A jumping rider who continued to compete using a false identity while suspended for horse abuse has been banned for an additional 12 months.
Hicham Gharib of Syria was grounded by the FEI Tribunal in February for allegedly enabling fellow rider Esam Zbibi to use spiked hind boots the previous year during a CSI in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and then trying to hide them from officials.
After the FEI Tribunal handed down the first suspension, Gharib sent many messages to FEI headquarters asking what suspension entailed. He was repeatedly told he could not compete or train clients at FEI-related events, although he could continue to train horses and riders at home and attend shows solely as a spectator.
However, during the spring he entered classes under the name Hisham Moataz. In May, while jumping three horses at Furusiyya Equestrian Club in the UAE, he was recognised by a “whistleblower” who has been kept anonymous, fearing retaliation. There were allegedly other complaints on the day that the presence of a suspended rider did “not look good for the sport.”
Gharib himself denied competing and said that as his horses were stabled at Furusiyya, he used the practice fences after the show had finished. He blamed the Syrian federation for any mistakes on the FEI database. There is no record of a Hisham Moataz ever being FEI-registered.
In further contradictions, the club provided a statement that Gharib was only present as a spectator, despite also claiming he had been allowed to compete hors concours and Gharib’s own admission that he was the person identified as Hisham Moataz in official show photographs of riders.
The Tribunal said it was “satisfied that the Respondent [rider] participated at the event not as a mere spectator but as an Athlete. The fact that the Respondent was not awarded any prize-money is of no relevance…Indeed, the Respondent took the risk that the other participants, FEI Officials and/or the spectators would consider that he was participating.
“If Mr Hisham Moataz was indeed a rider which rode those three horses, the Respondent could have easily submitted a witness statement from this person, as he did for many other participants.”
In the original abuse case, four officials testified that a (unnamed) groom was seen putting a boot on a horse called HH Sigma in the warm-up area at a CSI in Abu Dhabi in February 2021. The horse’s reaction was “immediate and excessive,” lifting his leg and shaking it several times. The chief steward was summoned, during which time the groom fitted the second boot, with the same reaction from the horse. Rider Esam Zbibi then jumped fences under the guidance of Gharib. In video evidence, the horse’s hind action over a fence was shown to be “very high.”
When the chief steward arrived, Gharib was seen removing the boots and running towards the edge of the warm-up, throwing the boots into some bushes. The chief steward retrieved them and saw that the linings contained a “nail or sharp object” with visible blood. It was “very clear and obvious” what had happened, and the horse was still sore, with cream on the wounds. While both riders denied having an association, Gharib himself rode HH Sigma at a national show a week later.
Zbibi initially denied knowledge of the boots and said he had since fired the groom. He also denied Gharib was his trainer and said he had only asked him to remove the boots as he could not find the groom. Zbibi was suspended in February 2022 for four years and fined 10,000 Swiss francs for horse abuse.
Gharib argued there was no evidence the retrieved boots were the ones used on HH Sigma as other discarded tack items could be found by the side of the warm-up. However, the Tribunal was “convinced” Gharib removed the boots and threw them away to hide Zbibi’s “reprehensible behaviour.” By trying to discard the boots he had committed a further offence of covering-up a rule violation. He was suspended 12 months and fined 5,000 Swiss francs.
Both riders unsuccessfully appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport during the summer.
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