There are problems with Olympic equestrian that go all the way to the top and could shake the sport to its core. You won’t hear about them from the lamestream media, and not even WikiLeaks is brave enough to expose what’s happening. Of course, we’re talking about foreign-born horses being used by other countries in the Olympic games.
Olympic horses should represent their native countries
Something needs to change.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
When it comes to the games, the IOC only cares about the nationality of the rider, not the horse. You could be from Belize and ride a horse from Belgium, hail from Ireland and ride a stallion from Iceland. You could have been born in America and have a horse from American Samoa. This is not right. Horses have become mercenaries in the field of Olympic battle. They should have to be from the same country as the rider.
The dressage winner in Rio rode a horse from Denmark, despite being from Switzerland. Not even the Swiss can remain neutral when it comes to horse importation.
There are serious problems with foreign horses people have not thought of:
HORSE SLEEPER CELLS
Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
Who’s to say a foreign horse hasn’t been trained by international operatives to activate during the Olympics and buck the rider? Is THAT something we want to risk when American gold is on the line?
MANCHURIAN HORSE CANDIDATES
Similar to issue No.1, but this has a subtle difference. Rather than being a willing enemy of the state, these horses have been programmed by ill-gotten science to respond to a sound or visual clue to sabotage their riders.
BACK IN MY DAY HUSBANDRY MEANT SOMETHING
Photo by Mary Turner/Getty Images
I don’t know about you, but husbandry is a dying art we should be rewarding. These days kids only know about it from their Age of Empires, or whatever computer game they’re playing. Raising an animal and teaching it to be a winner for your country deserves a medal.
THREE-STEP PROGRAM FOR FIXING THE PROBLEM:
- Ban foreign horses unless they can show their birth certificate.
- Award gold medals for husbandry to create stronger animals.
- Allow wholesale consumption of horse meat like Canada to promote a winning environment with real threats for under-performance, because America has gone soft.*
YOU’RE WELCOME!
* Before you email me angrily about the suggestion we should eat horses in America, please know that I am joking. However, I have eaten horse in Montreal and found it succulent.
