transparency very important to make sure horse sport’s future

“First we’ve got to do the fitting factor, second we’ve got to speak about it” – was the easy message from a seminar on find out how to talk on the equine trade.

Specialists from World Horse Welfare and the FEI have been among the many audio system on the European Horse Community-hosted seminar on date.

Haike Blaauw, managing director on the the Federation of Dutch Equestrian Facilities (FNRS) mentioned it’s “extra necessary than ever earlier than” for equestrianism “to be seen in a optimistic manner”.

“However initially, you need to do the fitting issues – after which you need to talk about it,” he mentioned.

“Each three years we do analysis within the Netherlands concerning the sport, the general public help of horse sports activities and preserving horses.

“What we see within the Netherlands is that there’s nonetheless giant help for preserving horses by people, however the help is reducing slowly however certainly. And the identical is true for the general public help in society for horse sports activities.”

He added that the analysis discovered that sturdy supporters are “very acquainted” with horse sport, whereas the sturdy opposers aren’t. This shaped the idea of a public marketing campaign, encouraging private storytelling by all these concerned within the trade to share private and provoking tales, with the message that “that is what horses do in Paris”.

FEI communications director Olivia Robinson mentioned it’s “essential” for the horse world “to be real, clear, sincere and accountable”.

“From my humble opinion, there’s a whole lot of studying to be accomplished by way of being accountable within the sense that it’s okay to confess to errors or shortcomings or to take a look at areas to be strengthened, as a result of that is how issues evolve,” mentioned Ms Robinson. “It’s a query of taking inventory and never at all times endorsing the established order, however considering ‘How can we do that higher?’ For me, that’s a giant signal of power, as a result of it exhibits that we will be trusted to self-regulate and that’s what society needs to see.

“Accountability is among the key areas by way of sustaining our social licence to function.”

She added the horse world ought to take this summer season’s Olympics as an actual alternative to current good tales.

“It’s our job to earn the belief of the general public and never the opposite manner spherical,” mentioned Ms Robinson.

“We have to work carefully, to be united and constant in our messaging, to share sources, experience, tales, science and analysis.

“We now have a tremendous quantity of collective information inside our industries and infrequently my expertise is that typically we’re all working in separate bubbles, once we could possibly be utilizing economies of scale and actually sharing higher.”

She added: “This actually isn’t a PR train. It’s about strolling the discuss. We have to embrace scrutiny, and never shrink back from it or deny it, and we have to champion change.”

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H&H senior information author

Lucy is an skilled information journalist, reporter and presenter. Since becoming a member of the Horse & Hound group in 2015, Lucy has reported from main international sporting occasions together with the Tokyo Paralympic Video games and a number of European Championships, in addition to Badminton, Burghley and London, to call just a few. She has coated present affairs and sports activities information throughout the complete spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, in addition to human and equine welfare, trade information and court docket circumstances.