Andreas Helgstrand’s dark side documentary shown on TV2 on Monday night has shocked and shaken the equestrian world. The award-winning is described in the Danish documentary by Andreas Helgstrand shocking and unethical behavior of the owned stable.
Helgstrand is one of the world’s most successful and well-known dressage riders. He has won, among other things, Olympic bronze, World Championship silver, World Championship bronze and European Championship bronze. Along with his sports career, he built a million-dollar business from raising and training horses.
Investigative journalist for Danish TV2 Rebekka Klubien infiltrated the stables of Helgstrand as a horse keeper and secretly filmed the activities of the stables.
The videos reveal shocking things about the stable’s working methods. The aim of the riders is to get the horses to learn the skills needed in dressage as quickly as possible, using questionable, unethical means.
The horses’ flanks show, for example, wounds caused by the unnecessary use of spurs, and their flanks are swollen from the use of the whip. Bleeding wounds can be seen in the horses’ mouths.
Based on the document, the stable’s operation was conscious. When a potential buyer arrives, the tracks are hidden with a shoelace.
The same is also confirmed by someone who worked as a team manager at the Helgstrand team for ten months Silje Smevik.
– Helgstrand wants to sell as much as it can as quickly as it can. Horses are merchandise. If the “thing” does not want to perform in such a way, it is forced to do so, Smevik comments in the documentary.
“Violence, no riding”
The documentary also shows the rider of the experts By John Randskov and a veterinarian by Heidi Nielsen and a former national team rider working as a riding instructor by Susan Kjaergård shocked reactions when watching videos.
– That is violence, not riding, Randskov commented.
– The horse shows all the signs. It whips its tail, shakes its head, almost purrs. Sometimes it opens its mouth when trying to release the pressure. There, its head is pulled from side to side. There is constant pressure in its mouth. The horses are under constant pressure, Nielsen commented while looking at the uncut picture.
Helgstrand tried to prevent the publication of the documentary by suing the authors, but the court rejected the claims.
Helgstrand has been in the headlines before because of problems related to horse welfare.
His performance in international competitions has been disqualified twice because his horse was bleeding from the mouth. Helgstrand responded to the accusations with a video he posted on social media, in which he claimed the horse bit his tongue.
“No one would have believed”
The documentary has also spoken about Finnish equestrian circles. Expert panel of Hevoseruhlu magazine strongly condemned the methods he saw in the Helgstrand documentary.
– You can really see that it is a horse factory, school judge Maria Colliander comment on the Hevoserluhi.fi website.
For the experts interviewed by Urheilu, Helgstrand’s activity came as a surprise.
– Of course, it came as a surprise that the activity was so extensive and raw. No one would have ever believed that at such a stable horses are treated like that, dressage rider Emma Kanerva comment.
– I was at the stable quite a few years ago, and the last time I was there, I didn’t see anything myself. I’ve talked to quite a few riders, and none of them had seen (the action described in the documentary). I think it’s a good thing that this crossed the news ladder. This is not what you do with horses, a dressage legend Kyra Kyrklund comment.
Kanerva admits that watching the documentary did not feel comfortable. However, according to Kanerva, the documentary does not give a true picture of the sport.
– It’s a shame that horse riding is brought up like that. I must say that for sure, even for outsiders who have no riding background, the matter will not come across in the right way. I would hope that sometimes positive things would also be shown. Not everyone does, as shown in this documentary.
Banned from national team activities
In the documentary, we see how Anders Helgstrand’s father, who is the chairman of the Danish Equestrian Association Ulf Helgstrand defending his son’s actions. Father Helgstrand subsequently resigned from his position.
After the publication of the documentary, the Danish Animal Welfare Organization filed a criminal complaint against Helgstrand. The Danish Equestrian Federation, on the other hand, published a press release in November in which it announced that it would resign of Helgstrand about all the activities of his association. At the same time, Helgstrand was denied the opportunity to compete in the Paris Olympics.