Medal-winning rider appealing eight-month suspension over training video

Danish medal-winning dressage rider Carina Cassøe Krüth has been suspended for eight months over behaviour shown in a training video.

H&H reported that Carina was reported to the Danish federation’s disciplinary committee, following the release of a video, filmed two years ago, showing Carina whipping a horse multiple times. Carina was fined 5,000 Danish krone (£560) – but the federation appealed the sanction, and Carina was temporarily excluded pending a review by the appeals committee (news, 22 August).

On 28 August the appeal committee ruled that the sanction would be upheld – but that Carina should also be suspended from all competitions and activities for eight months. The suspension will run until 28 April 2025.

The ruling document stated that the federation’s board had appealed the original sanction because it was “too lenient”, and that Carina “acknowledged and expressly regrets the episode”, had withdrawn from the Olympic team and had been the subject of negative media attention.

The appeal committee agreed that there had been “deliberate violation” of the federation’s rules, and agreed with the disciplinary committee that Carina’s experience, position and age were among the aggravating circumstances.

Carina confirmed that she is appealing the decision, adding: “I was fined and punished for my misconduct” and “I have never tried to evade the incident that took place more than two and a half years ago”.

“As I have stated before, I am very sorry for the situation in the video. It is a clear mistake and not representative of the way I have trained or train horses. This has also been my message in the dialogue with the Danish federation,” she said.

“We are dealing with a federation which will not stand by its own decision, but which, due to outside pressure, raises a penalty which the federation had originally set at a fine. Of course mistakes must have consequences, and therefore I fully understood the original decision.

“But I find it very difficult to understand that a single mistake, which I am very sorry for and which dates back several years, now has such major consequences for my future, not just on the national team – but in my work as a professional rider, with a ban from competing for eight months. Therefore I will appeal the decision.”

Carina added that she “welcomes” debate on horse welfare.

“But I do not like that the legal certainty of the riders stands and falls with a federation that does not dare to stand by its own decisions. There is a broad recognition in the industry that we have not done things well enough. Therefore, we must also stand together to develop in the right direction, and a lot has already happened since 2022,” she said.

“The answer, on the other hand, is not to create nervousness among the riders by choosing the easy solution, which I think the association has done in my case.”

Originally Carina Cassøe Krüth was not suspended by the FEI, and at the time of her temporary exclusion, the FEI was awaiting the outcome of the appeal committee’s decision. But an FEI spokesperson told H&H that it has “taken note of the new sanction”, and she has now been suspended on the FEI database.

The spokesperson added that the FEI is aware of Carina’s appeal and is waiting for the outcome, before “deciding what further steps (if any) to take”.

“For the moment the FEI has not opened a separate investigation,” the spokesperson said.

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