Showing our love of horses – what we can all do to help secure equestrian sport’s future

Go back 10 years and had anyone mentioned the words “social licence” in relation to equestrianism, there would have been blank looks all round. Today, most of the industry has come or is starting to come round to the fact that this is an issue that isn’t going to go away.

So what is social licence to operate?

“Most societies regulate human activities using laws that state clearly what is, and is not, legally permissible,” Roly Owers, Madeleine Campbell and Janet Douglas state in their 2022 published study on the topic. “However, there is a second layer of permission that is granted – or revoked – by the public.”

This “second layer” is social licence, which, the authors explain, “represents an intangible, implicit agreement between the public and an industry or group”.

“The public may approve of an activity, in which case it can proceed with minimal formalised restrictions, or it may disapprove, and this may herald legal restrictions, or even an outright ban.”

If this seems an extreme or negative view, or scaremongering, think back less than two years, to the protests at the Grand National. Animal Rising, the group behind the demonstrations, wanted to highlight the “broken relationship” between humans and animals.

Protestors, people who want horse sport banned, are in the minority, but they are vocal and capable of influencing others. Three years running, World Horse Welfare has conducted research to find out what the public thinks of horse sport and the figures have stayed at roughly the same levels; about 20% do not support it in any circumstances, and another 40% would only support it if horse welfare is improved. If these 40% can be convinced that horse welfare is, as it should always be, the highest priority of all in the sport, we carry on.

So how to convince those people? How do we get more of the public on side?

Social relevance

Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) CEO Michael Bishop, an amateur event rider, believes horses’ social relevance is key. The more people who have horses in their lives, the more supporters equestrianism has.

“A core part of this is a societal connection with horses,” Michael told H&H. “We have to find ways of reaching out to people and engaging them with horses so they understand what we’re trying to do and how powerful that bond and relationship is.

“All of us can have a role in that, because all of us might be able to contribute something to the local RDA group, riding school, BHS centre, whatever endeavour that connects people to horses. We have a duty and responsibility, I think, to make sure there’s a social relevance connection that brings horses to the attention and positive interest of wider society.”

Michael does not believe this can be done by sitting in our ivory tower – or tack room – and showing the wider world what we do and how good it is.

“We have to do it by saying ‘Here are the challenges that society faces’,” he said. “Be that loneliness, or access to physical exercise for disabled people; here’s a way where horses are well placed and equipped to support those challenges. Everyone who’s engaged in horses understands some of those societal challenges, because we’re all facing them. Exploring the role of hosting that and supporting the groups, of course like RDA, who deliver on that, I think is paramount.”

So this is something everyone can do; if every horse owner has an opportunity to engage a non-horsey member of the public, perhaps this is not a duty, but an opportunity, to bring someone new on board.

Michael mentioned Park Lane RDA in Teddington, London, which has a stable with a window overlooking the street. Whichever horse is in there can look over the “cuddle door”, allowing city passers-by a quick glimpse into the equestrian world.

“You watch kids going to school, people on their way to work, taking a diversion down this unassuming suburban street to pat the pony,” Michael said. “It’s a really good example of a small bit of practice change that is engaging more people with horses, and I think it’s a really powerful story. It’s made a horse relevant.”

Everyone in the industry has connections with people outside it, and so all of us are advocates; we have a responsibility, Michael believes, to share the power of horses in a way that’s relevant to others. If each of us can convince one person, the cumulative effect would be huge.

Changing minds

Equestrianism is far from the first industry to experience the pressure of public opinion, and many others have turned things round.

Charlie Arnot, who grew up in agriculture, founded Look East as he had realised that “attacking those who attacked us wasn’t effective”, and he wanted to help agriculture businesses build public trust.

He told H&H one of the most important things any industry can do to secure support is to be transparent.

“Generally, people like the concept, but then they quickly are concerned about reckless oversharing and decide to do nothing because they’re not sure what to share and with whom,” he said. “So it’s a matter of going through a structured process to say ‘Here are the stakeholders that are important to our sector. What’s important to them? What do they want to know, and how do we engage with them in a way that will meet their information needs? It’s not sharing everything with everyone, it’s identifying who are the stakeholders who are interested.”

The second key is to welcome criticism and scepticism as an opportunity to engage.

“Often, when people say ‘I don’t like what you’re doing, I don’t like the way you treat those horses, I don’t think they should be used in competition’, our first response tends to be defensive, as opposed to listening and finding a place where we can make a connection,” Charlie said.

But when the connection is made, both people become “someone like me”. Look East’s shared values communication training has been taken up by thousands of people.

