Andreas Helgstrand has been suspended for a further three months by Danish Ride Forbund (Danish national equestrian federation) because of his alleged part in the Carina Cassoe Kruth dressage horse whipping incident.
Helgstrand was training Kruth off-camera in a leaked video from February 2022 (ie. two-and-a-half years ago) and was heard to tell the former Olympian to use the whip. Semantics has played a part; his instruction in Danish translates as “give it a ‘proper one'” – English slang for firmly striking any sentient being or object, though the accused says this is not what he meant.
The new suspension commenced October 3, just as Helgstrand’s previous six-month suspension was due to end.
Helgstrand’s involvement with Kruth is the first known case of a person who was not riding or directly handling a horse to be added to horse abuse proceedings by either a national federation or the FEI. Kruth ‒ who was seventh individually in dressage at the Tokyo Olympic Games ‒ is meanwhile appealing her separate eight-month suspension, itself mired in controversy after the DRF’s disciplinary panel initially gave more lenient punishment.
Helgstrand’s defence argued that “give it a proper one” was not a call for excessive use of the whip, but for a consistent and quick correction when the horse does not go forward as asked. It was a “correct” instruction carried out excessively by the rider, who has already acknowledged that as such. The 12-second video was unsuitable for assessment, as the follow-up is not shown.
There was also considerable but unsuccessful argument on legal points. These included a suggestion the case was time-barred from a criminal law perspective, where the limitation period is two years; that Kruth has been sanctioned in a case that is still pending; and that the cited point of the DRF’s Code of Conduct does not apply in private settings.
Helgstrand also said that three out of four panel members were illegible to rule on the matter because they had handed him the previous suspension and took up this present case on their own initiative.
However, the disciplinary panel insisted the DRF code and its extensive ethical guidelines do apply in a private setting, and that the statute of limitations under DRF rules is three years.
They said: “In a training situation, there is a relationship of superiority/subordination, where the rider follows the trainer’s instructions in close and intensive cooperation during the training session in order to prepare the horse for performance.
“It is stated in section 16 of the Common Rules: ‘The goal of equestrian sports is to develop the horse into a happy athlete through a harmonious education. The horse’s welfare and durability must be prioritized both in a short and long perspective. Riding must never contain physical abuse or violence against the horse. Punishment and excessive correction — meaning incomprehensible, unnecessary and/or excessive use of physical or verbal correction (including the use of a whip, rein, spurs, or other remedies), or jerking or twitching [sic] of the mouth that causes painful discomfort — must not be used at any time in the training and handling of horses.’
“In the opinion of the Appeal Committee, the instruction ‘give it a proper one’ is not an instruction that in a riding context appears as an instruction and training method that is covered within the criteria of correction and/or reprimand, but is an intentional invitation from the trainer to the rider to punish the horse, by excessive use of physical correction.”
The Danish stables of Helgstrand, an influential rider-dealer on both sides of the Atlantic, were the subject of a Danish TV expose by the “Operation X” undercover team last fall. Helgstrand was not in any of the televised footage of horses undergoing training. He later announced some changes in conduct and practices. He was, nonetheless, stood down from the Danish national team and later suspended for six months from April this year, for reasons never fully disclosed.
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