UIPM, the modern pentathlon’s governing body, based in Monaco, has voted to replace the horse-riding portion of the event with cycling, after a competitor at this year’s Tokyo Olympics was caught on camera whipping a terrified horse and trying to force him onto the course, animal rights organisation PETA said on Wednesday.

“It doesn’t hurt a bicycle to hit it or kick it, so this is an Olympic-size win for horses and cyclists. PETA thanks UIPM for acting swiftly on our recommendation to drop the horse component from the pentathlon and replace it with cycling. The world’s attitude toward the exploitation of horses has evolved, and there’s no room for punishing terrified animals in the show ring. PETA looks forward to the new cruelty-free pentathlon,” PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo said.

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way.”

IMAGE: Courtesy Peta