An international row over allegedly "cruel" training methods is threatening to engulf the elite world of top-class equestrian sport ahead of the 2012 Olympics.
The controversy over what is being called "the blue-tongue scandal" has led the British Horse Society to demand an urgent inquiry into the practices being used on some of the world's most expensive competition horses.
The furore began when a video of a dressage horse ridden using a technique called rollkur – the practice of drawing the horse's neck round in a deep curve so its nose almost touches its chest – was posted on YouTube. It showed Swedish rider Patrik Kittel at October's World Cup dressage qualifiers at Odense in Denmark warming up his horse, Watermill Scandic, for a sustained period of time in the position, also known as hyperflexion. The horse's tongue appears to loll out and go blue. Kittel has since received death threats.
The incident has caused a "phenomenal reaction", says dressage trainer and author Lady Sylvia Loch. "It is a shocking symptom of where the sport is going, it's the tip of the iceberg. What is going on behind closed doors in the training of these horses is very wrong.
"Dressage should be about lightness, freedom of movement and a partnership between horse and rider. Rollkur is so, so cruel. The horse can only see its own feet, so it is reliant on the rider for balance which is simply psychological torture."
Loch believes the sport's good name is under threat. "Dressage should be a delightful ballet where the work looks effortless. It doesn't need vile and unnatural methods. Horses shouldn't be brainwashed like this."
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