Horse cruelty has a long tradition

Horse Whipping, but is that all that goes on and for how long?

First reports are from 1902 where horses were mistreated to make them jump higher. (source - https://www.st-georg.de/content/uploads/2021/05/barren-historisch-st_georg-oktober-1990-1.pdf)

Paul Schockemöhle, a very famous German show jumper, came under criticism in 1990 because he made his horses jump higher with the so-called rapping. In July 1990, he and his riding stable, which included riders such as Franke Sloothaak and Otto Becker, withdrew from competitive sport.

According to Schockemöhle himself, who had received death threats, he "no longer wanted" to "expose himself to these attacks". He admitted to rapping, but Schockemöhle said he was not an animal abuser.

The state government of Lower Saxony under the then Minister President Gerhard Schröder also looked into the events.

Following the events, the German Equestrian Federation banned the practice of rapping show jumpers both at competitions and in training.

In February 1991, Schockemöhle's stable returned to show jumping. In September 1991, an investigation by the Oldenburg public prosecutor''s office was dropped following a veterinary report.

In February 1992, the German Equestrian Federation sentenced Schockemöhle to a fine of 5,000 Deutschmarks, as the federation's disciplinary committee had deemed "connivance in the preparation of horses for auction" to have been proven after a television report on Barren had shown how an alleged employee of Schockemöhle had allegedly carried out this action.

Schockemöhle described the punishment as "difficult to understand"

Criminal proceedings

Max Kuehner, a medal contender for Austria in showjumping, is the subject of criminal proceedings in Germany for allegedly hitting his horse's legs with a bar to make it jump higher.

There are two types of rapping.

Active rapping requires an assistant or possibly two assistants to beat the horses shins just as it is about to clear the jump.

Alternatively two assistant will suddenly raise the top bar of the jump which causes the horse to hit this and hurt itself with its shins. Supposedly this causes horses to jump higher than would apparently be necessary.

Passive rapping is slightly different. Here a thin top bar, sometimes made of bamboo is positioned just above the top bar and the horse may not be able to see this but will feel it when it collides with it at the highest point of the jump.

At the time Schockemöhle was accused of rapping there had been reports in the German press of some horse trainers nailing bottle tops with the sharp pieces outwards towards the horses legs to the top bars. If the horse didn't clear the jump properly it would hit the bottle tops with its shins. Hardly something anyone would like to suffer. Just imagine if hurdle runners were subjected to this kind of training.

The German Equestrian Federation (FN) also reacted. A meeting was held. Discussions were held. The term rapping became "touching" and not with sticks as thick as an arm, but with a clearly defined object: no longer than three meters and weighing a maximum of two kilograms. Even today, rapping is clearly defined as a training method for horses in Volume 2 of the German Guidelines for Riding and Coach-Driving.

At first when this article was started we almost got the impression the problem was confined to Germany but that was bacause we were using the term "Barring" to search for documantation where we should have used the correct term which is "Rapping".

At a CSI3* show in Abu Dhabi on the weekend of February 23-26 2022, a steward noticed that Esam Zbibi's horse, HH Sigma, was jumping extremely “carefully” at the back. The head steward went to check the horse's hind legs, but before he could do so, Hicham Gharib, the pair's handler, had made the gaiters/boots disappear. However, the chief steward searched for and found the gaiters. They were prepared with nails with blood on them. (www. st-georg . de) According to the article Zbibi is from Dubai but rides for GB.

Swedish European medal-winning showjumper Douglas Lindelöw has denied allegations of mistreating horses, as he has been suspended from national team activities and international competition – and reported to the police.

In March 2024, James Smith, 31, was been barred from national and international competitions after being accused of jumping a horse which was allegedly being "rapped".

The list goes on

-pw- London. Sources Wikipedia and various English and German news agencies.