Sport and leisure horses – our responsibilities

We see the participation of horses in sport and leisure as just one of many facets of our unique and evolving relationship – but we all have a responsibility to ensure that our relationship is fairer.

Our founder pursued fairness in all aspects of the horse-human relationship and placed this responsibility on the people who derived so much benefit from them.

Today, we still believe that everyone involved in horse sport and leisure riding has a duty to provide their horses with a good life. This applies from birth to death, within competition and outside of it. The aim must always be to give them opportunities to enjoy positive experiences and minimise any negative experiences, so that on balance, their life as a whole is a good one.

Any activity with horses carries risks, but equestrianism can and must take steps to reduce these risks as much as possible.

Doing right by horses, putting their welfare first and demonstrating how important the well-being of horses is to everyone in horse sport and leisure are key to maintaining equestrianism’s ‘social licence to operate’ – that is, public acceptance of involving horses in these activities.