two new articles at Epona TV

In THIS ONE, Kittel's history of harm to his horse is clearly documented.

An excerpt:

In Wiesbaden, several people were uncomfortable seeing that Scandic's double bridle was fitted with a very low noseband. The judge as well as the chief steward opted to intervene. Friedrich Otto-Erley, head of the German FN's elite sports division said to St. Georg: "The noseband was fitted where a drop noseband would normally sit. The horse couldn't breathe, and was blowing like a locomotive. Where the noseband should have been, there was a sore."

Patrik Kittel was ordered to fix the noseband, and Watermill Scandic placed last in the freestyle, having performed the test with his tongue hanging out. It is not mentioned whether on this occasion, the FEI found it necessary to investigate.

As far as I'm concerned, this is exactly what we should be seeing in every competition arena in the world. Stewards and judges should manage this on the FRONT LINES. If the FEI doesn't see fit to investigate, that sort of blows a hole in their statement that the welfare of horses comes first, but at least the horses are being protected in the moment when they're competing.

And in THIS ONE, Denmark seems to be taking a stand as a country in addressing these abusive practices.

The below excerpt takes the cake for most absurd statement of the day.

LPS also spoke with Danish dressage team veterinarian, Dr. Hans Christian Matthiesen, who was at the time an aspiring international dressage judge, but Mathiessen denied that there are general welfare problems associated with the way horses are trained for elite level sport. "If you're not used to seeing this kind of training, it can appear violent," he said, but stressed that no statistical evidence exists to show that such training is bad for the horse. In his blog on a Danish horse portal, Dr. Mathiessen now laments the "loss of respect" for dressage and claims that the blue tongue clip of Patrik Kittel on YouTube has been taken completely out of context, and claims that there are horses from the Third World pulling heavy loads through Europe with old tires nailed to their feet instead of real horseshoes, which is much worse.

I'm glad to report that Epona TV reporters continue their efforts on this issue.

If the FEI is putting all the power in the hands of ring stewards, perhaps we should all go do what we need to do to stand ringside with our yellow cards and very loud voices.