Equestrian sport: Cas lifts 20-year ban against endurance riders

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In endurance riding, horses have to cope with extreme distances

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Salah Malkawi / Getty Images

The International Sports Court Cas has lifted the record penalty against an endurance rider from the United Arab Emirates for horse abuse.

Sh Abdul Aziz Bin Faisal Al Qasimi had been sentenced by the FEI court to a 20-year ban and to pay the equivalent of 16,000 euros.

According to the FEI, this was the highest penalty ever imposed in the history of the association.

The rider's horse Castlebar Contraband suffered an open fracture on his right leg during a competition in October 2016 and had to be put down.

Blood samples taken from the horse after death contained the prohibited sedative xylazine.

According to the autopsy report, the drug caused a nerve block that led to the fracture.

The defense of the 32-year-old had claimed that the substance had not been administered in advance, but only got into the body of the animal when it was euthanized.

While the FEI court had rejected this statement and recognized a doping offense, the CAS ruled differently.

There was no evidence that the horse was nerve blocked and acquitted the rider.

Endurance riding has been criticized by animal rights activists for years.

Horses and riders sometimes have to cover distances of up to 160 kilometers, which repeatedly results in high stress on the animals, injuries and deaths.

The discipline is particularly popular in the Arab world.

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