Why social licence matters, with World Horse Welfare | A Horse & Hound Podcast advertising special

A Horse & Hound Podcast advertising special with World Horse Welfare

Welcome to this standalone episode – why social licence matters, with World Horse Welfare – a Horse & Hound Podcast advertising special, in which H&H’s news editor Eleanor Jones chats to World Horse Welfare CEO Roly Owers about what “social licence to operate” is, why the welfare of horses in sport is a top focus for the charity, and why every single horse owner and rider around the world needs to be thinking about horse sport’s social licence whenever they are dealing with their own, or other people’s, horses…

You can listen online here or via your favourite podcast app.

Why social licence matters with World Horse Welfare

World Horse Welfare chief executive Roly Owers explains: “World Horse Welfare believes equine welfare is best protected by improving the horse-human partnership in all of its varieties. Many people know about our work around supporting horses in need, where we investigate welfare concerns, and the focus of our four rescue and rehoming centres across Britain. But we also do work with horses in sport, and leisure.

”Our founder, Ada Cole, when she established the charity almost 100 years ago, understood the close bond between people and horses in society, and she wanted them to be treated fairly and compassionately throughout their lives, no matter what their role they played.

”I think we’re the only equine welfare organisation globally that actively supports the responsible involvement of horses in sport – at least that I’m aware of. Our focus is very much on the horse-human relationship and equine welfare. We don’t believe that horses necessarily are happiest in fields. We believe absolutely that horses can and do a thrive in their relationships with people. But ultimately, for that to happen, people have to fulfil their side of the deal, by treating them fairly and giving them a good life.

“Because of the evolution of the concept around social licence and public acceptance, World Horse Welfare will be more vocal about the work we do and what we believe in involving horses in sport. Social licence is an unwritten agreement, approval or acceptance between society and an activity. In our case, that’s all sport using horses and involving horses in leisure. We need to maintain and strengthen social licence to have a future because public support is so important. We’ve seen time and time again that if you lose public support, inevitably that leads to a loss of political support. And then we lose our ability to self-regulate, and ultimately that can bring in restrictive legislation or indeed bans.

“Society is changing – our interaction with animals and how society and people view that is changing. We also know that through science, through research, our understanding of what constitutes good equine welfare is changing. Then there is the world of social media where increased knowledge, increased focus on all sport is being sort of translated with a megaphone that was never available before. So it’s a very much a changing landscape. There is changing scrutiny, quite rightly, of the public asking: ‘Are we involving horses in sport and leisure in the best way possible?’”

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