PETA urges Olympic Games to remove equestrian events

July 24 (UPI) -- A video of an English horsewoman beating a horse while training it four years ago has spurred PETA senior vice president Kathy Guillermo to demand the Olympics end equestrian competitions.

"The message to the International Olympic Committee should be clear by now: Remove equestrian events from the Olympic Games," Guillermo said in an online statement Tuesday.

"Yet again, an Olympic rider has been caught on video abusing a horse to force the animal to behave in an entirely unnatural way, simply for her own glory," Guillermo said.

"Horses don't volunteer -- they can only submit to violence and coercion," Guillermo said. "It's time for the Olympics to move into the modern era."

The rider in the video is Charlotte Dujardin , who was a member of the British Olympic equestrian team.

The video footage shows Dujardin whipping a horse on its legs while someone else rides it.

Dujardin is a six-time medalist in Olympic dressage events.

Soon after the video gained attention, Dujardin, 39, withdrew from the Paris Olympic Games that start Wednesday.

She said the video "was completely out of character and does not reflect how I train my horses of coach my pupils."

Dujardin said "there is no excuse" for her behavior in the video and she is "deeply ashamed."

The International Federation for Equestrian Sports investigated the video and suspended Dujardin from its competitions for six months.