Heath Ryan given 18-month FEI suspension and fined after horse abuse probe

Australian Olympian Heath Ryan has been suspended for 18 months and fined by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) following an investigation into alleged horse abuse, the FEI said on Friday (Saturday AEST). The action follows a video that surfaced last year and prompted a separate suspension by Equestrian Australia.

The 68-year-old, who competes in dressage and eventing and rode for Australia in dressage at the 2008 Beijing Games, was the subject of a social-media clip that appeared to show him whipping a horse repeatedly. Equestrian Australia imposed a suspension on Ryan in June 2025 after the video emerged.

"The FEI Tribunal concluded that Ryan engaged in horse abuse pursuant to Article 142.1 of the FEI General Regulations, bringing both the FEI and equestrian sport into disrepute," the Swiss-based governing body wrote in a statement.

The FEI imposed an 18-month ban and a monetary penalty: Ryan was fined 3,000 Swiss francs and ordered to pay 3,000 Swiss francs towards the FEI’s legal costs.

When Equestrian Australia’s ban was invoked in June 2025, Ryan released a lengthy statement on social media defending his actions and saying he had saved the six-year-old horse from being destroyed after it attacked its owner. "The most awful video of me on a young horse has just surfaced. This horse was dropped off at my place on his way to the knackery," he wrote. "I felt obliged to the horse to just have a look and see if it was possibly salvageable ... and had never ridden anything like it. I am so sad this was caught on video."

Ryan also said the video had been placed online by an "unhappy ex-employee" and posted another which he said showed the horse thriving in a new home.

The ban is retrospective, starting on the date of the provisional suspension, June 12 2025, and will therefore end on December 12 2026.