Wilma Hellström at Cicci Bjn in Stuttgart German Masters 2024
Source: Imago
The five-star equestrian tournament in Stuttgart is one of the most important tournaments in the world. Starting November 12, approximately 160 riders on 300 horses will compete in a variety of disciplines. 25 countries represented.
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This is the ideal place for the R-haltenswert initiative, which is committed to animal welfare and the ethical treatment of horses, to use “Reflection Panels” for the first time. An independent expert panel consisting of judges, trainers, veterinarians and etiquette experts will look at the team’s dressage, show jumping, eventing and riding.
A dialogue between sport and ethics is desired
What does harmonious, law-abiding and horse-friendly equestrian activity actually look like – and how can you take responsibility for it in a way that is transparent, understandable and ethical?
André Hascher, “It’s worth keeping” project.
This is how André Hascher from R-haltenswert formulated the question behind the project.
The Stuttgart German Masters is the premiere; in the future, twenty experts from the Horse Welfare Initiative want to take a closer look at different tournaments with different equestrian disciplines – and not always with advance public notice. According to R-haltwert, this ensures “that observations can be carried out in an impartial and methodologically clean manner”.
Officials oppose cooperation
The FEI International Equestrian Federation opposes the R-haltenswert project and stressed to ZDFheute that FEI officials on site have “exclusive responsibility for all decisions in connection with the competition”. Therefore, “the FEI does not see a role for external groups such as R-haltenwert in FEI events”.
The German Equestrian Association FN explained that it shares many of the same concerns as R-Haltwert, especially in terms of prevention, animal welfare and horse-friendly training. However, FN also explained to ZDFheute:
While we rely on binding national regulations such as performance inspection regulations, the initiative’s approach is based on individual assessment.
Statement from the German Equestrian Association FN
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For the first time there was an information officer
According to FN, official information officers will be on site for the equestrian tournament for the first time to answer audience questions about animal welfare, horse preparation and the start of the competition.
The organizer “in.Stuttgart” also indicated the following administrators:
As a recognized international equestrian tournament, we comply with regulations to ensure animal welfare.
in.Stuttgart, organizer of the Stuttgart German Masters
In.Stuttgart continued: “With the information officer, we have taken additional measures in this regard.” There is no collaboration with R-haltenswert.
R-worth includes society
For André Hascher, the reaction of equestrian sports officials is not surprising. In an interview with ZDFheute, he explained: “We are happy to work with the officials if there is a desire for change. If not, that’s not a bad thing: we have our own experts, our own ideas about how we can help the sport and the horses.”
And: “We will continue our efforts on our own for now, but we will help if officials are interested in our findings. The public is certainly interested.”
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Audience perspective matters
Since approximately 70 percent of viewers follow equestrian competitions on screen, the panel also examined the viewer’s perspective: How does communication between rider and horse affect the viewer, how does this differ from sports evaluation?
Once the pilot project in Stuttgart is complete, the initiative is planning expert talks to discuss the observations. Results regarding perception, ethics and quality will later be included in a report that can be accessed by the public.
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