‘We all want the best for the horse, but people are also competitive’

“Could you step aside for a moment,” one asks groom, horse caretaker, with a touch of annoyance in her voice. “Thank you.” With a large brown horse on a halter, she walks through the RAI, the conference center in Amsterdam. In the hall further on is the ring where the equestrian event Jumping Amsterdam took place until this weekend. For the first time since 2020, after two years of corona absence.

This part contains the boxes for about two hundred sport horses. Now and then a neigh sounds, further on a horse being brushed sticks its head out of an open stable door. Manure and hay lie on the blue carpet. Normally, the stables are off limits to outsiders. But this Friday, a delegation from the province of North Holland, which sponsors the event with 30,000 euros, will be shown around.

The central question is: what does Jumping Amsterdam do for the well-being of participating horses? And deduced from that: should the province continue to sponsor the event in the coming years?

One of the participants this day is Ines Kostic, member of the Party for the Animals in North Holland. Kostic had doubted beforehand whether she would come. The tour has been set up by both the province and the organization. Kostic has no doubts that the stables look neat. “I can guess the commercial talk of Jumping Amsterdam.” She agreed because she could also bring along an employee of animal welfare organization Caring Vets: veterinarian Nicole de Schwartz.

CDA member of parliament ‘and farmer’s daughter’ Wilma van Andel takes a very different view. She calls the criticism of Jumping Amsterdam “exaggerated”. Riders want the best for their horse, she says. “Maybe Ines will say after the tour: I see that animal welfare comes first.”

Huge discussion

The kick-off for the tour is in the box of the province of North Holland: sponsors get their own place in the VIP grandstand. Deputy Ilse Zaal (D66) takes the floor. Downstairs in the ring a grand prix dressage competition for juniors is being ridden – contrary to what the name suggests, Jumping Amsterdam also has a lot of dressage on the program. Zaal mentions the “huge social discussion”, which is going on about animal welfare, also within equestrian sports. “Let’s talk to each other.” The Provincial Council in North Holland will soon decide whether the sponsorship will continue in the coming years.

Criticism is also not new for Jumping, which attracts top riders from the Netherlands and abroad. In 2020 made an opinion piece The parole of activist group Dier&Recht much loose. In equestrian sports, “animal welfare is secondary to performance, cups and money”, wrote Sarah Pesie of Dier&Recht. She called on the municipality of Amsterdam, also a sponsor, to stop doing so.

By providing openness, as with this tour, Jumping wants to show what is happening to make horse riding as pleasant as possible. And on the website is a special ‘welfare’ heading, referring to an article on the ‘anti-equestrian sound’ in which three scientists respond to frequently heard criticism. Exceptional excesses are presented as the norm.

The Netherlands is at the forefront when it comes to animal welfare in equestrian sports, says the sector. And there is also a lot of movement internationally. Several rules have been adjusted or introduced in recent years. One of them can be seen from the lodge this morning. An amazon whose horse has blood on its mouth is called off by the jury: disqualified. The same rule applies to jumping.

In addition, it is checked, for example, whether the noseband of a bridle is not too tight. A tight noseband gives riders a lot of control, but is unpleasant for horses. “We all want the best for the horse, but people are also competitive,” says Fenna Westerduin, veterinarian and horse welfare policy officer at the equestrian sports association KNHS.

There is a lot of debate about other matters in equestrian sports. Such as the use of different types of bits and the influence on the horse’s mouth. Westerduin: “We know from Danish and Finnish research that many horses and ponies have mouth problems” Dier&Recht refers to an article by two Flemish veterinarians in magazine Vet worldwho state that more than 65 percent of newly ridden horses have so-called bit injuries.

The use of other tools – or means of coercion, according to critics – such as spurs and whips also deserve attention, according to Westerduin. “When you start horseback riding you often get a cap and a whip. We have to get rid of that,” she says, referring to the whip.

Deputy Ilse Zaal: “Is it true that you are not admitted to a competition if you do not wear spurs?”

That’s right, says Westerduin. At least, at the highest levels of dressage, in competitions organized by the international equestrian federation FEI. “They got stuck in habits there.” The use of two types of bits simultaneously, the so-called bar and snaffle, is also internationally mandatory at the highest dressage level.

Spurs and double bits are optional in competitions of the Dutch federation KNHS, although they are almost always used in practice. “The whole bar and snaffle story is just a very interesting discussion,” says Westerduin, who also points out that riders and amazons in top sport have the skills to use these kinds of resources responsibly.

Pointing to the ring below, where the juniors still compete in dressage, Nicole de Schwartz of Caring Vets says: “This horse has its mouth open.” A sign of discomfort, she says, or even stress and pain. Not everyone in the stands will see that, she thinks. “It is a signal that you must be able to recognize.” She says that applies just as much to a swishing tail or a shaking head, she says. “Fortunately, that is not the case with this horse.”

Westerduin: „If a horse is restless with its head, you get minus points in dressage. It is about a picture that is as harmonious as possible. It should look as simple and natural as possible.”

PvdD member of parliament Kostic: “This is not natural, is it.”

Westerduin. “Yes, they are all movements that you also see in nature.”

Doping controls

And then the whole group leaves for the stables. While Olympic dressage rider Hans Peter Minderhoud passes by on the back of the shiny black stallion Glock’s Dream Boy, Jumping board member Pieter Wiersinga talks about the vets who roam the grounds, who check for health and doping. No form of medication is allowed in the horses, not even a light painkiller, he explains. Has anyone ever been caught? Almost never, says Wiersinga. And if something is found, “then that is not good at the FEI these days.” The punishment is a suspension and sometimes a fine.

Meanwhile, keep walking grooms along with horses on halters. That shows one of the challenges in top sport, says Westerduin of the KNHS. Free movement is important for horses, but that is not possible here during Jumping Amsterdam. In addition, horses, herd animals, have little contact with peers during competitions.

Afterwards it turns out that a joint tour does not provide a joint view. CDA member of parliament Van Andel concludes that she has seen a professional organization, “where a lot is done for the animal”.

Kostic of the Party for the Animals says it “hurts” what she sees here.

“Do you want people to stop riding horses at all,” asks Van Andel.

No, says Kostic. “But it must be done without coercion.”

“You pretend that they get caned all day long,” Van Andel responds. “We work hard here for animal welfare.”

Kostic: “Yes, within the framework.”

“They are still animals, aren’t they,” says Van Andel. “They are not humans.”

Kostic agrees, but it means something else to her.

Van Andel: “I am proud that our province is sponsoring this great event.”

“Proud!” says Kostic. “Fiercely.”