This is how much prize money animal torturer Estermann received

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When Blick announced in March 2017 that Paul Estermann (59) was beating Castlefield Eclipse, his best horse at the time, to blood, the Luzerner was one of the best Swiss show jumpers. In November 2022, the Lucerne District Court found him guilty of his assault.

The Sanctions Committee of the Swiss Equestrian Federation then launched an investigation. A few days ago the long-awaited decision: Estermann is suspended for seven years – six years after publication in sight and seven years after the proven beatings on the mare. A long time ago, because immediately after the incident in 2016, there were already signs of Estermann’s misconduct at the association.

And meanwhile? During the years of legal back and forth with objections and appeals, Estermann was allowed to continue to participate in tournaments. Especially between 2017 and 2019 he was successful with several horses despite the allegations against him.

Horse owners benefited financially

Estermann and the owners of his top horses benefited financially from the absence of sanctions for so long. Because: In the years 2017 to 2022, the former team rider jumped to a total of CHF 734,000 in prize money! From 2017 to 2019 alone, it was more than half a million Swiss francs. In January 2020, the owners of several top horses reacted and removed them from Estermann’s training. The prize money went down.

Of course, as a rider, Estermann did not collect the full amounts he had won. The percentage varies depending on the agreement with the horse owner, but is often around half. And: the prize money was not the only source of income for the jumping horse. Estermann has been running a well-known riding school in Hildisrieden LU since 2001. There he rents boxes, gives riding lessons and trains horses.

Estermann still has almost two weeks to challenge the mega ban at the association court.

Source : Blick