GRAPHIC CONTENT/UPDATE: Australian Olympic equestrian Heath Ryan has been provisionally suspended from national and international competitions after shocking vision of him whipping a horse emerged on social media.

The vision is two years old and it shows Ryan, 66, whipping a horse called Nico 42 times.

Scroll to read Equestrian Australia’s statement.

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The video was shared on YouTube and Facebook by DressageHub, with the title: “Australian Olympian Heath Ryan Hits a Horse 42 Times in 30 Seconds .... Pretty sure this video will get pulled. Watch it while you can.”

“It’s never-ending ... this horse is completely shut down. It’s traumatised,” DressageHub says.

The vision takes place in an indoor training arena, and has gone viral on social media.

The sound of the cracking whip can be clearly heard, and the horse reacts by kicking its rear legs and swishing its tail.

Ryan — who competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics — was quick to defend himself when he realised the video had surfaced, and said that all the facts needed to be taken into account before any judgement was made.

“Oh my goodness! The most awful video of me on a young horse has just surfaced,” he said in a lengthy statement on Facebook.

He then explained that it was a a “life-and-death” situation for the horse and it was in fact saving it from the “knackery”.

“I have never ridden anything like it. I am so sad this was caught on video. If I had been thinking of myself, I would have immediately just gotten off and sent Nico to the knackery,” he said.

“That video was a life-or-death moment for Nico and of that I was very aware. I felt I genuinely had to try my very hardest to see if Nico would consider other options. Anyway, by the end of that initial ride I did feel Nico was responding.

“I rode Nico for another couple of days and he responded very well and started to go without the use of excessive driving aids.”

He said Nico — who had been “beautifully bred” by his best stallions — had always been a “problem child”.

And before the horse was dropped off to him for training, Nico had a put his owner and good friend in intensive care.

“Nico, before he came to me, always had the best of best homes. He wanted for nothing. He was in wonderful condition, he was always rugged, he had his own paddock, he was regularly ridden and he was loved. Here is the question: if a beautiful 6yo horse turns up at your facility and it was bred by your stallion and it belonged to a lifelong friend of yours who had been put in hospital in intensive care by this horse, would you just send it to the Knackery??”

He said he felt obliged to retrain the horse to “see if it was possibly salvageable”.

He said after that training session he found a “brilliant” new home for Nico and the horse was “thriving in a loving and competitive home with an exciting future”.

“All of this transpired sincerely with the horse’s best interests the sole consideration. Unbelievably it was so successful for everyone except me with the release of this video. What can I say?” he said.

“If you think I did that flippantly, you are wrong. I hated reaching out in those moments to Nico and asking the hard questions. That was the last place I wanted to be. I have never before ridden a horse that reacted like that and I certainly will never do it again.

“Was it worth it?? Well, not for me, however, I am very happy for Nico. I need to add that this happened about two years ago and the video has been posted by an unhappy ex-employee. All I can say is that this awful video was collateral damage of me from the bottom of my heart launching a rescue mission.”

Needless to say Equestrian Australia condemned Ryan’s actions.

“Equestrian Australia is extremely alarmed and concerned by the treatment of the horse shown in this footage,” the governing body said in a statement.

“Equestrian Australia has imposed a provisional suspension of this person’s membership (which) means they may take no part in competitions or events as competitor or Official or in the organisation of, or participation in, any event under (our) jurisdiction.

“Equestrian Australia takes matters of animal welfare very seriously.”