Anky van Grunsven, Patrik Kittel and the horse’s blue tongue

Over on Twitter, TrotonTV (John Bethell) wanted my thoughts on Anky van Grunsven’s reply about her student Patrik Kittel’s  ‘Blue Tongue’ video recording, now being investigated by FEI. (I also wrote about it here).

140 tweet characters does not allow a particularly thorough reply!

So John, here you go…

Example of unknown dressage horse ridden in Rollkur (hyperflexion)

We must use a degree of caution, knowing that the link is a translation (for those of us who don’t read Dutch!)  With anything translated, there is always a danger of the old problem of ‘meaning lost in translation’.

For the benefit of our discussion here, I am talking about the translation made by Google today, 15 November 2009.

1. Anky appears to suggest that the horse’s tongue was over the bit. The question arises: ”is it OK for the horse to go with the tongue over the bit at all?; but also why would he want to put his tongue over the bit?
2. Assuming Anky is right, and that the tongue was over the bit, the answer is: because of pressure on his tongue that he is trying to escape. A horse trying to escape tongue pressure retracts his tongue in his mouth, and can then get it ‘over the bit’.
3. My thoughts are that if the tongue is blue: (a) it probably not simply over the bit, but is either trapped between the two bits, or under both bits, but with sufficient pressure to limit oxygenated blood supply to the tongue, making it appear blue (unoxygenated), OR (b) [and this is a very unqualified statement on my part, as I don't know of any studies that have addressed this] perhaps it possible that blue tongue is merely a symptom of lack of oxygenated blood to the horse’s whole head caused by overbent neck limiting oxygenated blood supply.
4. I am not sure what ‘losrijterrein’ means. It is possible this means hyperflexion or Rollkur, but I do not know. If this does mean hyperflexion, I am not sure if she is saying that audiences either (a) are used to seeing hyperflexion, (b) regularly complain about it, or (c) are used to seeing it enough to think it normal.
5. The translated reply says that horses ‘can put their tongues over the bit for any reason and that it need not be negative’ – perhaps something here is confused in translation, or maybe not. I don’t accept that a horse going with  tongue over the bit is acceptable, one wonders why this wasn’t this pointed out to the rider by officials.
6. Anky recognises that the FEI has to uphold equine welfare, but thinks that the problem has been blown out of proportion and that they need to support riders also.

Personally, I am relieved this is getting attention at the FEI.

Somewhere I have read that Anky says the science does not show that hyperflexion is detrimental to the horse. She is right in this comment – studies of Rollkur  have been inconclusive, they are not easy undertaken, and indeed the science does not as yet point firmly in one direction. A recent report to the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality noted studies contained  flaws in methodology, limited numbers, or unhelpful parameters were used and that

This leads us to conclude there is insufficient scientific evidence to confirm unequivocally whether or not there are welfare issues involved in training techniques using hyperflexion’.

The case of hyperflexion and the blue tongue is perhaps a situation where rather than relying solely on the current scientific evidence, common sense should enable us to utilise our knowledge of biology, pain, biomechanics (and physics – e.g. the lever action of the curb), which is what I believe many educated people are trying to do.

You will see on the FEI website, their rules governing Abuse of Horses (Article 142, page 35) – specifically notes that no person may use actions ”causing pain or unnecessary discomfort to a horse’. Given what has been observed of recent times, these actions have not been held to account for years.

This raises the question: given the implications for the FEI and equestrian sport in general, is the FEI the appropriate body to conduct and impartial investigation into Patrik Kittel’s horse’s blue tongue? – or is it a case as Bidda Jones of the Australian RSPCA suggests ‘is the fox in the hen house’?

Related posts:

1. Rollkur use investigated by EponaTV
2. ‘No Rollkur’ message from Philippe Karl
3. Klaus reveals horses ‘die inside’
4. What does lateral thinking have to do with horse cruelty?
5. Do competition horses achieve the ‘Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare’?
6. Equestrianism’s future
7. Equestrian competition’s sad expose
8. Competition & the 5 Freedoms of Animal Welfare revisited
9. The positives of negative reinforcement
10. Book Review: ‘Lessons in Lightness, the Art of Educating the Horse’