Olympic equestrian Heath Ryan was just suspended ... after troubling video surfaced, appearing to show him whipping a horse dozens of times, prompting outrage from fans.
The clip of Ryan and Nico, the horse -- said to be about two years old -- surfaced recently on social media, prompting Equestrian Australia (EA) to launch a formal investigation into the dressage competitor, who was seen striking the animal over 40 times.
EA said they were "extremely alarmed and concerned" over what they saw from Ryan .