International champion dressage stallion Totilas is being treated unethically and in violation of German animal welfare laws, according to one welfare organization lawyer. Specifically, the horse suffers from forced hyperflexion when ridden and from constant isolation in a box stall when not in training, the lawyer said.

The German branch of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) organization has filed a complaint against Paul Schockemöhle and Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff, Totilas’s owners, and Matthias Alexander Rath, his rider, with the country’s prosecuting office, said Davina Bruhn, LLD, a lawyer for PETA Germany.

"Since he didn’t fulfill the expectations of his owners, Mr. Rath began to train him with the questionable hyperflexion technique, which many recognized horse experts reject," Bruhn told The Horse.

These experts include Gerd Heuschmann, DVM; Heinz Meyer, PhD; and Kathrin Kienapfel, MSc, who "clearly state that training with hyperflexion causes severe physical problems for horses’ musculature, vertebrae, and ability to balance, and that it could also cause psychological disorders," Bruhn said. "The researchers agree that the hyperflexion ‘method’ leads to irreversible damages and is under no circumstances consistent with the German animal welfare law