Heath Ryan (born 2 July 1958) is an Australian
equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
*Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...
who represented Australia at the
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
in Beijing as part of the
dressage
Dressage ( or ; , most commonly translated as "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrianism, equestrian sport defined by th ...
team.
Born in Sydney, Ryan was Australia's three-day event champion three times, and won every International Grand Prix competition in Australia in 2007.
After videos appeared to show Ryan repeatedly striking a horse, Ryan was provisionally suspended from all competitions and events by
Equestrian Australia
Equestrian Australia (EA) is the national governing body for equestrian sports in Australia. These sports include the FEI-recognized disciplines of dressage, eventing, show jumping, equestrian vaulting, endurance riding, reining, para-equest ...
, the national governing body for equestrian sports in that country, in June 2025.
Record
*1990
Melbourne 3 day event: 1st
*2002
World Equestrian Games
The FEI World Equestrian Games are the major international championships for equestrianism, and are administered by the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI). The games have been held every four years, halfway between sets of consecutive S ...
: Team-12th
*2005 Del Mar CDI3* Grand Prix: 5th
*2008
Beijing Olympics: Team-8th
*2008 Werribee CDI-W Grand Prix Kur: 1st
*2008 Sydney CCI3*: 1st
*2009 Sydney CDI-W Grand Prix: 2nd
*2009 Sydney CCI3*: 3rd
*2009 Del Mar CDI3* Grand Prix Kur: 2nd
References
About Heath Ryan
1958 births
Living people
Australian male equestrians
Olympic equestrians for Australia
Equestrians at the 2008 Summer Olympics
21st-century Australian sportsmen
Equestrians from Sydney
Sportsmen from New South Wales
20th-century Australian sportsmen
{{Australia-equestrian-bio-stub