. Quest was chosen for this purpose. The Panel Chair is also the Chairman of Quest, and, therefore, the selection was made by the other members of the Panel, and without participation of the Chair."

In other words, ethics panel members O'Connor plus Ken Lalo, chairman of the FEI Tribunal, and John Roche, FEI Director of Jumping, have turned over the investigation to the chairman, but this was done without the involvement of the chair during that decision.

More intrigue filtered out of Germany today, including a clouding factor that the television contract for German showjumping is up for negotiation and that the embarrassment of Germans caught breaking doping rules at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics is not attractive to sponsors, no matter how popular the sport may be with viewers.

UPS sponsors show jumping in Germany and I checked today: they still have suspended show jumper Ludger Beerbaum on their web site. In one German newspaper, he was interviewed as saying that this would all blow over and he'd be back on the team soon.

This all sounds straight from one of those high-brow British detective mysteries on PBS that I love so much. It's just too bad it's the real world and the credibility of our horse sports is at stake.

German Equestrian Team Suspended as Olympic Doping Scandal Escalates in International Spotlight

by Fran Jurga | 28 May 2009 | The Jurga Report

Die Goldenen Reiter, a huge gilded statue in the city of Dresden, Germany became a symbol of Germany's drive for Olympic gold medals in 2008; Flickr photo by Lanchutt

Before you read this post, take a minute and watch this wonderful short video:
http://www.die-goldenen-reiter.com/film.html
Make it full screen; turn up the volume. All the way. Hit play.

You see, less than a year ago, I was preparing to blog the Olympics, and the German team sent me a link, so I could watch a terrific music video they had made to pump up the national spirit to get behind the Germans' push to come home with gold medals in all three sports at the Olympics equestrian games in Hong Kong.

I loved the video and its quick edits. I loved the idea of the team members singing along. Loved seeing some of my favorite horses and riders. Really loved the action closeups of the hooves with all those big studs digging into the grass. The song is really catchy. It was a big hit in the 1980s in Germany and the rock star who sang it is an icon--sort of a Billy Joel, German-style.

I watched the little video again after I spent Thursday tracking down the news from Germany and I saw something else, entirely. What do you see?


The international horse sport community will be reeling on Friday as the world wonders what is going on in Germany. And maybe in their own backyards. I wonder, too.

Thursday afternoon, the national equestrian federation of Germany, FN Verlag (FN), announced the suspension of all riders who represented Germany at the 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong's equestrian events, where Germany won three gold medals. In effect, FN Verlag and the German national sport federation have dissolved, disbanded, and suspended its equestrian teams for FEI-level events. To use one of my favorite German words: "kaput!"

This story began back on May 11, when the FEI reported that German Olympic show jumper Marco Kutscher told German reporters that his horse had been illegally treated with arnica and lactanase during the Olympics at Hong Kong in August. Kutscher's confession and subsequent accusations initiated a cascade of events that will probably not end with Thursday's drastic action, which affects not just jumping but also dressage and eventing. Dressage superstar Isabell Werth even made a callous offhand remark that what she does to her horse is the concern of her and the owner and no one else, thank you very much.

What began as an investigation of a single rider and the team veterinarian is now affecting a dozen riders' careers and reputations.

My German is not the very best, but I think I know what the German press release is saying: each of the riders is going to be thoroughly investigated and must apply to be reinstated. Only after assurance that the rider will be a leader for a clean sport will that rider be allowed to represent Germany ever again. There is no indication of how long this process might take, nor how long the FEI's own investigation might take. There is a comment that time is not a concern.

All this with the World Equestrian Games coming up in just over a year. What more can the FEI do to police the barns and schooling rings? Are veterinarians the advocates of the horse and the rulebook or are they under too much pressure just as the riders are? And just where does that pressure originate?

Germany has been double-shocked by statements made by show jumping champion Ludger Beerbaum this weekend, including his assertion that he would do whatever it took to win and understood that he just was not supposed to get caught. The FN press release mentions Beerbaum--and only Beerbaum--by name.

The scandal reaches higher; FEI Bureau Member, judge and former Secretary General of FN Hanfried Haring has been associated with the scandal and may lose his position.

Be careful about what news sources you check on this story. HorseandHound.co.uk is usually tops for European news and you can follow their headlines via Twitter @horseandhound.

Come on, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and Sixty Minutes. You love a good scandal: do you have a reporter who speaks German? Here's your chance. What can the FEI say in its own defense, that these things have been going on in spite of rules and inspections and tests?

Equestrian sports woke up with two black eyes this morning. The elephant in the room got loose.

To refresh your memory about the Olympics in Hong Kong and the Germans' ups and downs there, please read my Olympic blog: The World Rides in Hong Kong. I feel like I should start the blog up again and write "The Rest of the Story".

2008 Olympics Protest: German Equestrians, Mindful of History, Will Gallop On

Argentinian show jumping rider Gregorio Werthein carried the Olympic torch through Buenos Aires yesterday. (Reuters.com photo)

Germany has decided that it will continue with plans to compete in a multitude of sports at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, in spite of pressure to withdraw in protest against Chinese oppression of Tibetan human rights.

But German athletes are among the most outspoken on their distaste for Chinese politics. The German water polo team has announced plans to wear bright orange terry-cloth robes poolside, evoking the orange prayer robes of Buddhist monks protesting in Tibet. German pole vaulter Anna Battke is planning a protest during the opening ceremony, according to the Germany newsmagazine Der Spiegel. She is urging athletes to participate in the ceremony dressed either as monks or Chinese government officials. At some point in the ceremony, athletes representing the two groups would simultaneously bow and shake hands, symbolizing peace between them.

The cover of this week's Der Spiegel (similar to our Time magazine), shows the Olympic rings but, if you look closely, the rings are actually handcuffs.

As always, it pays to take a spin around the web to some of the foreign-based news web sites that have English versions. You will certainly see a different spin on the news from what you will hear and see on the US television news. On the AsiaOne website you will read: "I have considered whether I can compete in China under these conditions," attributed to German show jumper Ludger Beerbaum.

Germany is perhaps the birthplace of the political Olympics, going back to Adolph Hitler's controversial hosting of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. US participation in those games were hotly protested by Jewish Americans who were outraged by the persecution of Jews under the Nazis. Germany did not allow Jewish athletes to represent their country and Hitler did not recognize African-American Jesse Owens' remarkable feat of winning four gold medals.

In the equestrian events in 1936, Germany won team and individual gold medals in all the sports; the Spanish Riding School's Alois Podhajsky won the bronze medal in dressage for Austria. Horses with the Trakehner brand won six gold medals.

It's sad to look at the medal standings from 1936: once-great horse nations Poland, Hungary and Romania were up there in the medals. Poland won the silver in eventing ahead of Great Britain!

At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, politics and sport made deadly contact when Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletes and coaches.

On the bright side, it was the sport of table tennis and its international competition scene that initially brought China out of its withdrawal from the world stage back in the 1970s. One thing led to another, and now China is the most dominant force in international commerce.

So, it looks like the show will go on for the Germans in Hong Kong. German riders are among the favorites in all three Olympic equestrian disciplines. And most of the rest of the world will be riding German-bred horses. They have nothing to protest there. But watch for a strong German will to win in the eventing, as the Germans were disqualified and stripped of their gold medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens when Bettina Hoy crossed the start line twice in the show jumping phase. An insightful article about Bettina's ongoing resentment can be read on the Reuters Olympics web site.