Irish showjumper Kevin Thornton has denied whipping his horse to death ©Facebook

Irish showjumper Kevin Thornton has strongly denied "whipping his horse to death" after his mount died during an international competition in France.

The horse collapsed and died following a practice routine between two competitions at the Cagnes-sur-Mer racetrack.

An investigation has been opened by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), who claim the welfare of horses is their "number one priority".

Horse Sport Ireland claim to be "extremely concerned" while the French Equestrian Federation have also opened an inquiry.

Swiss-based Thornton admitted in a statement that the 10-year-old horse "felt very weird" and "suddenly collapsed" after a 20 minute effort.

He admitted to whipping him "once or twice" during the performance in order to encourage forward movement.

But he strongly denies doing anything out of the ordinary amid a claim he is the victim of a social media "witch-hunt".

"The reactions on the social media of people who do not know the facts and elaborate about the unfortunate incident based on rumours are very disappointing," Thornton wrote.

"These people do not even identify the correct horse as Flogas, instead referring to Startschuss as the horse that was involved in this tragedy. 

"It escalated into a witch-hunt endangering my safety and reputation which is totally unacceptable. 

"I have received violent threats towards me and abusive messages to myself and my family.

"It is difficult enough to deal with such a tragic incident, but it is even harder to cope with false accusations and violent threats in the press and social media."

The 28-year-old, ranked a lowly 1,144th in the FEI's Longines world rankings list, added that he is "very sad and devastated about this tragic incident" and that "it is heart-breaking to see a horse die".

"We are in direct contact with the Cagnes-sur-Mer Organising Committee, which has filed a report on the incident with the police," the FEI added.

"A post mortem is scheduled to be carried out on the horse today.

"The welfare of our equine athletes is our number one priority and, although this incident took place on a rest day between two international events, the FEI has rules in place that mean any horse welfare issues can be addressed, even if they happen outside the duration of an FEI event."