An animal charity is suing Olympic organizers over a number of horse-related incidents at Tokyo, including the now-infamous pentathlon punch

• Swiss animal welfare organization Wild beim Wild is taking legal action against the IOC.
• The complaint includes an incident in the pentathlon where a disobedient horse was punched.
• Several other incidents at Tokyo, including the death of an eventing horse, are cited in the complaint.

The International Olympic Committee is being sued by an animal welfare organization after a horse was punched at the Tokyo Olympics.

The horse Saint Boy was hit by German coach Kim Raisner after it refused to jump during pentathlete Annika Schleu's run.

Raisner was sent home and mass outrage resulted in calls to change the rules of the sport.

Now, Swiss animal welfare organization Wild beim Wild is taking legal action against the IOC as well as the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the international governing body of equestrian sports.

Wild beim Wild is accusing the pair of violating animal welfare legislation, as well as several articles of the Animal Welfare Act and the Animal Welfare Ordinance.

In its complaint against the IOC and FEI, the organization cites not only the incidents in the pentathlon, but also the death of eventing horse Jet Set, which was euthanized after a fall, and the show jumping horse Kilkenny, which developed a heavy nosebleed while being ridden by Ireland's Cian O'Connor.

The organization said it has filed the complaint to the Ministère Public de L'arrondissement de Lausanne. The public ministry is in the east of Switzerland and is home to the IOC headquarters.

German newspaper Die Zeit reports that in the complaint the plaintiffs say that "the whole world was able to observe animal cruelty in equestrian sport."

Schleu and Raisner as individuals are also facing legal action, with the German Animal Welfare Association filing a criminal complaint against the pair. The organization is accusing both of cruelty to animals.

The issues at the Tokyo modern pentathlon have caused a significant reckoning within the sport.

Last week, the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) announced it had "started urgently working" on a range of measures aimed at improving horse welfare within the sport.

The measures include modifying current UIPM Competition Rules so that courses have fewer jumps and lower, simpler obstacles, as well as adding animal welfare modules to its Coaches Certification Programme (CCP) and Judges Certification Programme.