Suspicion of animal cruelty: US dressage rider Parra temporarily banned

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Dressage rider Cesar Parra (2012): He was temporarily banned after the publication of video sequences

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Icon Sportswire / IMAGO

The World Equestrian Federation FEI has provisionally suspended US dressage professional Cesar Parra after videos emerged that allegedly showed animal welfare-related scenes in the 60-year-old Olympic rider's training stable.

Accordingly, at the beginning of February, video sequences could be seen for a short time on the native Colombian's Instagram account in which a rider hit a horse on the head and neck with a switch. The rider is said to be Parra, as reported by the Equestrian Worldwide portal and the US specialist magazine The Chronicle of the Horse.

“The Chronicle of the Horse” published a screenshot of the video. Underneath it was written: »A typical training day. Happy horses with animal welfare as a number one priority” (“Sound on! A typical day of training. Happy horses with animal welfare as a number one priority”). It is currently unclear who posted the posts online.

“Equestrian Worldwide” published further photos that were said to have been taken in Parra’s training stable. It shows horses with their pasterns tied together and wounds on their flanks and in the mouth area.

“Shocking treatment of horses”

The FEI said it was temporarily suspending Parra with immediate effect while the federation investigates the "disturbing and disgusting images and videos" relating to his training methods. According to media reports, the American federation United States Equestrian (USEF) also started investigations.

The German Equestrian Association (FN) announced on February 3rd in a press release about the FEI ban on Parras that they had received a collection of videos and images from various sources that "show shocking treatment of horses." The association also announced that people from Germany were probably involved. The FN will file a complaint with the public prosecutor and examine the possibility of taking its own measures.

Olympic medalist Helgstrand also banned

Parras took part in the 2004 Olympic Games for Colombia, among other things. He has been an American citizen since 2009 and, among other things, rode for the USA gold medal team at the Pan American Games in Mexico in 2011.

Only in December, the Danish dressage rider Andreas Helgstrand was expelled from the national team by the Danish Equestrian Association and banned from competing after a TV documentary published footage of aggressive riding and the mistreatment of horses at his stable.

Helgstrand later described the incidents to WDR as “unacceptable” and announced improvements. The Beijing bronze medalist will also miss the Paris Olympics in the summer. One of Helgestrand's Grand Prix horses was taken over by German dressage rider Isabell Werth. 

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