Read the story straight from the horses mouth as they say.
When I first read the story all I could think is “are you kidding me”. This is not a joke. The evil empire is really suing a journalist for linking Anky’s image to Rollkur. What is crazy about this is that 90% of the people who know what Rollkur is and who ride dressage already link the work with Anky in their heads.
What makes this story even more nuts is the e-mails that Anky and Sjef sent to eurodressage!
My support is clearly for Astrid Appels.
A Horse and a Half 
The lawsuit was bad enough. OK, you don’t want your picture used. I get it. What I can’t believe is the language that Sjef used. He has instantly debased himself and Anky in the eyes of the world. Not only that, but he has embarrassed all of dressage because he’s supposed to be one of the leaders in the sport. No one should address anyone else like that. Hopefully, there will be a backlash against him. His behavior cannot be accepted or it brings us all down.
agreed, its insane & to be honest, when I think “rolkur” I only think Anky! I mean, it started w/ her, right? so of course its associated with her. Good grief, sometimes you wonder where people’s heads are. There was an online petion going around FB that I signed in support of Astrid. I signed it, hoping it does some good.
They should both be banned from the sport of dressage as they have done enough damage in promoting this sort of riding. I have some rather strong language I could use to describe the both of them and how I feel about them, but I think i will take the high road here and keep it to myself.
Hmm… Easy solution to not having your picture used to demonstrate rollkur — don’t use rollkur in the first place?
She might as well go after Sustainable Dressage, Horse Journal, and all of the other publications and bloggers that have mentioned her and rollkur in the same sentence… But as someone who defended the practice until the FEI came out with its rollkur/LDR statement, she brought it on herself.
Well I am glad that Astrid didnt let Sjef scare her, and she kept on writing because she knew it was the right thing to do. And I hope there is legal action taken after Anky and Sjef, because there is no need for them to bully people!! They are probably mad because without being allowed to do rollkur, they wont be nearly as successful. Which is probably why she isnt going to WEGs. I hope she is banned from the sport. And I agree, any time I hear Rollkur I think anky!!
Thanks for posting this. I hope it publicizes she and her partners ‘training’ methods so that the whole world knows and deplores them. Shame on them for trying to turn a wonderful communication and art between humans and horses into a forced parody (to put it nicely). Thank heavens there are writers like Astrid Appels.