Danish Warmblood Suspends Anders Sjobeck Hoeck for One Year after Disciplinary Hearing

Breeding

Denmark

Danish young rider Anders Uve Sjøbeck Hoeck has been suspended for one year from all Danish warmblood related competitions and events following a disciplinary hearing.

The 20-year old Hoeck was recently disqualified from participating in the Danish warmblood Region 2 mare saddle test on 19 August 2023.

Disciplinary Hearing

Birgitte Tribler, a technical delegate of the Danish Riding Association, had written him up in a report because his riding in the warm-up on mare JJ Sophie (by Sezuan x Sandro hit) was labelled "violent and unacceptable." His riding did not follow the rules of the Danish Warmblood Code of Conduct, which states "in all dealings with the horse, consideration for the horse's welfare must take precedence over everything else."

Danish warmblood explained that, "Anders several times disregarded the TD's recommendation to "tone down" his riding, so the judges chose to disqualify Anders at the saddle test."

Danish warmblood reported that the case was handed to the disciplinary committee and on 31 August a verdict was reached after a hearing where Anders had the opportunity to explain himself to the committee.

The disciplinary committee decided to sentence Anders Uve Sjøbeck Hoeck to a 1-year suspension from all Danish Warmblood events. The suspension starts on 19 August 2023. This means that he cannot show horses at the Danish Warmblood Elite Show this coming weekend, at next year's DWB Stallion Licensing, or other DWB events until 19 August 2024. This suspension excludes dressage competitions organized by the Danish Equestrian Federation (DRF).

Lawyer Statement

Yesterday evening the Hoeck family issued a statement on Facebook through their lawyer Jacob C. Jørgensen following the verdict, suggesting they are appealing.

They contest the very short preparation time between the competition in question and the disciplinary hearing. Furthermore, they argue that "in relation to the violent accusations that Birgitte Tribler came forward with in her report, you can see that the report does not match at all the video recordings. The video, which is very clear, in good quality and with sound. In addition, at no time can you hear Birgitte give clear statements recommendations which she claims in the report."

Lawyer Jorgensen continues, "one can perhaps discuss whether the mare was too little ridden for the testing and whether she was too uncomfortable in the new surroundings, but the accusations raised in the report are simply not in accordance with the facts. I am shocked by the Danish Warmblood Disciplinary Committee's treatment of this case and expect us to be successful in the upcoming trial."

Anders Hoeck

Anders is a professional dressage rider who works in his father Hans Jorgen Hoeck's company Hesselhoj, a large scale Danish warmblood breeding facility and stallion station. Hesselhoj is a renowned station for breeding dressage horses. Numerous licensed stallions have come from their breeding programme, Hesselhoj Donkey Boy being the most successful one.

Anders competed at the 2023 World Young Horse Championships on the home bred Hesselhoj Double Up. Last year he went to the WCYH aboard the licensed stallion Highfive Fuglsang. In 2019 he competed at international junior riders' level aboard Blue Hors Zwobber. He is the 2020 Danish Junior Riders Champion.

Exactly one year ago, Anders Hoeck was suspended by Danish Warmblood for one month after spraying deodorant on a horse's nose at a DWB mare show. At the time, DWB did not release the name of the person in question in its press release, but DWB's press officer told Eurodressage that they did so now, because "the failure to announce a name was ground for rumours, and many riders felt suspicious."