Operation X: The Secrets of the Horse Billionaire, presented the first part of a documentary that aired Nov. 22 in Denmark on the way horses are trained at Helgstrand Dressage, with information obtained by a reporter going undercover as a groom.
Helgstrand Dressage, which has 290 horses in training, while selling more than 150 elite dressage horses annually, lost a court battle to prevent the program from being televised. Helgstrand Dressage trains about 350 horses a day, with 10,000 rides a month.
International competitor Andreas Helgstrand, who owns the company with his wife, Marianne, is the CEO of Global Equestrian Group, which is part of Waterland Private Equity. In 2021, GEG bought the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. The home of the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida, the facility was renamed Wellington International.
In the wake of the program being aired, the Danish Equestrian Federation will exclude Andreas Helgstrand from the national team and all national team activities at this time. His father, Ulf Helgstrand, had stepped aside in September from his role as head of the federation due to the potential for conflict of interest.
The federation’s board “strongly distances itself from the unacceptable methods of riding, training, and treating horses the broadcasts clearly show. Therefore, it is now clear, that Andreas Helgstrand, based on the broadcasts, can no longer represent the Danish equestrian federation as a national team rider.”
The federation stated that practices revealed on the program are “not compatible with the fundamental values and principles of horse welfare.” It will no longer collaborate with Helgstrand Event.”
This includes national higher level competitions as well as national and international championships for the time being.
Dyrenes Protection (animal protection) in Denmark reported Helgstrand Dressage, Andreas Helgstrand and associated riders to the police as a result of the broadcast.
“At Dyrenes Protection, we are appalled by the documentary. The hidden recordings show that the horses at Helgstrand Dressage have been systematically treated in a way that is deeply worrying and contrary to basic principles of responsible training and animal welfare. We believe that it has the character of animal cruelty,” said Yvonne Johansen, animal welfare manager at Animal Protection and a veterinarian specializing in horses.
In response to the documentary, Helgstrand Dressage stated it needs to correct what has happened.
“What we see in TV 2’s footage makes a big impression on us. It is not okay. It is poor riding and treatment of horses that we do not want to see at Helgstrand Dressage,” the company said in a statement.
“It does not live up to our guidelines and values, and it is not representative of our culture”
It continued, “We can see that there has been a shift in our values, and it is our responsibility as leaders to ensure that our training and treatment of horses are done in the best possible way. We can see in the programs that this has not happened. We can and must do better.
“That’s why we take the content of the programs very seriously. The recordings are from January 2023, and we have thoroughly reviewed our work processes both before and since the recordings and introduced a wide range of measures and improvement points for our animal welfare, business management and conditions for our employees.”
Noting “It is central to our work that our horses are well,” the statement read, “We train elite dressage horses that, together with their riders, should be able to perform at the highest level. We can only succeed if our horses thrive, and there is trust between rider and horse. Elite sports are demanding. But like other athletes, a sports horse needs to feel good to deliver results, which is why we must always be attentive to the way we train our horses.
“Like the experts, we can also see that there is conflict behavior in some of the cases in the programs. This is unacceptable, and we are reacting to this,” the statement read.
“We have 60 professional riders and grooms who work hard every day to train our horses in the best possible way. It is our responsibility to ensure that our guidelines are followed and that training methods are used correctly and always with the health and well-being of the horse as the main priority.
“We can see that some of our training equipment has been used incorrectly in the recordings. It should guide and correct the horse, but it should never be used as punishment. We would like to make it clear that rollkur (over-flexing) and excessive use of whip or draw reins are not accepted by us. The same applies to covering spur marks with colored (shoe) cream.
“Therefore, we have made it clear that no form of colored cream is accepted by us. We acknowledge that our horses may occasionally have sores in the mouth. This can be from biting themselves in the mouth or the tongue or grinding their teeth. That said, no horse should be ridden with sores that require care and rest. We have since introduced a thorough check of our horses every 14 days, where our stable managers assess the physical and mental condition of the horses.
