Suspended Olympian says whipping horse 42 times in video was in its ‘best interest’

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A former Australian Olympian has been provisionally suspended after video surfaced of the equestrian appearing to repeatedly whip a horse.

Heath Ryan, who competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, is under investigation by Equestrian Australia and has come out in defence of his actions as seen in the old clip – which seems to show the rider striking a horse 42 times.

In a lengthy post on Facebook, Ryan said that the incident shown in the video “transpired sincerely with the (horse’s) best interests the sole consideration.”

Equestrian Australia, the country’s governing body for the sport, said that the provisional suspension will last until “a thorough investigation of this matter” has been completed. It also noted that it had received a formal complaint about the incident.

“Equestrian Australia is extremely alarmed and concerned by the treatment of the horse shown in this footage,” it said in a statement.

“Equestrian Australia has this afternoon imposed a provisional suspension of this person’s membership of Equestrian Australia and their rights, privileges and benefits associated with their membership.”

It also said that the body “takes matters of animal welfare very seriously.”

In Ryan’s Facebook post, he said that the horse named Nico was brought to him on the way to the “knackery” — where animals go to be killed — after an accident had injured its owner.

The post describes the horse as a “problem child” that got “worse and worse until the accident.”

“I felt obliged to the horse to just have a look and see if it was possibly salvageable,” Ryan wrote. “Well did I get a shock and so the video. I have never ridden anything like it. I am so sad this was caught on video.

“If I had been thinking of myself, I would have immediately just gotten off and sent Nico to the knackery. That video was a life-or-death moment for Nico and of that I was very aware.

“I felt I genuinely had to try my very hardest to see if Nico would consider other options. Anyway by the end of that initial ride I did feel Nico was responding. I rode Nico for another couple of days and he responded very well and started to go without the use of excessive driving aids.”

Ryan also wrote that the video taken two years ago and initially was posted on YouTube by an “unhappy ex-employee.”

“All I can say is that this awful video was collateral damage of me from the bottom of my heart launching a rescue mission,” Ryan added.