Sir Mark Todd has been given an interim suspension by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) after a video on social media appeared to show him hit a horse with a branch.
Sir Mark Todd pictured in 2019 (file photo). Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The former Olympic equestrian champion turned racehorse trainer will be unable to race horses while investigations continue.
The 65-year-old New Zealander, who trains in Wiltshire, has apologised for his actions.
On Sunday the BHA condemned the video, which appeared to show Todd strike the horse multiple times while attempting to coax it towards the water jump in a cross-country schooling session.
"This interim suspension means that while investigations continue into the circumstances of this incident, Sir Mark will be unable to race horses in Great Britain or internationally," the BHA said.
"The trainer has admitted the individual involved in the video was him, has apologised for his actions and agreed to the imposition of an interim suspension."
Todd won individual eventing golds at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and Seoul in 1988 and earned a knighthood for his equestrian achievements in 2013.
He became a racehorse trainer in 2019 after retiring from three-day eventing.
"I wholeheartedly apologise to the horse and all involved for my actions in this video clip," he said.
Todd stepped down as a patron of the World Horse Welfare charity which said: "The treatment of the horse in this video is disturbing and unacceptable.
"There is no place in the horse-human partnership for such use of force."
Todd, whose last winner came 60 days ago, had entered the filly Cape Cornwall Rose to run at Lingfield on Friday.
World Horse Welfare chief executive Roly Owers said the treatment of the horse in the video was "distressing and unacceptable".
"Mark admits he let himself down ... before this all blew up he contacted us and he voluntarily stepped down as a patron of World Horse Welfare," Owers told Morning Report.
"There are ethical ways of training and riding horses and that's what we need to be promoting, not such uses of force as was shown in this video."
"Mark has apologised and he should be given the opportunity to make amends. He has been such a consummate sportsman over his life and done so much for the equestrian world, he should be given the opportunity to make amends.
"So often when people use training methods which use force, or are contrary to horse welfare, or have a negative impact on horse welfare, it's because they are getting frustrated or they're cutting corners. And Mark openly admits he got frustrated with this horse."
- BBC / RNZ