The statement advises, “At Helgstrand Dressage, we have chosen not to participate in the Operation X programs about us because we are fundamentally against TV 2’s use of hidden recordings. But there should be no doubt that we take the content very seriously.”
As a result, Helgstrand said improvements in the business have been implemented.
“What we see in TV 2’s footage makes a big impression on us. It is not okay. It is poor riding and treatment of horses that we do not want to see at Helgstrand Dressage. It does not live up to our guidelines and values, and it is not representative of our culture.”
Helgstrand conceded, “We can see that there has been a shift in our values, and it is our responsibility as leaders to ensure that our training and treatment of horses are done in the best possible way. We can see in the programs that this has not happened. We can and must do better.”
The organization stated, “That’s why we take the content of the programs very seriously. The recordings are from January 2023, and we have thoroughly reviewed our work processes both before and since the recordings and introduced a wide range of measures and improvement points for our animal welfare, business management and conditions for our employees.
“It is central to our work that our horses are well. We train elite dressage horses that, together with their riders, should be able to perform at the highest level. We can only succeed if our horses thrive, and there is trust between rider and horse. Elite sports are demanding. But like other athletes, a sports horse needs to feel good to deliver results, which is why we must always be attentive to the way we train our horses.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that our guidelines are followed and that training methods are used correctly and always with the health and well-being of the horse as the main priority. We can see that some of our training equipment has been used incorrectly in the recordings. It should guide and correct the horse, but it should never be used as punishment. d to complying with current legislation, but strive to set higher standards for the industry — whether it’s our work with horses, our business practices or the conditions for our employees.
“In response to the public criticism, we have conducted an independent legal investigation of our company’s business practices, and we have thoroughly and in detail compared our practices and internal guidelines with the Danish Animal Welfare Act, the Danish Equestrian Federation’s ethical guidelines and the International Equestrian Federation’s Code of Conduct and general guidelines. On this basis, we have introduced a wide range of measures and improvement points for our animal welfare, business practices, and conditions for our employees.”
Based on the internal review of the industry’s legislation and guidelines in this area, Helgstrand has introduced:
- “A stricter self-monitoring of horses, where stable managers inspect all horses every 14 days. This is in addition to daily inspections of horses and 3-5 annual veterinary checks. All horse checks significantly exceed legal requirements.
- An updated Code of Conduct and guidelines in our employee handbook that clearly describe our requirements for all work with and handling of horses. The guidelines are based on both the International Equestrian Federation’s regulations and the Danish Equestrian Federation’s ethical guidelines. Violation of our guidelines will result in a number of sanctions.
- Spreading knowledge of our Code of Conduct and internal guidelines upon employment, and focus on the above has been intensified in our daily work.
- Raising awareness of the whistleblower scheme. Helgstrand Dressage has had a whistleblower scheme since 2022, where investigations are conducted confidentially.
Further training of employees in addition to ongoing dialog and alignment of expectations regarding our requirements for the treatment of horses.”
Based on an independent legal investigation from Bruun & Hjejle from June 2022, the company has introduced:
- New partnership contracts for co-owners of horses with clear guidelines for ownership, costs and commission. This creates greater transparency in our deals.
- Transparency in all aspects of the contractual basis.
- Documented/written communication that is approved by both party owner and H/D as a basis for 100 percent agreement on the contractual basis.
- Transparency in any commission settlements (a new industry standard).
- Introduced a thorough KYC (Know Your Customer) process to ensure the validity of the purchase amount.
A review of working conditions for grooms resulted in significant salary increases effective from June 2022, which Helgstrand contends is now setting the industry A-standard.
There also is an opportunity for industry-leading bonus schemes, while working conditions have been improved with a focus on working hours. A Groom Manager has been employed full-time to ensure the well-being, retention and strengthening of working conditions for the employee group.