Months of arguments on legal points could be in prospect following the unprecedented decision of the Danish equestrian federation Dansk Ride Forbund (DRF) to re-visit its decision over the Carina Cassoe Kruth horse abuse case.
Kruth was originally fined just 5,000 Danish krone ‒ $1,000 CAD ‒ for an offence that the rider herself felt justified her withdrawal from Denmark’s Olympic dressage team for Paris. But following public outcry at the fine’s leniency, the DRF revisited the decision and on Wednesday (August 28) suspended her from all its activities for eight months. Kruth will appeal, and has strongly criticised the procedural aspects.
The fine is considerably lower than any penalty ever handed down by the FEI Tribunal for horse abuse in an out-of-competition environment. However, the case was reported to the national federation, and not the FEI, so has remained out of FEI jurisdiction so far.
The saga goes back to July 7, when a two-and-a-half-year-old video of Kruth was reported to DRF. Kruth admitted to Danish broadcaster TV2 that her behaviour was unacceptable, while insisting it was an isolated incident.
The exact content remained undisclosed, though it was confirmed it showed an out-of-competition training incident that breached DRF abuse regulations, including harsh actions and misuse of equipment.
DRF meanwhile temporarily removed Kruth from its national team and high performance squad.
The DRF’s disciplinary panel then announced a 5,000 krone fine, with no other penalty. Part of its rationale for leniency was the historic nature of the video evidence.
Public outcry followed, at which point the video was leaked onto social media for the first time. Kruth has close ties to Andreas Helgstrand, who incurred reputational damage following the “Operation X” undercover documentary on TV2 last fall. It was quickly noted that Kruth was being coached by Helgstrand in the video, who told her to hit the horse. She in fact struck it twice with a thin dressage whip and each time it kicked out.
The DRF then announced the fine was insufficient, and it would re-assess. Meanwhile, the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Fredericksen, said equestrianism needed to clean itself up, and her Ministry of Agriculture demanded a meeting with DRF to discuss its sanctions for horse abuse, and to enquire why Kruth had not been reported to police under Denmark’s animal protection laws. This meeting happened last week ‒ DRF has not responded Horsesport.com’s request for comment.
The eight-month suspension notice gave no reason for the significant change in sanction. Kruth may not compete or participate in any DRF activities until next April. She can still teach following a narrow vote in her favour by the Danish riding instructor’s association yesterday (August 29.)
Kruth said: “We are dealing with an association that does not stand by its own decision, but raises a penalty under pressure from outside, which the association had originally set at a fine.
“Of course, mistakes have to have consequences, and that’s why I fully understood the original decision. But it is very difficult for me to understand that a single mistake, which I am very sorry for and which occurred several years ago, now has such great consequences for my future.
“I would like to emphasise that I welcome the debate on the welfare of horses, but I do not like the fact that the legal certainty of riders stands and falls with an association that does not dare to stand by its own decisions. There is a great deal of agreement in the industry that we have not done things well enough. That’s why we also have to stand together to develop in the right direction, and a lot has already happened since 2022.
“On the other hand, you can’t unsettle the riders by choosing the simple solution, as the federation did in my case.”
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