‘Name your price’: Kaley Cuoco offers to buy horse punched by Olympic rider
Kaley Cuoco has not only publicly slammed an Olympic horse rider and her coach for animal abuse, but has offered to buy the horse that was abused by them too…
Like the rest of the world, The Big Bang Theory actress — who is an avid equestrian — was appalled by German pentathlete Annika Schleu and her coach Kim Reisner who were caught on camera repeatedly punching and whipping horse Saint Boy during the former’s show jumping performance at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this month.
Viral video shows rider punching horse
In a video which went viral, the German competitors were filmed breaking the rules of the modern pentathlon competition, by essentially beating the animal.
Prior to their performance, the rider is given 20 minutes to bond with an unfamiliar horse, which is drawn at random, before partaking in the Olympic sport.
Saint Boy, who had already become agitated with another rider moments earlier, refused to comply with Annika as well, resulting in the horrendous scenes being played out.
KALEY CUOCO: ‘SHAME ON YOU’
Kaley Cuoco – who is married to horse trainer and equestrian Karl Cook – took to her social media to slam the distressing video clip.
In a series of Instagram Stories, the Hollywood star called both the incident and the rider and trainer a “disgrace”.
“I feel it’s my duty and heart to comment on this disgrace..This is not Olympic show jumping. This is a disgusting, classless, abusive representation of our sport in so many ways. This team should be ashamed of themselves.
“You and your team did not do your country proud or this sport. You make us look bad. Shame on you and godspeed to any animal that comes in contact with you.
“Pure classless behaviour right here. Disgusting on all levels. This is not our sport. This does not represent our sport.
The star – who has began horse-riding as a young girl – then offered to buy the horse off it’s handlers.
“This rider and her ‘trainer’ are a disgrace. I’ll buy that horse outright and show it the life it should have. Name your price.”
And Kaley claimed she was serious about it too. “Oh, I wasn’t kidding,” she added.
PETA CALLS FOR END OF THE SPORT
In addition to Kaley Cuoco expressing her disgust at the sport, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) also shared their sentiments, calling for an end to all Olympic equestrian events.
In an open letter to the president of the International Olympic Committee, PETA wrote:
“Just as the Olympics evolved to include sports that are of current interest — like skateboarding, surfing, and sport climbing — in a world that increasingly refuses to accept abuse in any form, it’s time to remove sports that are no longer supported by the public. Otherwise, you risk losing your social license to operate.”
The world governing body for modern pentathlon also condemned the act in a statement, disqualifying the coach from the Olympic Games.
“The UIPM Executive Board (EB) has given a black card to the Germany team coach Kim Raisner, disqualifying her from the remainder of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
“The EB reviewed video footage that showed Ms Raisner appearing to strike the horse Saint Boy, ridden by Annika Schleu, with her fist during the riding discipline of the women’s modern pentathlon competition.
“’Her actions were deemed to be in violation of the UIPM competition rules, which are applied to all recognised modern pentathlon competitions including the Olympic Games.
SAINT BOY UPDATE: RECOVERING AND ‘IN GOOD HEALTH’
Following the disturbing incident, which saw Annika who finished the race in last place and being shamed by Kaley Cuoco, there have been calls for from the public on a health update on the traumatised horse.
“He is in good health, although fatigued from competition,” claimed the UIPM who shared a picture of the animal on their Twitter page.
But tweeps are not so convinced — even going as far as to claim the horse in the pictures was a totally different animal!
This is an outrageous lie! This is not the same horse! This isn’t even a picture that is current with the fact it’s taken in the winter. What a sham! Where is #Saintboy ? Is he alive? This sport needs to be banned from the Olympics and the FEI needs to take over!
—(@NatureFarmGirl) August 10, 2021
When you are releasing photos of the horse on social media to prove to the world that he is ok after being misused and abused during the modern pentathlon… you are not using social media wisely, and this is NOT a good publicity strategy for Pentathlon or the Olympics.
— No One (@brbrjmsbrnts) August 9, 2021
No comments: