The Paris 2024 Games, the Olympic modern-pentathlon competition, and even the sport of modern pentathlon as we knew it for more than 100 years are in the rearview mirror. This legacy Olympic sport brought equine welfare to the forefront of the Olympic Games in 2021.

Officials likely didn’t expect modern pentathlon—a fixture on the Olympic program since the inaugural “modern Olympics” were staged in 1912—to garner much attention from either the mainstream sports press or from the equestrian media. That’s because riding unfamiliar horses over a show-jumping course after a 20-minute warmup is just one of the five phases of this lesser-known sport and because the athletes aren’t necessarily elite equestrians in the strict sense.

At the Tokyo Games, held in 2021, a female German pentathlete rode a horse that refused several jumps and became balky. At her coach’s urging, the competitor hit her mount numerous times with her crop, and the coach reached through the fence rails and put her fist into his haunches. Video of the incident sparked a firestorm on social media. It took the International Olympic Committee (IOC) less than four months to announce equestrian will no longer be a part of modern pentathlon as of the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The FEI’s Contribution to Securing Pentathlon Horse Welfare

Between the 2020 and 2024 Games the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), which does not have jurisdiction over equestrian in modern pentathlon, worked to determine how it could secure equine welfare during this event, said Göran Åkerström, DVM, FEI veterinary director. In Tokyo, in addition to the modern-pentathlon concerns, a Swiss event horse sustained an irreparable injury on cross-country and had to be euthanized, and an Irish show jumper experienced a nosebleed while on course. In response to these incidents, the FEI commissioned an independent review that resulted in the formation of the FEI Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission.

The FEI reached out to the UIPM, the international modern-pentathlon federation. “Two senior members of the FEI family were offered as advisers to the pentathlon,” said Åkerström. “The chair of the FEI Veterinary Committee, Dr. Jennifer Hall, has been here to also check what they’re doing. She has also been following up on their systems through this Olympics, to support them in the best possible way so mistakes aren’t made again.”

Thierry Grisard, DVM, French sport horse veterinarian and FEI veterinary delegate, consultant to the Paris 2024 organizing committee, and president of the Veterinary Commission for the 2024 Olympic equestrian events, recommended several changes to the modern-pentathlon competition. Officials first simplified the show-jumping course—from 12 obstacles to 10, and with heights reduced from 120 cm to 110 cm (from about 3’9” to 3’6”), Grisard said.

French institutions—the Cadre Noir, the Garde Républicaine, and the Military Riding Center, provided the pentathlon mounts, he said, and officials selected and tested them for their skills. These horses were school horses accustomed to being ridden by multiple riders. The modern-pentathlon horses were kept on site at Versailles, where “we offered them the same level of care as the Olympic horses from the equestrian disciplines and assessed their fitness to compete with the same trot-up (horse inspection) protocol we have used for the equestrian disciplines,” Grisard said.

Beginning with Paris 2024 the FEI also created the role of equine welfare coordinator. It appointed Richard Corde, DVM, honorary president of the French Equine Veterinary Association, and current president of the French League for the Protection of the Horse to oversee both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The welfare coordinator’s role is “to offer advisory oversight on animal welfare throughout the Games, ensuring all stakeholders adhere strictly to FEI regulations,” said Corde. The creation of the position “marks a significant advancement in oversight that was previously distributed among stewards, veterinarians, and ground-jury members.”

Olympic Modern Pentathlon in Paris

“We were very pleased with the competition,” Grisard said. “It went as good as it could be. We had some riders eliminated for a fall or three refusals, but no horse was injured. As we had some spare horses, we have been able to leave some of them at rest, and none of them had more than two classes the same day.”

Corde’s work isn’t over—the 2024 Paralympic dressage competition doesn’t get underway until Sept. 3—but so far, he’s calling the FEI’s efforts a win, and he’s reframing the problems of the past as opportunities to “show the world how we keep our horses physically and mentally happy and in top competition shape.”

During the 2024 Paris Olympics, the FEI has taken a comprehensive approach to equine welfare, said Corde, which includes transportation, stabling, veterinary care, and post-competition support. The result, he said, has been “a fantastic blueprint for future Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

In Los Angeles 2028 a ninja-warrior-style obstacle course will replace the horseback riding phase.