Expert says horses in Olympic Games events are experiencing pain from excessively tight nosebands

Olympic horses are showing signs they are being deprived of oxygen and subjected to pain as their nosebands are pulled too tight, experts say. Olympics chiefs this week admitted some horses were suffering from “blue tongue” – when bits pulled too tight in the mouth stop oxygen flow to the tongue. Riders try to hide the condition with white foam, it is claimed.

Shelby Dennis, an equine behavioural consultant and co-founder of the Alliance for Horse Welfare in Sport, said in Olympics footage during the past two weeks, she had seen poorly-fitted equipment including nosebands over-tightened to stop horses from being able to open their mouths. Horses naturally open their mouths to relieve the pain when a bit – a metal bar placed over the tongue – causes too much pressure, experts say. But dressage competitors lose points if their horse opens its mouth.

Ms Dennis said footage and photos from the Olympics also showed horses with tongues that had turned blue from the blood supply being cut off from the pressure of the bit. Horses in Paris showed signs of pain and stress, she said, through “gaping mouths to try to escape bit pain, tail swishing, very tense eyes with the white sclera showing, jaw tension, lip tension and teeth grinding”.

Studies have shown too-tight nosebands make the animals more likely to bite their lips or tongue. Most horses – at least 60 or 70 per cent in this year’s tournament – displayed these signs, she said. “We’re already placing a foreign object in their mouth, and then when we clamp down to their jaw and make it so that they can’t move their mouth, it’s stressful,” Ms Dennis said. “There’s a lot of documented physical problems associated with it, in addition to psychological issues.”

Around 205 horses competed at this year’s Olympics equestrian events. The chief vet at governing body the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) found pictures of horses with blue tongues during a dressage competition, the organisation said on Tuesday. Animal rights organisation Peta is angry that no riders have faced any sanctions, no names were released and no action was taken. It claimed “grotesque” violations of the rules were commonplace after alleged incidents of abuse by six teams in Paris.

Peta senior vice-president Kathy Guillermo told The Independent she also believed riders were using sugar paste or marshmallow cream on horses’ lips to hide blue tongues. She said white substances could be seen in footage around the animals’ mouths. Under FEI rules, nosebands must not be so tight that they harm a horse and must be checked. “It’s not clear to us at all that any stewards or judges were inspecting the equipment and the gear before the horses performed,” Ms Guillermo said. The FEI insists every horse’s saddlery is checked.

Ms Guillermo added she had seen “hyperflexion”, where a horse’s head is artificially pulled into its chest so breathing is compromised. The practice, called “rollkur”, is officially banned but concerns about it have been made for years, with photographs at numerous events suggesting it is done. “I think it’s primarily dressage where this happens, because they’re trying to keep those horses in those very exaggerated, unnatural positions, and that’s primarily where we see it,” Ms Guillermo said. “It’s hard to tell from the televised games which ones had blue tongue. “What I could see, though was the marshmallow paste that they put on the lips, and that was quite obvious.”

Dene Stansall, a horse welfare consultant, said it should be possible to put two fingers between a noseband and a horse’s face, something that could be judged only in person. But photos from horses in previous equestrian events have revealed painful wounds inside animals’ mouths from bits that dig in. Ms Guillermo called for anyone guilty of causing their horse pain or blue tongues to be stripped of their medals.

A Danish sports website outlet has published photos of Olympic riders in Paris on horses apparently with blue tongues. A university animal science professor and two vets told Idraetsmonitor that the animals were in pain. Italian rider Emiliano Portale was barred at the start of the games when his horse was found to be bleeding from the mouth after dressage tests. The FEI said: “Elimination under this rule does not imply there was any intention to hurt or harm the horse, but the FEI discipline rules have been put in place to ensure that horse welfare is protected at all times.”

Brazilian rider Carlos Parro was issued with a warning for potentially causing “unnecessary discomfort” to his horse Safira. Peta, which is calling for the equestrian events to be dropped from the Olympics, said photographs showed Safira’s neck “hyperflexed”. In 2022, a group of French MPs made 46 recommendations on horse welfare for this year’s games.

The FEI told The Independent stewards at FEI events and the Olympics checked all the saddlery, including nosebands and bits, of every horse competing to ensure rules were followed. A spokesperson added: “The noseband check includes a physical check by the steward to guarantee that the noseband is fitted properly and is not having an adverse effect on the horse. “This physical check includes opening the noseband, and then also opening the mouths of the horses to check that the bit is also properly fitted.” The use of substances such as marshmallow fluff to imitate foaming is banned.

On blue tongues, the spokesperson said the watchdog has an action plan for equine welfare with action points on ethical training methods to begin later this year that will “supplement the FEI’s many existing initiatives in the area of horse welfare”. For the first time, a horse welfare coordinator was appointed for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. “Any horse abuse case is absolutely unacceptable and will always be acted upon by the FEI,” they added. “While the FEI has a robust legal system to sanction those who violate the rules and abuse their horses, we have recognised the need for introspection, and we undertook a comprehensive review of our practices, rules, and regulations to ensure they are as robust as possible.”

Before the Olympics, British rider Charlotte Dujardin prompted fury when footage showed her allegedly whipping a horse’s legs in training.