Heath Ryan; Was the punishment proportionate to the offense?

In my opinion, I wasn't the only one shocked by the relative leniency of the FEI in dealing with Heath Ryan. Despite being found guilty of horse abuse, his 18-month suspension was only six months longer than the suspension given to Charlotte Dujardin, while what was seen in Dujardin's case was apparently at a much milder level than this abuse. What Dujardin did was offensive and deserving of reprimand, but at least it was understandable what she wanted from the horse. I challenge anyone to see a training purpose in Ryan's attack unless they accept the delusion that beating a horse days or weeks after undesirable behavior can teach it not to repeat that action. More concerning is that some of Ryan's supporters want to argue exactly this; that he was correcting the behavior of this poor creature. Really? The issue is not just the gratuitous and blatant violence seen in Ryan's video, but also the complete ignorance of horse training principles that is clearly evident in the defense statement he published. Australia has the fortune of being the birthplace of one of the world's leading theorists in scientific horse training; Andrew McLean, who was born in Tasmania. One of Andrew's first and most important battles was against anthropomorphism; the tendency to think that horses, and even dogs and elephants, think just like humans. "My rider is punishing me, so it must be because I misbehaved yesterday; I should be good today." In a statement released after the widespread dissemination of this video on the internet, Ryan claimed that he actually saved the horse's life. According to him, this stallion had attacked its owner and was therefore destined for the slaughterhouse; but Ryan's horrific beating made the horse realize its mistake, and it has now become a compliant and good dressage horse. Do we have any evidence of that initial savage behavior or of this new, corrected behavior? Andrew, in his discussion of training methods, allows for negative reinforcement, but with several conditions. The action must be proportionate; and this condition alone dismisses Ryan's attack. But more importantly, it can only be a useful training tool if it occurs exactly at the same time as the behavior you intend to eliminate, not a minute later. Beating a horse days after an alleged misconduct—which I find the claim itself strange, as horses generally do not attack humans—has absolutely no effect in eliminating unwanted behavior. If you think it does, you have no understanding of the correct principles of animal training. — CH Source: The Horse Magazine