things you can do in response to the Rollkur/blue tongue

I've written to the FEI voicing my concerns and requesting action on their part. But as we know, that in itself will be a very small part of addressing this issue.

The discussion on how to respond is still ongoing on the classical dressage list. Dr. Thomas Ritter, who I've quoted here before, offered a very well-put perspective on the many things we can do:



That's exactly right. This kind of riding is rampant today. Patrick Kittel is by no means extreme or unusual. The problem is much more pervasive and systemic than one rider or a handful of riders. You can see it to varying degrees at every show, and these riders are routinely rewarded at the highest international levels, which is why it became so widespread in the first place. Somebody just happened to capture this on film and put it on youtube.

The reason why it's so hard to make an impact is because many of the people you complain to are using the exact same techniques. It's like trying to clean up a corrupt government or police force where everyone you turn to for help is corrupt and working for the other side, too.

Persistence is probably the only thing that will work in the long run. It will have to be a multi-pronged approach. It's good to write protest letters and e-mails to the FEI and all the national federations. It's important to support Gerd Heuschmann, the Xenophon society, Allege Ideal, and other individuals and organizations like them. It's important to educate riders, trainers, and judges.

Clients have to boycott trainers and judges who practice, teach, or condone Rollkur. If you are a competitor, don't ride for judges of whom you know that they are rewarding this kind of riding.

Trainers have to educate their clients about physiologically correct riding. Authors have to write books and articles that explain correct riding, and take a stand against Rollkur. Good riders have to demonstrate correct riding in practice.

Everybody can raise the issue at USDF conventions and other events that are put on by the establishment.

Trainers who go through a certification process can raise the issue with the teachers and examiners - at the risk of failing their exam.

Vote people into office in the national organizations who are anti Rollkur.

Ultimately, the only thing that will shut Rollkur down is if it doesn't bring money or fame any more. This is where judges and clients play a very important role. If horses that are short in the neck and on the forehand are consistently placed last, riders will abandon this technique very quickly.

If clients consistently take their money to riders who teach physiologically, biomechanically correct riding, and consistently avoid riders who ride their horses deep, with a short neck, and a high croup, then the Rollkur riders will either have to reeducate themselves, or they will not survive.

When I started to take my first riding lessons in the 70s, we were taught that having the horse behind the vertical was the greater evil than having him above the bit, and that correcting a horse that's behind the bit is more difficult than correcting one that's above the bit. This mindset has to be rediscovered.


(end of quote, posted here with permission)




Someone else on the list suggested that we boycott companies who sponsor upper level riders who consistently employ these abusive techniques. Writing them to let them know WHY you aren't buying their product gives them information. Enclosing a copy of a receipt for the product you did buy from another company who does not sponsor or endorse such riders gives them even more information.

If you go to the website for the WEG games in 2010 in Kentucky, you can find a list of sponsors for those games. Start now and let them know you will not support the games OR the sponsors if this kind of riding is allowed in warm-up, competition, and particularly rewarded with ribbons.

Some people are talking on COTH about wearing white armbands with the "no Rollkur" symbol. Others are talking about utilizing a "stand up and turn your back" to competitors who utilize these techniques.

I feel that going to the stewards and officials is often ineffective. What I personally intend to do if I see such abuse is to call 911 and treat it as an animal abuse issue. Which is actually what it is. The FEI has no jurisdiction over local law enforcement if an animal is being abused.

Someone from the classical dressage list has contacted the Dutch authorities (where the competition in the aforementioned video took place) and reported the abuse. She has received a response that the situation is being investigated.

Any one of us alone can probably not effect widespread change. But if we all report what we personally see, at least the FEI will have to deal with a swell of complaints, and local law enforcement will be activated.