Social license to operate discussed at USHJA annual meeting

[2bayboys]

I’ve been saying for some time that if we don’t police ourselves then someone outside of our sport/industry will step in and do it for us.

Calls For Improved Welfare Headline USHJA Annual Meeting - The Chronicle of the Horse (chronofhorse.com)

“A horse collapsed in the stabling area,” [Mary Knowlton] said. “The horse was down, and the people were kicking it and beating it and throwing water on it after it had an adverse reaction to some drug that was given to the horse to make it—one assumes—quiet.

“And people saw this,” she continued, “and they didn’t report it. Just think about that for a second. Just go back in your mind for one minute to the first time you ever got on a horse. Mine was a pony at a pony ride. Did you ever think that was part of what you’d be part of? And your silence, does that make you part of this? That’s the question I really want to get answered today.”

Knowlton invited discussion and solutions for cleaning up hunter/jumper sport in the interest of horse welfare and the buzz phrase of the year: social license to operate. That’s the concept that the public must accept and approve of what we do with horses in order for the sport to continue."

[Scribbler]

There are certainly trolls online going omg you are torturing your horse in response to any number of innocuous scenarios.

Dental work, hoof trim, liberty work, horses making funny pissy faces in their stalls, yada yada. About the only videos that never get them are Mustang sanctuaries and bitless beach gallop videos.

[EmilyM]

I have very doable suggestions:

Make it mandatory that stewards can enter barn areas. Have them present an hour or so (don’t make the time periods public)before some big classes happen. You will then be able to enforce the 12 hour rule that is violated CONSTANTLY and is probably 99% of the reasons horses drop.

Make stewards hired by USEF. Show pays USEF for stewards, but USEF hires and fires them and assigns to shows. Stewards are conflicted because when they make waves they may not be invited back.

The culture of blacklisting and retribution will take a very long time to change but that has to come from the top. Maybe some ethics trainings and code of conduct for members over 18 years old. Enforce it like the bar does for Lawyers.

[MHM]

@EmilyM

Make it mandatory that stewards can enter barn areas.

Stewards can already enter barn areas.

[EmilyM]

They should be able to enter your tack room and look through your med box. I have never seen that happen.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

Reading the pony ride comment, my first thought was, looking back, some of the ponies I rode on pony rides probably weren’t kept under the best of conditions. But I was a little kid who didn’t know any better, so I saw what I wanted to see. (My mom often said she felt bad for the ponies.)

There is a lot that needs to be done…but on an individual level, speaking out at a barn about horse welfare, moving your money and your horses are if you don’t like the care, is a big first step (if possible, I know sometimes options are limited, but for people at the higher end of the income brackets in the showing world). And being willing to talk and warn friends away from unethical trainers (I don’t mean starting social media drama, I mean on an interpersonal level.)

Ultimately, what goes on at the barn at home is often more important in the long-term than what goes on at shows.

[hoopoe]

I agree that Stewards and TD should be hired and assigned by the Federation. They should act as agents for the federation , not for the show management. It will likely cost more

The federation could assign based on rotation order.

[Foitin]

I think honest dialog and action taking on horse welfare can improve many aspects of the sport, including the rider experience and fairness, which might be the most convincing reason for some to fix it.
I am struggling to imagine how a horse fell at indoors and people were abusing it, throwing water on it, and nobody said anything. The stabling areas are cramped at nearly all of those shows and there are people everywhere. If people really did see it, this is indeed shockingly bad in multiple ways.

[skydy]

People apparently said nothing at the time to the stewards.

Mary Knowlton is a person whose honesty I trust. She’s not one to repeat stories without having gotten to the truth of them.

[EmilyM]

I heard at Harrisburg that a horse collapsed near the back doors after it happened but I didn’t see it. Around the corner from my stalls. The gossip already was buzzing with what state the horse was from within minutes. Sad no one reports these things. This is why I think they should walk the aisles before big classes or at indoors. I don’t think everyone has drapes and cardboard up on all their stalls solely for the horses’ benefit.

