Here are some things you can do if you want to protest against the use of rollkur, especially in the warm-up before shows. These are from emails I received:

Dear Friends,
I have just read and signed the petition: "Ban usage of Rollkur".
Please take a moment to read about this important issue, and join me in signing the petition. It takes just 30 seconds, but can truly make a difference. We are trying to reach 50000 signatures - please sign here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-rollkur Once you have signed, you can help even more by asking your friends and family to sign as well. 

Thank you! Helyn 

Dont know if you have seen the video of Patrik Kittel of Sweden riding his stallion Scandic at the World Cup Qualifier in Denmark, with the stallions tongue hanging out and blue, being ridden for 90 mins in rollkur. The video has really sparked huge anger, and as soon as I saw it I started a facebook  group. We now have over 2000 members, and it is really kicking off. Would love to have you as a member too! Have a look:
 
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=181093975134&ref=nf 

This is just wild.  My local dressage club wrote a letter and sent it to all the dressage organizations they could think of so that something is done about this. As snotty as a lot of dressage people are, I cant believe someone didn't yank him off that horse. What a shame, its a beautiful animal, being ruined...

I just watched the video of Patrik Kittel riding Scandic. I am fairly new to the sport of Dressage so really this is something completely new to me and I am appalled! The fact that we need to sign petitions and protest to have this inhumane training method band truly amazes me. I seem to recall a few years back the fight to have soaring and chains band in the gaited horse shows. How is this any different? Does inhumane treatment have to reach a certain "level" of bad before something can be done about it? What is the guideline? "No blood, no foul?" I realize I'm probably just preaching to the choir here but this really caught me by surprise. I thought Dressage was all about harmony between horse and rider. How can this possibly be considered harmonious? It seems that no matter what the sport or discipline there are people out there who are willing to take short cuts in training in order to reach the top and stay there. There are so many more things that could be said on this subject but I just wanted to vent some. I've signed the petition and if there is anything else we can do I hope someone will let us know!

Sincerely,

Yep, I signed the petition last week and I encourage everyone here to do the same. Rolkur needs to be banned immediately and the FEI should be ashamed that they let this heinous practice continue unchecked. It is our job as equestrians to let them know that we will no longer stand for such inhumane treatment.

 Wow!  that video is enlightening!

Hmmm, I wonder why some of those horses, even at the top levels, are not working properly thru their backs?  Can we say tense and jammed together?  It's time we go back to classical dressage principles and get rid of this "modern show" dressage.

I just signed the petition, but I didn't have the stomach to watch the video of Scandic. Rollkur has appalled me from its inception. I thought that the FEI had already banned rollkur, but they must have just made a statement about it and still allowed it. What is it going to take: sitting on the shoulders of the delegates as we ride them around and around an arena with their chins duct-taped to their chests? I SO wish the horses could take revenge for the use of rollkur.

Megan, isn't it banned from competition, but not warm-up? Either way, it needs to be abolished entirely. I watched that video a few days ago, and it just made me sick to my stomach. I'm so sick of that trend of horses forced into a headset. They're clearly not in harmony with their riders - and who can blame them? 

Flake, you're right, rollkur is not banned from the wram-up ring. If you read the article (it's on...Epona TV?), they interviewed the rider and he made some snarky comment about nothing being wrong because the ring stewards didn't say anything to him. And, keep in mind, he had been riding that stallion in rollkur for at least two hours. Sickening.

I am only posting on here again so this stays at the fore of this thread.  We need to get rollkur/hyperflexion banned from any part of competition, even the warm up ring.  The real challenge is going to be getting judges to not reward horses obviously trained this way as so many at the top of dressage are right now.

 You are right dd this thread should not die  -BTW Epona Tv has a facebook page too if any of you are on there

We dont need to worry about this ( major sarcasim here)!

Take a look at the direction the FEI is going   sheesh!

http://special.equisearch.com/blog/horsehealth/2009/11/fei-shock-bute-will-be-allowed-in.html

I have no words for this?

SS, thanks for posting that. I hadn't seen it (almost wish I still hadn't.) 

 OMG I can't believe he stopped his horse and STUFFED HIS TONGUE BACK IN HIS MOUTH!!!!!!!  

This practice betrays the entire foundation behind Dressage.  Dressage is supposed to be a work in progress starting with a solid foundation and the progressing slowly piece by piece to an advanced level so that you maintain a relaxed, confident, and well educated horse!  I think that this practice has been developed by impatient trainers who are all racing to get their horses farther along in the levels before they are even ready for it.  I think it is scary that we are starting to see 5, 6, and 7 year old horses competing at these higher levels!  Bad sign!  

 

Let me get this straight rmalley: it is OK to torture and abuse your horse as long as you get higher scores and pretty ribbons?  I get that.  NOT!!!!!    Rollkur does destroy horses.  They are doing very physically demanding moves but are not being allowed to use their physiology correctly and therefore are doing damage to many parts of their body in the process.  And to imply that I am upset because my horse is not scoring as high kind of makes my skin crawl and my stomach churn.  This upsets me because it is abusive to the animals not because of any stupid ribbon.   I ride dressage to learn to work in HARMONY with the horse not to make it submit to some preconceived ideal of "head set".  If a horse is truly being ridden correctly from back to front thru it's back it will carry it's head without being pulled into position.  I find your post ignorant and offensive rmalley.