PETA Germany will file criminal charges against two riders after incidents during the Hamburg Derby 2023, Germany's largest animal rights organization announced in an official press release. Among those affected is, in addition to Falk Römmer, Tim Honold, 21-year-old young professional German rider.
The incident: Tim Honold rode the nine-year-old KWPN gelding Jack Daniels (by Andiamo) in Hamburg. The pair came out of the first qualification (1.45 meters) on Wednesday with 12 penalty points. In the second qualifier over 1.50 meters, they fell on the infamous Derby Wall. Honold already had 16 penalties on his counter before riding up the wall, but the qualified combination decided to ride the historic wall anyway. On the wall itself, the rider could not stop his gelding, causing him to jump down from three meters at great speed and fall heavily. Earlier, Falk Römmer also fell with his horse Ice Man on that same obstacle, the horse collapsed through his own legs after Römmer urged him to go down.
Press release PETA
PETA's press release states, "On May 19, two serious falls occurred during the second qualifying competition for the show jumping derby in Hamburg. When rider Tim Honold wanted to ride his horse Jack Daniels over the 3-meter-high Derby Wall, the horse jumped off the top edge and fell into the depths. Moments later it landed on the ground with its upper body, head and neck unprotected. (...) Tim Honold and Falk Römmer nevertheless exposed the animals to enormous suffering and great health risks. PETA has therefore filed charges against both riders with the Hamburg Public Prosecutor's Office.
Participation in Hamburger Derby
Tim Honold is a certified horse trainer. Although the duo has not yet had many successes and has not yet competed at a high level, the rider decided to participate in the Hamburger Derby anyway: "Jack Daniels is a nine-year-old horse that we have been carefully training and building up all year for the big event, the Hamburg Derby. We went regularly (every two or three weeks) to the Derby training sessions in East Germany."
The second qualifier, where the incident happened, was not actually in the planning for the gelding. "Our actual plan was to ride the first qualifier and then the speed derby, just to gently get him used to these tests. In the first qualifier, despite his three faults, he felt super and not overloaded at all. He showed very confident. In consultation with the owners, we then decided that we would also ride the second qualification. We really didn't expect it all to turn out like this. We were sure nothing would happen. He knew the wall and all the other obstacles and also jumped well in training."
Everything back to normal
Tim Honold emphasizes that he "couldn't have prepared better with his horse." He says, "The Derby is just something special. You can't compare it to any other course." The horse trainer describes the exceptional situation in Hamburg as follows: "The horse is nine years old. I am now 21 years old and there were 30,000 spectators on the grounds. Of course, everything was different then in the test situation. It's a different atmosphere. That put pressure on both of us. When you drive to the shore, the photographers just clap. In the end, you really have to say that we can all be glad that nothing bad happened. Jack Daniels was immediately examined by a veterinarian and we also drove him to a veterinary clinic right after that for further examination. He really wasn't missing anything. At home he was put in the paddock for a few days. A few days ago we started doing small jumps, which he finished off with joyful bucking jumps," Honold says of the gelding's well-being.
Source: Reiter Journal
