VERSAILLES — On the first day of dressage competitions at the Paris Games, horse welfare took center stage as organizers implemented a special heat protocol. This measure comes in the wake of a major abuse scandal involving a top rider, which has intensified scrutiny on the treatment of horses.
The World Equestrian Federation (FEI) activated a special plan to protect horses from the heat, the body’s chief veterinarian said, which involves monitoring climate data and ensuring cooling while watching horses with thermal cameras.
Some of the musclebound dressage horses weigh up to 750 kilos and would need around 50 litres of water per day just for their basic body functions, he said.
Tuesday’s Dressage Grand Prix, in which riders perform the sport’s most difficult exercises like pirouettes, piaffes and flying changes in a roughly eight-minute ride, was marked by temperatures well over 30 Celsius.
Akerstrom said FEI officials were checking with heat cameras on the horses’ core body temperature – which during training and competition can reach 40 Celsius – and would pull the brakes if they overheat.
Teams are provided with cooling tents and ice buckets while Olympic stables in Versailles are also equipped with a temperature regulating system, allowing for temperatures six degrees below the outside weather.
“The horses have not shown clinical signs of heat stress. They have recovered well and there has been no need for heat-related fluid therapy treatments,” an FEI spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Equine welfare is under close scrutiny during the Paris Olympics after a video of British rider Charlotte Dujardin involved in horse abuse shocked a global audience and renewed debates about riding’s future as an Olympic discipline.
During Tuesday’s dressage competition, the governing body disqualified the horse of a U.S. rider when blood was seen on its leg.
