Little over a month after getting re-submitted to the Danish A-squad for the 2025 show season, Carina Cassoe Kruth has been put in "timeout" and removed from the squad again.
Is She In..
Cassoe Kruth saw her Olympic team selection go up in smoke following the disclosure of a video of her whipping Heiline's Danciero during a training session with her coach Andreas Helgstrand.
Kruth lost her Olympic reserve spot to Nadja Aaboe Sloth and got suspended. The DRF disciplinary committee ruled that the rider had broken the applicable rules when she used a whip against her horse. Based on her clean record, the 2.5 year old date of the video, and the lack of motivation from the person who supplied the video, the disciplinary committee fined her 670 euro and gave no suspension.
The social backlash to the fine was enormous and on 14 August the DRF announced that "the board of directors has made a decision to exclude Carina Cassøe Krüth from the DRF's squad and the national team in dressage" and suspend her for 8 months.
Kruth appealed the eight month suspension and won. Her suspension was shortened and it finished on 28 November 2024. In December 2024 she was re-submitted to the A-squad by team captain Anne-Mette Binder and expert trainer Wolfram Wittig, who is also a private client of Kruth as he has a horse in training with her.
Or Is She Out..
Several animal welfare cases involved Helgstrand and Kruth, amongst other issues, have put the inner workings of the Danish Equestrian Federation on edge and led to a double purge of the board of directors.
The Danish Equestrian Federation did not publicly announce that Kruth has been removed from the A-squad, but the rider revealed it herself on social media. On 28 January DRF did most a statement on its strategy titled "together for horse welfare."
"The core of the effort is to create a common foundation and understanding for the professional and ethically correct use of horses in sport," DRF stated. "The Danish Equestrian Federation has established an independent expert group consisting of Danish and international researchers, veterinarians and equestrian experts, who will assist with a professional evidence-based update of the Danish Equestrian Federation's guidelines for the ethically correct use of horses in sport.
Removal from Squad
Kruth took to Instagram were she posted the following message on 29 January 2024:
"I was told yesterday that I was taken out of the national A-team. The decision has nothing to do with my riding, but about a disagreement between me, a team leader and the Danish Equestrian Federation, and that is also the explanation I received from the DRF. I can't in any way recognize the interpretation DRF presented me. Therefore I am as surprised that the DRF made such a serious decision without basis and with serious consequences. It believe this is not worthy of a democratic organization such as the DRF, destroying an elite rider's foundation based on uninformed and unprofessional reasoning. This underlines that the DRF has become a society that is afraid of its own shadow at the expense of the sport."
Eurodressage reached out to DRF president Kimi Nielsen but got no reply. Board member Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein told Eurodressage that DRF would issue a statement on 30 January. No statement has been (17h00 CET).
Major Danish newspaper DR did get a reaction from Kimi Nielsen who explained that, "in connection with the recently held EOR event in Esbjerg, it was found that Carina Cassøe did not meet the association's expectations and guidelines for good horse welfare. Carina Cassøe Krüth will therefore not participate in international events as a representative of Denmark or in gross group contexts for a period of time."
NIelsen continued, "we are really sorry that Carina does not comply with the guidelines we have in the Sports Plan 2025, but it is crucial for DRF that our riders live up to good horse welfare." This is not a formal sanction or quarantine, but instead a "timeout".
Kruth told DR that it is the result of two disagreements with the team leader. First for riding the piaffe too long on Thursday and the next day she took too long to get off her horse after it had bitten itself.
"The decision is based on a disagreement between me and a team manager," Kruth told DR. "It therefore has nothing to do with horse welfare. On the contrary, the Danish Equestrian Federation is playing the "horse welfare card" because the federation knows that this card trumps all other cards."
Related Links
Dan Boyter Resigns, Kimi Nielsen Elected New Chair of Danish Equestrian Federation
Carina Cassoe Kruth Appeals DRF's Eight Month Suspension
Cassoe Kruth Temporarily Excluded from Danish National Team and Squad
Cassoe Kruth Fined 670€ by DRF Disciplinary Committee After Video with Alleged Horse Abuse