Sir Mark Todd apologised for his behaviour in a video circulating on social media in which he hit a horse with a branch. An event rider using the social media name chloet. eventing initially posted an edited clip on TikTok and has since posted a longer video on Instagram.

The video, said to have been recorded at a training clinic in 2020, shows her horse refusing to jump into the water. Mark Todd hit the horses several times with sticks and verbally encouraged the horses and gave the rider instructions. At the end of the video, the horse jumps into the water and onlookers cheer.

Mark Todd video Twitter

Double Olympic champion-turned-racing coach Mark said in a statement: “My heartfelt apologies to this horse and to everyone involved in my actions in this video.

“One of the main things I preach is building mutual respect between horse and rider, and patience and kindness are the best ways to get results.

“I believe this is one of the main attributes, and a strong empathy for animals, has enabled me to have a long and successful career in racing.

“I’m very disappointed that I didn’t stick to that in this situation.”

In her Instagram post, chloet.eventing said she had received “negative, insulting and abusive” since her original Tiktok post, writing: “Since this video was filmed, for the sake of transparency, this is a A clip from the 2020 training clinic.

“Whether I dealt with a situation on social media rightly or wrongly has nothing to do with the fact that top athletes repeatedly hit my horse with sticks. I’m personally uncomfortable with how my horse was treated when I was a 21 year old girl who didn’t have the courage to speak out about my concerns. Now if you were my age and would confidently speak to a famous top athlete with no reservations and no support, then I commend you because you are more than I am braver.”