Kurtens refute claims about welfare of Forbes’s horses
Martina Brueske said there was no foundation to Forbes’s claim that a German court had stated the wellbeing of five horses — Castle Forbes Libertina, Castle Forbes Cosma, Castle Forbes Myrtille Paulois, Castle Forbes Vivaldo and Paddington — depended on them being urgently returned to Forbes.
“Jessica and Eckard are satisfied that the horses are in perfect health. Over the years, the horses have been frequently tested at shows under FEI rules, the results of which are published regularly. The horses also have been fully vaccinated,” said Brueske.
“In addition, the horses underwent veterinary examination in February, which also involved a vet nominated by Lady Forbes. This included the taking of five blood samples from each horse and the results showed there was nothing wrong with the horses,” said Brueske, who confirmed the horses were still with the Kürtens in Germany.
The dispute between the Kürtens and Forbes saw the latter stop Jessica from competing her horses from the end of last year. The Kürtens subsequently refused to return the horses to Forbes, but last week, a Düsseldorf court overturned an earlier ruling by a court in Duisburg and ordered that the Kürtens surrender the horses, upon Forbes depositing a security of €300,000 in a German bank.
On Wednesday, a statement issued by Forbes through her lawyer suggested there were doubts regarding the horses’ welfare. Forbes’s statement said the Dusseldorf court had stated there was an “urgency” that the horses be returned, because their “wellbeing depended on their being immediately taken from Mr and Mrs Kürten and [their company] Sporthorses International Ltd”.
Longford woman Forbes also alleged that the Kürtens had previously refused to return her horses as they claimed Forbes owed them about €1.5m. Forbes said the Kürtens’ alleged claims were “plainly unfounded”.
Forbes also said the €300,000 security deposit ordered by the Dusseldorf court, being a fraction of the alleged €1.5m demanded by Kürten, reflected “doubts surrounding the legitimacy” of the rider’s claim. The owner said she agreed to the arrangement “since she fully achieved the goal she had pursued... namely to recover as quickly as possible the horses that belonged to her”.
Forbes also claimed that the Kürtens “have not yet pursued their alleged claims in a court of law” and that the €300,000 security “will lapse as soon as it is determined in the suit filed by Lady Forbes whether or not she owes anything to Mr and Mrs Kürten and Sporthorses International Ltd. and, if so, how much”. Forbes also said her suit would deal with the ownership deeds for Castle Forbes Cosma, which the Kürtens have retained.
According to Brueske, the dispute, which emerged at the start of the year, centres on the amount of tax accruing on Jessica’s winnings. Brueske said what needed to be determined was the tax rate to be applied on prizemoney for horses in foreign ownership and who should pay this.
“This is a big question and it will cause a lot of problems in the next few years for riders here in Germany. It is up to the German federation to resolve this with the courts and the government,” said Brueske.
* HORSE SPORT IRELAND is launching an online database containing the records for over 320,000 horses with pedigree dating back to the 19th-century. Called Capalloir, it has been launched on a trial basis until April 29, with paid-up Irish Horse Board members invited to participate.
A credit system for each search will be in use for the trial period, with HSI allocating 200 credits to each of the participants in the trial. One of the considerations for HSI is whether to charge for the service and, as such, it will be evaluating “the value of the various search facilities and the number of free credits that each shareholder should receive on renewal of their annual membership”.
Capalloir can be accessed through the “breeding” link at www.horsesportireland.ie and non-IHB members currently have limited usage.
For horses that competed internationally, there is a live link directly to that horse’s performance on the FEI website, which HSI claim is a world first.
