Danish Riding Instructor Association Meets to Discuss Cassoe Kruth Case

Dressage

Denmark

Following the eight month suspension the Danish Equestrian Federation posed on Carina Cassoe Kruth, the Danish Riding Instructor Association (DR-IF) held an extraordinary general meeting on 29 August 2024.

Several items were discussed and voted upon and the results were published in a press release.

Based on the whipping video that surfaced and the 8-month suspension posed by DRF, the DR-IF voted on whether they would exclude the former Danish team rider from its association. A 2/3 majority was needed to exclude Kruth from the DR-IF but she won the vote by one vote and has not been excluded.

The meeting also voted on whether Cassoe Kruth is allowed to educate students for the Danish "Bereiter" programme organized by DR-IF. The vote was negative for Kruth and it will be recommended to the DRF that they want her to be no longer allowed to have apprentice from the DR-IF programme in her barn.

The DR-IF will also create a working group to create guidelines for sanctions in similar animal abuse cases. They are considering introducing yellow and red cards which should act as a warning. How this will be applied in practice needs to be discussed first between the working group and the board, after which the members must approve the new system.

More importantly, DR-IF also decided that the association will no longer process videos older than 6 months.

An amendment to the association's rules and regulations was adopted, giving the board the opportunity to impose sanctions on members without calling for an extraordinary general meeting.

In November 2023 the DR-IF similarly broke its ties with Andreas Helgstrand, Thomas Sigtenbjerggaard, Maria Anita Andersen and Ole Hummelshøj to have apprentices following footage in the Operation X documentary.

More details and info on Ridehesten.com (in Danish)