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Ryan, who competed for Australia as part of the dressage team in the equestrian event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, defended his actions, saying the incident had been a “life or death moment” for the horse.
He said the six-year-old stallion had been headed for the knackery after a friend had found it untrainable and “dangerous”, having left her needing hospital treatment after attacking her.
“The horse grabbed her [by the mouth] and ripped her out of the saddle and savaged her,” Ryan said. “I’d never run into anything like that before. It would just stop, but it would also turn around and try and grab you like a stallion and rip you out of the saddle. It had done this with its previous owner, who had never hit it.
“[The whipping] turned everything around. This horse went on to have its best interest looked after. Clearly, in hindsight, it wasn’t horse abuse. It was actually saving its life. That’s irrefutable. It’s just that when you look at it, I understand it. It’s bloody horrendous.
“And if you think I enjoyed that, I did not. I hated it, but I just felt I was desperate. This horse was maybe as good as dead as I thought it could be. Could I talk to it? Could I open up channels of communication?
“People say that’s disgusting, and you know, that’s not opening channels of communication. I was going, ’Well, it actually saved its life. In 48 hours, it would have been dead.”
In a statement posted on Facebook, Ryan said the horse was “loved” and that he was “sad that [the incident] got caught on video”, which had been uploaded by an “unhappy ex-employee”.
The stallion, Nico, is still alive and has been rehomed to a new owner. Footage of Nico riding in a paddock was uploaded with the statement put out by Ryan on Facebook.
“All of this transpired sincerely with the horse’s best interests the sole consideration,” Ryan said. “I need to add that this happened about two years ago and the video has been posted 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.”
The narrator on the Dressage Hub account said the whipping had been witnessed by a number of spectators.
Ryan, who competed for Australia as part of the dressage team in the equestrian event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, defended his actions, saying the incident had been a “life or death moment” for the horse.
He said the six-year-old stallion had been headed for the knackery after a friend had found it untrainable and “dangerous”, having left her needing hospital treatment after attacking her.
“The horse grabbed her [by the mouth] and ripped her out of the saddle and savaged her,” Ryan said. “I’d never run into anything like that before. It would just stop, but it would also turn around and try and grab you like a stallion and rip you out of the saddle. It had done this with its previous owner, who had never hit it.
“[The whipping] turned everything around. This horse went on to have its best interest looked after. Clearly, in hindsight, it wasn’t horse abuse. It was actually saving its life. That’s irrefutable. It’s just that when you look at it, I understand it. It’s bloody horrendous.
“And if you think I enjoyed that, I did not. I hated it, but I just felt I was desperate. This horse was maybe as good as dead as I thought it could be. Could I talk to it? Could I open up channels of communication?
“People say that’s disgusting, and you know, that’s not opening channels of communication. I was going, ’Well, it actually saved its life. In 48 hours, it would have been dead.”
In a statement posted on Facebook, Ryan said the horse was “loved” and that he was “sad that [the incident] got caught on video”, which had been uploaded by an “unhappy ex-employee”.
The stallion, Nico, is still alive and has been rehomed to a new owner. Footage of Nico riding in a paddock was uploaded with the statement put out by Ryan on Facebook.
“All of this transpired sincerely with the horse’s best interests the sole consideration,” Ryan said. “I need to add that this happened about two years ago and the video has been posted 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.”
The narrator on the Dressage Hub account said the whipping had been witnessed by a number of spectators.
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