Olympic Games: One Voice and its partners call for an end to events involving horses
In a letter to the International Olympic Committee, we join with PAZ, L214, Peta France and Gaia in calling for an end to the equestrian events at the Olympics. Horses must no longer have to endure training to the limits of their strength, nor the stressful transport inherent in this discipline. We are calling for them to be granted pet status, which would finally remove them from the category of livestock.
If the Olympic Games are meant to be a celebration, they are not for the horses forced to take part.
To win titles and medals, they undergo grueling training. Hindered by bits and spurs, they are forced to perform unnatural physical feats that put them at risk. And when they don’t satisfy their rider, it’s often the whip that calls them to order. For them, taking part in competitions is anything but rewarding. Those who are selected also have to endure the anguish of long journeys, including by plane, and the interminable wait in tiny stalls.
A violent sport, sometimes fatal
At every competition, the blows and falls multiply. During the Tokyo Games in 2021, Saint Boy, in obvious distress while facing the obstacles, fell victim to the relentlessness of rider Annika Schleu. Worse still, Jet Set was seriously injured and killed. These are far from isolated tragedies. Again this year, horses in Paris have refused the jumps imposed on them, or have fallen violently while trying to obey. What will become of these animals deemed insufficiently docile, insufficiently competitive? Will they be sent to the slaughterhouse, like many others “at the end of the road”? Or will they be ridden to death, like Flogas Sunset Cruise?
In the manner of the modern pentathlon, which has announced that its equestrian event will be replaced by an obstacle course on foot, we call on the International Olympic Committee to abandon all disciplines involving horses.
Sign our petition so that horses can finally enjoy a pet status and the same protection as our companions, dogs and cats.