“Social acceptability isn’t something you can market your way out of; it’s not something that nice pictures or talking about partnerships and so on is going to solve,” Dr. Natalie Waran, the head of the Fédération Equestre Internationale’s Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission warned while delivering the group’s final report at the annual FEI General Assembly.

The report “serves as a blueprint for future-proofing equestrian sports,” according to a commission press release. It identifies six areas of focus as being of importance to equestrian stakeholders and includes 30 recommendations, which were developed with the use of available scientific literature, extensive public and equestrian survey information and stakeholder feedback.

The recommendations include:

• Develop and implement of a vision statement for “A Good Life For Horses,” to influence transformative change in relation to strengthening social license.
• Develop and implement a robust FEI internal decision-making process to ensure that equine welfare and ethics are genuinely prioritized in the development of FEI policy and in practice.
• Establish a permanent FEI Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Independent Advisory Committee to act as a “critical friend” and provide an external perspective and independent advice related to the welfare of horses in sport.
• Create a permanent internal FEI Equine Ethics and Wellbeing body to advocate specifically for the welfare interests of horses in sport.
• Adopt an evidence-based approach for assessing the impact of new and existing items of tack and equipment on horse welfare.
• Implement additional checks by trained professionals and officials to ensure horses are always “fit to compete” by investing in more extensive and stricter health and welfare monitoring before and after competition to prevent horses entering the competition arena if they are experiencing pain and/or stress.

The commission is part of a broader effort in the sport horse world to maintain a social license to operate.

“This is really about ensuring that equestrian sports can remain free to operate, self-regulated, [and] continue to enjoy public acceptance because of being credible and maintaining public trust and confidence, rather than heading the wrong way and having things tip the wrong way, which of course is not what we would want to see,” Waran, executive dean and professor of animal welfare at the Eastern Institute of Technology (New Zealand), said in a presentation to the General Assembly at its annual meeting, held Nov. 18-21 in Mexico City.

The commission, founded in June 2022 to address societal concerns about the uses of horses in sport, conducted extensive surveys to determine the views of the general public and various segments of the equestrian community. Those results were presented at last year’s General Assembly, and this summer the commission conducted a pulse survey to assess whether attitudes had shifted.

In the most recent survey, 70% of respondents reported noticing “more” or “some” initiatives related to sport horse welfare over the last year, Waran noted. Training and riding practices, as well as tack and equipment, continue to be a top welfare focus, with 27% of respondents citing it as their biggest concern. Seventy-one percent also described the commission’s recommendations to the FEI for improved sport horse well-being “sufficient” or “good.”

Waran also addressed concerns about whether there was sufficient evidence available to support the commission’s recommendations, remarking that “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” and noting that it will take some time for research to be conducted and for the body of evidence to grow more robust. She recommended a precautionary approach that considers likely risk to equine welfare, making decisions that are most likely to optimize welfare when evidence isn’t yet available.

To that end, Waran noted that the International Society for Equitation Science’s 2024 conference, to be held March 14-16 in New Zealand, will focus on “A Good Life for Horses” and experts will present and discuss research on various aspects of the concept.

“We really want to remind you that this is more of an evolution of equestrian sports, not a revolution,” Waran said. “The important thing is to earn trust through listening and engaging and remaining legitimate, credible and accountable to that external scrutiny. Real commitment to prioritizing equine welfare needs to be demonstrated, not just by what we’ve written on the paper and the work we’ve carried out over the 18 months that we’ve been doing this, but by what is actually being done as a result of that work.”

The FEI Board will now review the recommendations in the commission’s report, and will present a roadmap for discussion and implementation at the FEI Sports Forum in April 2024.

View the commission’s presentation, or watch the livestream replay here.