[skydy]

https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/horse-euthanized-after-accident-in-wec-ocala-grand-prix-qualifier/

[Tackpud]

@EmilyM

I heard at Harrisburg that a horse collapsed near the back doors after it happened but I didn’t see it. Around the corner from my stalls. The gossip already was buzzing with what state the horse was from within minutes. Sad no one reports these things. This is why I think they should walk the aisles before big classes or at indoors. I don’t think everyone has drapes and cardboard up on all their stalls solely for the horses’ benefit.

Did you report anything to the stewards?

Stewards do walk the barn and address anything they see at the moment, but so many things happen when they aren’t around. People need to man up and report. Unless the dirty laundry is aired, everyone is complicit in what continues to happen.

If you know of a drug being used that is not currently tested for, contact the USEF drugs and medications hotline and tell them. If you see something at a show, contact the steward and then follow up with a report to USEF. There is a new button on the USEF website to “report a concern” under the compete tab - use it! If you hear of something, report it and let USEF do the digging if you don’t want to - hearing and not saying anything is as bad as letting it happen in front of you.

Our sport is under fire and will be shut down if we don’t step up and make a change.

[EmilyM]

I didn’t actually see anything. I just heard second hand. I can’t report something I heard through the grapevine. What if the details I have are wrong? That isn’t right either.

[Janet]

@hoopoe

I agree that Stewards and TD should be hired and assigned by the Federation. They should act as agents for the federation , not for the show management. It will likely cost more

The federation could assign based on rotation order.

I agree with this in principle. But, on a practical level, as a TD, I do not want the USEF assigning me to a specific competition on a specific weekend, when I may already have other important plans for that weekend.

[NaturallyHappy]

I am not sure how one legislates morality or empathy, which, to me, is part of the problem. I was at a show where a trainer who is also a veterinarian had a horse standing in ice for a couple of hours so it could jump around. The horse’s family was there. I know another person who believes her trainer is cruel, but stays. She wants to be part of what she sees as the “in” crowd. I do not understand either situation.

[Tackpud]

@EmilyM

didn’t actually see anything. I just heard second hand. I can’t report something I heard through the grapevine. What if the details I have are wrong? That isn’t right either.

That’s what the stewards are for. Report it to them and let them investigate. They’ll figure out what is hearsay and what might have actually happened.

[hoopoe]

@Janet

I agree with this in principle. But, on a practical level, as a TD, I do not want the USEF assigning me to a specific competition on a specific weekend, when I may already have other important plans for that weekend.

seems to me they could have a system where Stewards and TDs could say they are open. One assumes most shows book their staff long enough in advance to have airline arrangements etc made. When a window time passes, you can remove self from rota until the next quarter, etc

[Rel6]

“Something someone else told me” is literally hearsay though - nothing to figure out.

The problem is that the people who actually saw something aren’t reporting. Personally, I think the solution is to encourage people who are actually seeing things happen to say something. Whether that is keeping things more anonymous or some type of mandatory reporting for horse welfare, I’m not sure. But I don’t think the solution is going to an official and saying “Sally told me that Steve told her that Dobbin died on the crossties after getting an injection.”

[Janet]

@hoopoe

seems to me they could have a system where Stewards and TDs could say they are open. One assumes most shows book their staff long enough in advance to have airline arrangements etc made. When a window time passes, you can remove self from rota until the next quarter, etc

Yes, there are ways to do it. It just isn’t quite as simple as some present it.

[Ponyplusaninch]

I’m glad this is coming up. Yes there are online trolls, but I legit in the last two years have had more people tell me to my face what a terrible person I am to jump my horse. These are folks who don’t ride but have seen what’s been going on in racing and then watch sensationalist TikTok’s of costly rider errors on cross country or show jumping courses.

Most recently I was a Christmas party and someone just could.not.let.it.go. that after I “rescued” (awfully strong word choice there) my OTTB I then had the audacity to keep riding and training him after he had such “horrible” life. “I bet you even you use spurs and whips” was the quote where I had to stop myself from laughing and was like “yup, you caught me. I guess this means I’m an awful human being.”

I don’t really react anymore or even try to change these people’s minds because I don’t want to put forward that emotional energy.

But that said, there is clearly a rise in this type of perception, and if we don’t clean house first, someone else is going to do it for us, and we likely won’t be happy with the result.