“Generally, when someone raises a concern about what’s happening in the equestrian world, what they’re saying is, ‘I care about animals. I’m not sure you do’,” Charlie said. “That’s the fundamental claim. So rather than becoming defensive in providing data on why this is the ‘right thing to do’, we can embrace that concern, and say ‘I really appreciate you raising that concern; I can tell you care a great deal about animals and horses. I respect that because I care a great deal about horses as well. What specific questions do you have and how can I provide information that’s important to you?’ Rather than doing a data dump to say ‘I’m right and you’re stupid’, we invite the conversation. ‘We have something in common, we both care about horses, so I welcome the conversation to better understand your concerns’.”

Once people feel acknowledged, Charlie said, they allow you to give them the information. But people have to listen, listen and listen; appreciate concerns, ask more about them and the questioner’s experiences that have shaped their opinion, understand, make the connection and then share their thoughts.

“That’s something everyone in the equestrian world can do,” he said. “Whatever your role, you have the opportunity to lean in.”

People have to resist the temptation to be defensive; a natural reaction if someone is attacking something that is so much a part of all of us.

“Most people want permission to believe these elegant animals are being well cared for,” Charlie said. “If you can give them enough information to give them permission to believe that, you’ve accomplished what you need. That won’t happen with a data dump, it’s by engaging them because you want them to trust you.”

Another key, Charlie says, is that if someone in the industry shows practices that are not acceptable, to the public or insiders, this has to be condemned – the action, not the person.

“You can say ‘What happened is completely unacceptable. It’s unacceptable to you. It’s unacceptable to us. We look forward to working with this individual to help him or her come back into the standards that we’ve established for our industry and that we know you expect of us,” he said.

“You can condemn what happened without condemning the person. We’ve done that with a lot of other sectors; when there’s been an undercover video related to animal abuse on a farm, industry bodies now are much more comfortable coming forward to say it’s not acceptable. The retailers used to say they were going to ban that farm from their supply chain. Now they say: ‘We’re going to put that farm on suspension until we have assurance they’ve got their program back in place’.”

Other riders can take a similar approach in such instances; condemning the action but not the perpetrator, as not doing so could imply that the behaviour is accepted and widespread. But often, many of us do not know what to say to try to help in a sticky situation.

Be part of the solution

“This is something that, in my opinion, has been really neglected,” equestrian PR expert Rhea Freeman told H&H. “The thing that’s been terrifying, is this silence, which doesn’t give people any guidance about how to help.

“Then denial about there being a problem when there clearly is something amiss, but we all need to be part of the solution.”

Rhea said she has heard from top riders who are worried about posting on social media for fear of sharing the “wrong thing”, so as a result don’t share anything.

“But we need to be putting more stuff out, showing behind the scenes, the love and the affection we feel for our horses,” she said. “Them winning at a competition is great, but actually, that’s such a small amount of their day.

“Ros Canter and Carl Hester do some of that, horses in the field together, and I think that’s what we need more of. Not just the shiny bits, we need more of the real life, day-to-day, love, affection and care of these horses and the relationships. That’s why we traipse across the field, rain coming in sideways, hanging on to a torch, getting soaked to check they’re ok. No sane person is doing that. But you do it because you love them, it’s that relationship, isn’t it?”

One rider Rhea cited as being very good at boosting public acceptance is Paris dressage team bronze medallist Becky Moody, who shares blogs “written by” her medal-winning home-bred Jagerbomb on social media.

Conveying the love

“A lot of horses genuinely do love doing it, and I think that’s a really hard thing to get across,” Becky told H&H. “I think we have to look at how we can do that. We have a bit of an issue within the equestrian community to improve the image. At the moment it’s dressage, but my feeling is that although it is dressage at the moment, we all have to come together, because it’s not going to remain just dressage.”

Becky said she has been struggling with some of the negative attention to the sport and has been doing what she can to change this.

“We have to be more open,” she said. “We have to learn to be better communicators. We have to make other equestrian people realise that although we’re competitors and competitive, we love our horses so much, and they’re so important to us. And the fact horses love doing it.

“There are people who think horses love hacking, and being turned out in the field, and that’s about it; they shouldn’t be ‘made’ to do other things. But I think it’s so good for their bodies, and their minds, and we have to try to find a way of communicating that.”

Becky has sought advice on trying to change perceptions but has had no “particularly insightful” answers.

“So through my own social media, I try as much as possible to get across the love we have for our horses, how much they do enjoy doing it,” she said. “And when I’m writing Bomb’s blog, there’s maybe some literary licence there! But his reaction to atmospheres, to people, his excitement, it’s all genuine. That is what he feels.”

Jagerbomb is a public equine figure who is clearly happy in his work, but Becky pointed out that she has other horses trained and managed in the same way but who are not at the same level, and the picture they present is not perfect. And in those cases, she says, we have to show that we know it is not yet perfect, but we are trying our best to get there.

“We just need to be trying to do the right thing,” she said. “Our sport is in trouble, but unless we start working together, it’s going to really be in trouble. There is no other way to look at it. We have to be more open and we have to be more communicative.”

