The welfare of horses at home, at all levels, has come under discussion after a major survey of riders
MORE than 5,000 people have witnessed inappropriate equine training methods in the past six months, as the safeguarding of horses at home comes under the spotlight.
On 15 April the European Equestrian Federation (EEF) held a panel discussion attended by World Horse Welfare, the Swedish and German national federations and international groom Jackie Potts, to discuss how to protect horses away from competition.
The discussion followed the FEI’s independent Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission’s (EEWC) ongoing work, and an EEF and World Horse Welfare “at-home horse welfare” survey carried out this year after “several examples of poor horse welfare in a training environment” had been exposed. The survey assessed the “current landscape, attitudes and opinions within the industry, and whether these issues are widespread”.
CONCERNS
MORE than 9,600 people responded including riders, owners, breeders, grooms and fans. More than 50% of respondents were “often” or “always” concerned about horse welfare at home, in a training environment, and 47% stated they had been asked to carry out training they felt went against good welfare.
Of the respondents, 90% had witnessed training behaviours they believed compromised horse welfare, and of those, 58.2% had seen this in the past six months. When asked what might drive people towards poor training methods, the common themes were money, competition pressures, lack of education and ingrained culture.
Less than half the respondents said that if they observed a situation that went against horse welfare they would intervene, and 21% said they would not. Reasons for not speaking up included risk to reputation or employment and fear of not being listened to or being excluded.
The survey found that 60% of people did not know who to contact to report a welfare concern – and it also showed that welfare issues “exist from the grassroots level up and are not just a concern involving international athletes”.
EEF president Theo Ploegmakers opened the discussion by asking: “What exactly does it take to protect our horses effectively?
“As we have seen, rules and regulations alone are not enough. When stakeholders fail to prioritise the welfare of horses, they not only tarnish their own reputation but undermine the integrity of equestrianism,” he said.
“We must
