Nine days of sport down, two to go. Two and a half disciplines completed, a half to go. The Paris 2024 Olympic equestrian action is drawing towards its conclusion, with just the showjumping individual competition still to take place.
And so, we take stock.
For the Brits, it’s been a superb Games on the sporting side – our first time winning team medals in all three disciplines since the glorious days of London 2012. Two team golds. Five total medals with the possibility of more to come.
It’s also, of course, been a very difficult Games for horse sport in general and the Brits in particular, in the wake of the release of the Charlotte Dujardin video less than a week before the Olympics.
Paris Olympics – horse welfare in the spotlight
Mainstream journalists always descend on equestrianism – and presumably every sport – on medal days at the Olympics; this time at the Paris Olympics they also had the horse welfare beat to cover. It’s occasionally led to some angsty moments in terms of what the different media outlets need from riders and who takes priority for interviews, but we all have our own jobs and we’ve all gathered what we need, one way or another.
Every rider competing obviously knew they could be asked about welfare and the Charlotte video in their post-ride interviews in the mixed zone and had prepared for the question. And I’ve been so impressed by their answers – yes, there have been some stock phrases, but plenty have found individual, touching, intelligent ways to explain what their horses mean to them and how they are treated.
I’ve also seen mainstream journalists impressed by our riders, the care our horses receive and becoming genuinely curious about the sport. I haven’t had time to read a lot of coverage, but I’ve seen a few positive articles – and some less so.
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“This isn’t going to go away,” said one journalist to me yesterday – and she’s right. The Dujardin affair has accelerated the social licence issues that have been rumbling around our sport for some years and equestrianism will be under a brighter spotlight than previously going forwards.
One of the writers asked a rider, “How can you reassure us the harmony we see in the arena is a reflection of how you train at home?” That was a brilliant way to phrase the question and gets to the crux of the issue.
As a sport, we must grapple too with the difficult balance of being necessarily tough on welfare infringements – and being seen to be so – and in doing so, drawing more attention to them. While I understand the need for no grey areas, should a horse that has knocked into itself and has a tiny nick on a white sock be eliminated?
The days immediately after the Charlotte video release were the first when I’ve started to take seriously the possibility that welfare concerns, rather than formats or expense, could lead to horse sports being drummed out of the Olympics.
I’ve felt more hopeful over the past week or so as we’ve seen great sport, huge crowds, a wonderful atmosphere and fantastic pictures – horses against the backdrop of Versailles should be among the lasting images of these Games, just as the pictures from Greenwich have become a resounding memory of London 2012.
But, as my fellow mixed zone hack said yesterday, this isn’t going to go away – I am sure the repercussions of this Games and the coverage for equestrianism in the few days leading up to it will reverberate for decades. The key question is how we find a way forward from here, continuing to restore public confidence that we can involve horses in sport responsibly and without compromising their welfare.
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