Listening and communicating

Communication is key, within and emanating from the industry, and those with concerns need to know they are being listened to. Gemma Pearson, an equine vet, behaviour specialist and racing fan, is the co-author of a study published after last year’s Grand National demonstrations, looking at what the industry said in response. The main findings from that were that although the protestors’ aim was to prevent equine fatalities, the replies from the industry were mainly about how well they are looked after off the course.

“Trust, as we know, is one of the cornerstones of social licence, and transparency comes from that,” Gemma told H&H. “So we shouldn’t try to downplay things. We shouldn’t try to normalise when there are problems. And the more we can be honest and say ‘Yes, this is not where we would want to be in the industry, but we are working hard to change it’, people will trust us far more than if we try to say either it doesn’t occur or ‘That’s just normal for horses, and it’s not something we need to worry about, let’s focus on the positives instead’.

“If someone challenges and says, ‘I think horse racing is cruel’, the worst thing you can do is say ‘They’re looked after like kings’. The best thing is to say, ‘Why do you think it’s cruel?’ Then if people say, because of the number of horses killed on race tracks, you can say, ‘We are aware that’s a problem, and there’s work being undertaken by the British Horseracing Authority, among many other organisations, and we’re showing a reduction in that over time. ‘We know we’re not where we need to be; we have to do a lot better, but we’re working towards that.”

Gemma backed much of what Charlie said about digging into and understanding people’s specific concerns. One issue raised is that it is “not natural” for horses to be ridden.

‘To that, you could say ‘That’s a fair point, horses were not designed for people to ride them, but at the same time, dogs didn’t evolve as a species to be owned as pets by people. That’s ok, providing the animal has a good experience.

“We’re not just looking for a life worth living, but a good life. I think you can make an argument that if a horse is looked after according to its basic needs; friends, forage and freedom, it is sound and comfortable when ridden, training can actually increase little spikes of dopamine in the brain, which is the motivation and reward neurotransmitter.

“So actually, we know we can produce happiness through training and riding horses. And I think you could argue that taking a horse for a hack has some similarities to taking a dog for a walk; they get the opportunity to have environmental enrichment and see more of the world that they wouldn’t do otherwise.”

And a “natural” life is not necessarily the best one for an animal, it is worth pointing out. If they lived natural, wild lives, horses would have no access to veterinary care if injured or ill, or optimal nutrients, and they would be at risk of being hunted by predators. But on the other hand, horses are not necessarily better off, and no one opposed to equestrian sport would be convinced otherwise, by trumpeting about the amount of money spent on stables or rugs.

The biggest thing of course, Gemma said, is that even if the majority of the public did support horse sport, and believe welfare is the top priority, this is no good if the trust is misplaced, with which World Horse Welfare CEO Roly firmly agrees.

The real focus

“This may sound a very odd thing to say, but as this journey evolves, and we are clearly on the journey, I would almost encourage people to stop thinking about social licence or public acceptance,” Roly told H&H. “Because if there’s any indication that we’re doing anything just for how it looks, that will certainly not benefit our horses. And equally, it will not benefit building public trust, which is a key driver for acceptance.”

So despite everything all of us can do to increase support and relevance of horses, the biggest, most important thing is for each of us to ensure we are doing our utmost to give our horses a good life at all times.

“What we can all do is reflect back on what we are doing in our own world, with our own horses, or whatever association we have with the equine world, and constantly challenge ourselves,” Roly said. “Are we truly putting the horses as the number one stakeholder?

“I think a good measure is to think of the decisions we are making about our horses through the horses’ eyes. We don’t live in a perfect world, and you can’t always do what you believe is best for the horse, but we can always, or in most situations, do what’s better.

“If we constantly challenge ourselves to really show ourselves that’s what we’re doing, putting the horse at the centre and doing what’s in their best interests, that will relate to a narrative, a story, that will build trust, and public acceptance. Although we, of course, are delighted people are talking about it because it is an issue, you’ve got to get the sequencing of it right. And there is a danger of putting the cart before the horse in this regard.”

Key is, Roly added, at all times weighing up the potential risks and benefits to horses of all actions, and if the former outweigh the latter, to consider whether it is the right thing to do. And if a welfare issue is spotted, take the official paths; submit the issue and the evidence for investigation and official sanction – “as the standard you walk past is the standard you accept,” Roly said – rather than plastering accusations online for social media to be judge, jury and executioner.

We must all constantly be questioning and challenging ourselves and the status quo, be open to learning from trusted sources and taking new scientific evidence on board. And if we are truly doing everything we can to do what is genuinely best for our horses, that will be evident to all.

“Like everything in life, you can be an optimist and you can be a pessimist,” Roly said.

“I’m an eternal optimist, but I do honestly think that this is an exciting journey to be on. And if people aren’t excited to be on that journey, you possibly question whether horse ownership is right for them now. You need to have a real appetite for that, for both you and your horse.”

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