Animal-rights charities call for changes to modern pentathlon after a coach punched a horse at the Tokyo Olympics

• Animal-rights charities are calling for changes to the modern pentathlon.
• The calls came after a German coach punched a horse during the event at the Tokyo Olympics.
• "The horses were in obvious distress and their treatment was unacceptable," one expert said.

Animal-rights charities are calling for changes to the modern pentathlon after a coach punched a horse at the Tokyo Olympics.

The German coach Kim Raisner was thrown out of the Olympics after she lashed out at Annika Schleu's horse, Saint Boy, during the show-jumping round of the women's event on Friday.

Raisner could also be heard urging a tearful Schleu to "really hit" the horse, which had been refusing to jump or trot.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals accused Raisner and Schleu of torturing the animal and called for the removal of equestrian disciplines from the Olympics.

"Saint Boy was covered over and over with sweat, his eyes were wide open with fear and had to endure a lot of suffering because Annika Schleu had completely freaked out," Peter Höffken, an expert with PETA from Germany, told the British newspaper the Daily Express on Tuesday.

"Forcing horses through a life-threatening course by force dishonours the Olympic spirit and must be a thing of the past once and for all.

"We call on the International Olympic Committee to remove all equestrian disciplines from the list of sports."

Tony Tyler, the deputy chief executive of World Horse Welfare, called for the International Modern Pentathlon Union, the sport's governing body known as the UIPM, to review its rules.

"To be ethical, the welfare of horses in any sport must be put first alongside that of the riders," he told the Daily Express.

"This was not demonstrated in all the rides at the Olympics on Friday, where some of the horses were in obvious distress and their treatment was unacceptable."

In a statement on Sunday, the UIPM said the event "caused distress" across the global modern-pentathlon community.

"UIPM regrets the trauma suffered by Saint Boy in this high-profile incident and has penalised the coach who violated the UIPM Competition Rules by striking the horse from outside the ring," it said.

"Not only will UIPM conduct a full review of the riding discipline of the women's modern pentathlon at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, it will also reinforce the importance of horse welfare and athlete safety across the entire global competition structure," it added.

The UIPM said that "although no athlete or horse was physically injured on August 6, the best possible safeguards must be in place to minimise risk in future."