Former Olympic rider sues Equestrian Australia over horse whipping investigation
Former Olympic rider Heath Ryan is taking Equestrian Australia to court after being suspended for more than a year over a video showing him whipping a horse 42 times.
Ryan, who represented Australia in dressage at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has been temporarily banned from competitions since the International Equestrian Sports Federation (FEI) launched an investigation into allegations of animal abuse.
While the decision is still pending, the veteran Olympian has launched his own lawsuit against the taxpayer-funded Equestrian Australia, filing a lawsuit in the NSW Supreme Court.
Defending his actions after the footage was released in June 2025, Ryan is understood to have argued that EA should not have left responsibility for the investigation to the FEI and that, given the incident occurred in Australia, the sport’s Lausanne-based international governing body did not have any jurisdiction.
The 67-year-old, who made his Olympic debut at the age of 50 and was an assistant coach of the Australian team at the Atlanta, Sydney and Athens Games, declined to comment on Thursday but had previously said the footage was secretly recorded without his knowledge.
EA CEO Ben Houston said the national federation would “strongly defend the hearing.”
“The EA has zero tolerance for any act of equine cruelty and, due to the seriousness of the allegations made against Heath Ryan, Equestrian Australia stands by its decision to temporarily suspend Mr Ryan’s membership pending the outcome of the investigation and the FEI’s decision.”
The video of Ryan repeatedly hitting the horse with a whip was met with shock and anger when it was posted on social media last year.
At the time, the EA welcomed the FEI’s lead on an investigation into the alleged welfare breach.
Ryan acknowledged that the images depicted were “horrifying” but rejected allegations of horse mistreatment, saying the whipping was a “rescue mission” and that the six-year-old stallion was otherwise headed for mastery after attacking a friend who deemed him untrainable.
“The horse caught him [by the mouth] “And he ripped him from his saddle and attacked him brutally,” Ryan said. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. He would just stop, but he would also turn around and try to grab you like a stallion and pull you out of the saddle. He had done this with his previous owner, who had never hit him.
“[The whipping] turned everything upside down. In hindsight it is clear that this was not horse abuse. It was actually saving his life. This cannot be denied. I understand it just by looking at it. “This is terrible.”
He said the video was posted by a disgruntled former employee two years after the events and was “sincerely made out of the horses’ best interests in mind”.
The horse, named Nico, was rehomed and used in Australian equestrian events.
More than a year after the Swiss-led investigation began, it is unclear why it has not yet been concluded.
FEI general secretary Sabrina Ibanez said in June last year that “the scenes depicted are deeply disturbing and completely contrary to the FEI core values of equine welfare”.
He pledged to thoroughly examine the facts and ensure “any conduct that puts the welfare of horses at risk is dealt with firmly and fairly.”
An FEI spokesperson told this imprint in April that operations were ongoing and there were no new developments to report.
There was no response to a follow-up query 10 days ago.
Sydney-born Ryan is a three-time Australian eventing champion and competed in individual and team dressage events for Australia at the Beijing Olympics. His younger brother, Matt Ryan, is a three-time Olympic gold medalist in equestrian riding.
Ryan’s case against Equestrian Australia is scheduled to be heard in the High Court in Sydney on July 21.
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Chris Barrett is senior sports correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Southeast Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age newspapers.Connect with: X or email.
